How to start teaching a toddler Arabic letters
I knew I
wanted to start early with him because of my experience as a Quran teacher at a
Saturday school. The biggest obstacle I observed to Quran reading progress was
shaky letter recognition. It was sad to see the impact this had on the child’s
confidence and overall interest in reading.
I figured
the earlier I introduced my own child to the alphabet, the longer he would have
to get comfortable with the letters and become a confident and proficient
reader later on, inshAllah.
He has just
turned three and currently recognises about half the letters. Here’s an
idea of the general approach I have been taking and the sorts of activities we
have been doing together.
Before
getting into the nitty gritty, I want to stress that what works for him
might not be as effective for another child. As his primary carer, I know his
personality, what types of activities he likes and doesn’t like. So, I have
been trying to adapt my approach according to what works for us.
What kind
of Arabic alphabet activities have we been doing?
Playing with flashcards
Playing with flashcards
When I
first showed him the Arabic flash cards in a sit down and listen kind of way,
it quickly became clear he wasn’t interested in what was actually on
them. He just wanted to play with them.
So, I let
him do that.
He used
to lay them out and ‘park’ his toy cars and trucks over them.
It was
quite sweet to watch him play and once he was engaged in the activity, I would
sometimes drop into conversation things like,
“Oh, are you parking the blue car
on ‘jeem’ now?”
“Is Mr Digger going on ‘baa’’
Stuff like that.
Letter hunts
Once I got a sense that he was
actually absorbing what was on the cards, I tried incorporating the cards in
other activities too.
Through our playtime chats, I made
a mental note of what letters he was getting good at recognising and would hide those
cards around the living room.
Initially they would be in plain
sight, like on the table or the sofa so he could easily see them.
But as his language skills
developed, I started to hide them and give him verbal clues to find them – such
as
"Have a look where your bowls are kept", or
"Mr Alif has gone to get a musallah (prayer mat)".
"Have a look where your bowls are kept", or
"Mr Alif has gone to get a musallah (prayer mat)".
Once I knew he recognised a few
more then I would increase the number of letters I hid and we are up to about 4
or 5 now.
If he found all the letters, I
would reward him with stickers or a favourite snack. Not surprisingly, he is
most enthusiastic about this activity and asks to, ‘go on letter hunts’ pretty much every day ;)
Matching games
Matching games
If I still had his attention
after the reward of a snack or sticker, we would match the cards we had found
with the letters on a tick sheet, by placing the card next to the relevant
letter.
Another matching game he enjoys involves the whiteboard and magnets. I would write the letters on the white board
and ask him to put the magnet on a certain letter.
Colouring
He went through a colouring phase a few months ago where he was wanting to colour every day.
So, I jumped on the opportunity to do a few alphabet colouring sheets with him.
I would sit down and colour with him too as he often asks me to join in!
There's printables on Pinterest, but I often just drew a rough, DIY ones because I didn't have access to a printer at the time.
What have I learnt?
Learning through play was a good introduction
Colouring
He went through a colouring phase a few months ago where he was wanting to colour every day.
So, I jumped on the opportunity to do a few alphabet colouring sheets with him.
I would sit down and colour with him too as he often asks me to join in!
There's printables on Pinterest, but I often just drew a rough, DIY ones because I didn't have access to a printer at the time.
What have I learnt?
Learning through play was a good introduction
When we first started looking at letters together, by just stepping back and letting him touch and feel the cards
I got a sense that he was taking things in.
He began
to observe what was on the cards, mentioning colours and pictures he could see,
then he slowly started showing an interest in the letters.
I recently heard a lecture from a Professor of engineering in Saudia Arabia (who also teaches Quran). He mentioned that incorporating all the physical senses in learning creates various flashes in the brain which is vital for embedding knowledge and making connections.
Basing activities on his interests helped him focus
He’s not the ‘craftiest’ kid so there was no point in me pushing him into doing arts and crafts.
Even when I tried to do playdough letters and tracing letters in flour, he just ran to get his truck to drive through them and make tracks!
I would struggle to capture his attention.
He would get stressed. I would get stressed.
He’s an active little boy so that's why I started letter hunts with him, so that he could run around the living room looking for letters.
As mentioned already he went through a colouring phases hence the colouring sheets.
Recognition came before verbalisation
We know kids recognise before they can speak but for some reason this did not occur to me when I would ask him about the letters.
Initially I would ask him to point to a particular letter which, unsurprisingly, he couldn't do. So I reframed my questioning to ask him to point to 'alif, baa etc', which was more productive.
Keeping toys visible encourages child-led learning
Another obvious thing that bypassed my thinking initially.
It's a common principle of Montesorri education I believe, that toys and resources should be easily accessible for the child in order for education to be child-led.
I have found this beneficial too and keep things within arms reach. It gives me an idea when he is interested and more receptive to be steered into a structured activity.
Keeping activities simple means I'm always prepared
Because I need to be quick to jump on an opportunity to look at letters, it has been beneficial to keep activities simple that could be put together quickly and with household objects
Keeping activities short but plan extended activities in case they want to do more
Once I knew I had his attention I knew it was only for a short amount of time and I had to make it count.
So when we did letter hunts I would keep it to 4 letters. If I still had his attention, I could direct him in to ‘extensions’ or ‘variations’ of the activity such as the matching games.
If he had had enough before then, then I would back off and be satisfied that I had completed one activity with him.
Other resources we have been using
Although the flashcards have been the main and most effective resource I have used, there are other resources that we have been using but more on an ad-hoc basis.
