Helping Your Dyslexic Child Learn The Arabic Alphabet

(Note: Arabic reads Right-to-Left)

لأبجدية العربية( al’abjadiat alearabia).

The Letters and their Names:

There are 28 letter in the Arabic Alphabet. I like to learn them in four rows of seven letters.  Starting on the right.  Arabic writing begins on the right so it is a good idea to think this way for the letters. (I count on my fingers to seven then start again with each line so that if I miss a letter I can start the line again.)

7654321

خ

khaa

ح

Haa

ج

jim

ث

thaa

ت

taa

ب

baa

أ

alif

——–

ص

Saad

——–

ش

shiin

——–

س

siin

——–

ز

zha

——–

ر

raa

——–

ذ

dhal

——–

د

daal

——–

ق

qaaf

——–

ف

faa

——–

غ

ghayn

——–

ع

ayn

——–

ظ

Dhaa

——–

ط

Taa

——–

ض

Daad

——–

ي

yaa

——–

——–

و

waaw

——–

——–

ه

haa

——–

——–

ن

noon

——–

——–

م

miim

——–

——–

ل

laam

——–

——–

ك

kaaf

——–

An Arabic Alphabet and various Arabic Numbers bookmarks can be found here :

Bookmarks for Summer learning

Steps to Learning Arabic Letters and their Names:

Add Music:

Learning the letter names is easier if you learn them in order.  The same shaped letters are all together so it is easier to learn know the difference if they are close together.

Movement and actions make it easier for small children to engage with their alphabet. So turn on your alphabet youtube alphabet clip of choice get up and move to the music

Count the letters on seven fingers before moving on to count another seven for lines 2, 3, and 4.  Learning a song pattern for the letters makes it much easier to remember their names.

Youtube clips we like listed here:

    • Adam Wa Mishmish آدم ومشمش – كرتون تعليمي عربي.

(2016, June 4)

. لأحرف الأبجدية مع آدم ومش The Alphabet in Arabic with Adam Wa Mishmish (S01E01). Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr9RaXlMEP8

    • Osratouna tv – قناة أسرتنا.

(2017, October 1) Arabic alphabet song 3 – Alphabet arabe chanson 3 – 3 أنشودة الحروف العربية . Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yO433hdR2M

Make a Word Wall:

When you are not in the process of directly teaching an alphabet having access to the letters and having them available to interact with helps facilitate the learning process.  In addition, if like me you have dyslexic learners in the house it means that they are less likely to forget the letters you have spent all day laboriously working upon.

You can buy an Arabic Alphabet ready made from your Arabic book store or download one from the internet.

I like this one I downloaded from here:

http://www.qamardesigns.se/arabic-language-printables.html.  

Card games:

Find an Arabic Alphabet that prints at A4 size.  We just printed the word wall cards to a small enough size for our liking.

I totally adore these educational resources from Qamar Designs:

http://www.qamardesigns.se/arabic-language-printables.html.  

  • We printed 4 copies and laminate them.

(Three in one colour and one in a different colour.)

    • One to put up on the wall
    • One to use as a find the letter chart
    • Two to cut up as two packs of cards (Tip: use two different colours. If you lose a card it is much easier to find which card you are looking for)
Card game ideas:

1. Play Match the Letters.

    • Turn all the cards over and find the two different coloured cards that have the same letter.

2. Snap (two packs of cards in two colours):

    • deal all the cards out equally to each person and then turn them over so no one can see their cards
    • the first person turns a card up in the middle and names their letter and the picture on the card, and then
    • the next person turns a card up and places it on top of the last card and reads the letter and the picture name, and
    • the next person turns their card onto the top of that card and repeats the process
    • when two cards in a row match you place your palm as fast as you can on the pile and call “snap”.
    • The person who says “snap” then need to name the letter and the word on the card and they can take the pile of cards.
    • The winner is the person who has all the cards when the game ends.

3. Go fishing for a letter (use two packs of cards in two colours)

    • Deal 5 cards to each player
    • Put the rest of the cards down in the middle to use for the “Letter Fishing” pile
    • The person to the right of the dealer starts.
    • They ask the person to their right if they have a particular card and name the letter and its picture.
      • If the person does: they give them the card and it is considered a match so they have another turn.
      • If the person has not got another card then they say “Go Letter Fishing” and the person collects a card from the centre pile.
      • Then it is the next person’s turn.
    • The person that ends up with the most number of letters matched is considered the winner.

Bonus Fish Simple Letter Matching Game:

I am told by my six year old and his three year old side-kick that we cannot learn an Arabic Alphabet without fish…. Anything for peace and quiet, whilst they are teaching themselves!

  • We printed 3 copies:
    • One to put fins and eyes on as they found the right letter.
    • Two to laminate. (one we cut the fish out to play matching the fish)

You can download your free copy here:

https://sumeiyasarabichub.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/arabic-alphabet-game-fish-colouring/

Usually accompanied by Adam wa Mishmish –  Under the Sea song from YouTube. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/CZBz7gkxrCw

Books:

    • I think you might like this book – “My First Words In Arabic : كلماتي الأولى بالعربية – Arabic/English Bilingual: (Arabic books for kids)” by Bachar Karroum, Jesus Vazquez Prada.
      • think you might like this book – “Alif to Yaa ألف إلى ياء Arabic/English Children’s Picture Book, Dual/bilingual Language (Yellow Series Book 1)” by Umm Sumayyah Quan.
        Start reading it for free: http://amzn.asia/fAwyeB7

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