(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.)

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

Learning to count, read and write, from one to ten in Arabic can be challenging when you experience difficulties in the language (English) of your home country (Australia)!  To say the least! We have a dyslexia and dysgraphia diagnosis in our house which causes some struggles in learning Arabic.

١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩ ١٠ 

From birth my children have been encouraged to speak my language (English) and my husband’s home language (Arabic) – My husband is an English teacher which causes some confusion for many people.

A late dyslexia diagnosis, means that we still struggle with the basics but have developed some fun strategies for learning. When I started out with this exercise I was going to show you numbers from 1 to 100. Fortunately, reality set in, but not until after the cards were made (12 cards are a better fit on the A4 page so I made 1 to 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 – so I could use them later)! One step at a time! Numbers from 1 to 10 first!

I will add free link to .pdf file here: https://springbrookorbillabong.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/cards-for-learning-arabic-numbers/

Steps we use to learn numbers in Arabic:

Numbers and Names:

1 – one – ١ – wahad -واحد –

2 – two – ٢ – ithnaan – اثنان –

3 – three – ٣ – thalaatha- ثلاثة –

4 – four – ٤ – arba3a – أربعة –

5 – five – ٥ – khamsa – خمسة –

6 – six – ٦ – sitta – ستة –

7 – seven – ٧ – sab3a – سبعة –

8 – eight – ٨ – thamaaneya – ثمانية –

9 – nine – ٩ – tis3a – تسعة –

10 – ten – ١٠ – 3ashara – عشرة-

Add Music

Adam as Mishmish on Youtube sing numbers 1 – 10: https://youtu.be/b5cOSaOu9lA

I love the tune for the first 21 seconds (numbers 1 to 10,  repeat) on this youtube numbers video. What follows after 21 seconds is an Islamic  song about numbers: https://youtu.be/fJ50Po9_yYo

I find counting the numbers on your fingers as you sing. So you learn to associate a picture of the right number of fingers with the number you are singing, not just a number on the screen. This way you can feel the numbers too. I just developed my own counting system with my fingers, however a much better idea would have been to use the Sign Language Numbers chart. (Most children at school in Australia  are taught to sign the Alphabet and Numbers).

http://localhost/raisingworld/2018/07/09/teaching-mother-tongue-children-foreign-country/

Card Games

Print three full number charts from .pdf above or any you like from the internet

• The first copy I like to laminate so I can read the numbers and names in order.
• For the other two copies – use two pieces of differently colored card, or two different A4 colored papers and laminate them. Then cut, following the black line, to make two separate piles of 10 cards. (12, or 20 cards)
• Play card games:

Card Game 1

Matching card games – use two sets of matching cards and lay them face down on the floor. Then each taking turns turn over a card, read it number (for little count the number of spots to find the number), next turn over another card to see if it matches. (Having two different colored card sets means you can look for a card in either color to match so 10 cards to match is an easier task when you want a 6/٦ in red and green).

If it matches you keep the cards and have another turn. If it does not match, turn the cards back over and it is the next player’s turn.

Card Game 2

Play the adapted to learning Arabic numbers version of my favorite card game ever “Go fishing” –  So add number struggles and a game without pencil and writing paper needed. To play: With two players, two different colored sets of 1-10 cards. (Make the learning as easy as possible. If you have a red card you want the green one to match). For extra players either add another two sets of different colored 1-10 Cards or use 2 sets of 1-20 Cards.

Deal 5 cards to each player. Put the rest of the cards in the center to make the fishing pile. First person looks at their cards and chooses one to ask for. (Do you have… “ثمانية  thamaaneya (8) ٨ ” (If you don’t know the number count the spots).

If the person asked does. They give the matching card to the person asking. Then have another turn. If the person does not have the card they say “pick up a card (Go fishing)” and it is the next person’s turn. The person with the most pairs when all the cards are matched wins.

Card Game 3

Last card game is the “Arabic Number Card” version of “snap”. Deal all of the cards out to all the players. Don’t look at the cards. Taking turns, first person puts a card face up in the middle and reads and says the number on the card. If they do not know the name count the number of spots to work out the name.

Then the next person puts a card on top of it quickly, if it is a matching card, the first person whose hand covers the cards and says “snap” gets the cards. The game continues until all of the cards are with one person, who is then the winner.