Alif Baa- Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds Description:

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds review:
4 stars (Good book, bad DVDs) - This was the textbook for a university Arabic class I took. The book is good, but the included DVDs are awful and annoying. I recommend this book, but suggest purchasing the Instant Immersion Arabic 2-cd set to learn some vocabulary and phrases (for about $9.99).
4 stars (Great for self-study) - I met with a partner daily for an hour each day for 6-8 weeks, and we learned a great deal from this book. It is definitely good enough for self-study. The one problem is that for the vocabulary and cultural activities, it assumes you have a teacher to fill in the details, so we didn't get much out of those. We did learn to read, write, and pronounce all the sounds, and it's terrifically neat that I can now read basic Arabic signs which are in pictures in the newspaper.
3 stars (Workbook #1) - This is a somewhat cumbersome workbook designed for conventional advanced high-school or college-level classwork. I find it to be neither poor nor excellent, hence my rating of "3." It does not seem overly useful for self-study. One comical flaw on the front cover is the listing of the authors in English in an order that does not correspond to the listing in Arabic.