My touch and feel alif, baa, taa book – He got this for Eid and has really enjoyed reading and interacting with this sensory book. He loves the Usborne ‘That’s not my…’ books and this book also has patches of different textures incorporated in the illustrations.
Arabic alphabet sound puzzle – Another Eid gift. Initially when I opened this he was taking the puzzle pieces and putting them inside his dump truck and helicopter as cargo! But I left it out for him and does sometimes reach for it and put the pieces in and out. It also has an arabic alphabet nasheed (no music) which he enjoys listening too.
Arabic alphabet mat – I got this at the same time as the flashcards and started showing it to him at bedtime. He enjoyed running his hands over the letters, but the English letters are on the other side. So he would rather look at those. Perhaps because they were more familiar? He enjoyed telling me the letters he would recognise. I think this will be better used when he is older.
YouTube! - The good old Zaky and Friends Arabic Alphabet song. There are a couple of others that have held his attention including this one (watch out for ads!) and the Zaky ones where they focus on a letter.
Be realistic and adaptable
I had hoped to teach him the whole alphabet by his third birthday but that hasn't happened. Perhaps if I had started earlier, it might have been achieved or maybe I was not being realistic. The important thing is that he gets there. It doesn't matter when.
Over the last 6 months it has helped to be realistic and adaptable. By taking into account his attention span, developmental progress and interests when planning activities he was more likely to focus and engage.
This is just the start of a long and beautiful journey and there will be changes along the way. Even in the past 6 months there have been changes in what he likes and doesn't and I'm sure that will continue. In order to make things fun for him I try to incorporate his interests into the learning too.
and I have to adapt to accommodate if I want to help him keep engaged.
Have you started teaching your child the Arabic letters? What has worked well for you? I would love to hear about your experience so far :)
I recently heard a lecture from a Professor of engineering in Saudia Arabia (who also teaches Quran). He mentioned that incorporating all the physical senses in learning creates various flashes in the brain which is vital for embedding knowledge and making connections.
Basing activities on his interests helped him focus
He’s not the ‘craftiest’ kid so there was no point in me pushing him into doing arts and crafts.
Even when I tried to do playdough letters and tracing letters in flour, he just ran to get his truck to drive through them and make tracks!
I would struggle to capture his attention.
He would get stressed. I would get stressed.
He’s an active little boy so that's why I started letter hunts with him, so that he could run around the living room looking for letters.
As mentioned already he went through a colouring phases hence the colouring sheets.
Recognition came before verbalisation
We know kids recognise before they can speak but for some reason this did not occur to me when I would ask him about the letters.
Initially I would ask him to point to a particular letter which, unsurprisingly, he couldn't do. So I reframed my questioning to ask him to point to 'alif, baa etc', which was more productive.
Keeping toys visible encourages child-led learning
Another obvious thing that bypassed my thinking initially.
It's a common principle of Montesorri education I believe, that toys and resources should be easily accessible for the child in order for education to be child-led.
I have found this beneficial too and keep things within arms reach. It gives me an idea when he is interested and more receptive to be steered into a structured activity.
Keeping activities simple means I'm always prepared
Because I need to be quick to jump on an opportunity to look at letters, it has been beneficial to keep activities simple that could be put together quickly and with household objects
Keeping activities short but plan extended activities in case they want to do more
Once I knew I had his attention I knew it was only for a short amount of time and I had to make it count.
So when we did letter hunts I would keep it to 4 letters. If I still had his attention, I could direct him in to ‘extensions’ or ‘variations’ of the activity such as the matching games.
If he had had enough before then, then I would back off and be satisfied that I had completed one activity with him.
Other resources we have been using
Although the flashcards have been the main and most effective resource I have used, there are other resources that we have been using but more on an ad-hoc basis.
My touch and feel alif, baa, taa book – He got this for Eid and has really enjoyed reading and interacting with this sensory book. He loves the Usborne ‘That’s not my…’ books and this book also has patches of different textures incorporated in the illustrations.
Arabic alphabet sound puzzle – Another Eid gift. Initially when I opened this he was taking the puzzle pieces and putting them inside his dump truck and helicopter as cargo! But I left it out for him and does sometimes reach for it and put the pieces in and out. It also has an arabic alphabet nasheed (no music) which he enjoys listening too.
Arabic alphabet mat – I got this at the same time as the flashcards and started showing it to him at bedtime. He enjoyed running his hands over the letters, but the English letters are on the other side. So he would rather look at those. Perhaps because they were more familiar? He enjoyed telling me the letters he would recognise. I think this will be better used when he is older.
YouTube! - The good old Zaky and Friends Arabic Alphabet song. There are a couple of others that have held his attention including this one (watch out for ads!) and the Zaky ones where they focus on a letter.
Be realistic and adaptable
I had hoped to teach him the whole alphabet by his third birthday but that hasn't happened. Perhaps if I had started earlier, it might have been achieved or maybe I was not being realistic. The important thing is that he gets there. It doesn't matter when.
Over the last 6 months it has helped to be realistic and adaptable. By taking into account his attention span, developmental progress and interests when planning activities he was more likely to focus and engage.
This is just the start of a long and beautiful journey and there will be changes along the way. Even in the past 6 months there have been changes in what he likes and doesn't and I'm sure that will continue. In order to make things fun for him I try to incorporate his interests into the learning too.
and I have to adapt to accommodate if I want to help him keep engaged.
Have you started teaching your child the Arabic letters? What has worked well for you? I would love to hear about your experience so far :)
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