! مَرْحَباً
I had the opportunity to make a demo about the Arabic letter ب to a class of 5-6 year old children at an Arabic Saturday School. They were already knowing the isolated letter.
The main objectives of this lesson:
– practice of their Arabic Listening & Writing skills,
– recognition of the letter ب at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the word.
Since I love to bring some creativity and fun in the process, I planned 3 engaging activities for them:
1) Arabic Storytelling & Listening Game
This activity is great to make your young learners practice their listening skill.
It’s nice to introduce the different forms of the letter in a word.
Material:
- the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?” in Arabic. Children like this well-known book. It’s really engaging.
- a white board (or any other support to write) + pens board
The Activity:
While I read the story, children have to tell me when they listen to a word with the letter ب *.
The more advanced kids tell me which word contains the letter and where is the letter in the word (beginning, middle or end).
I trace 3 columns on the white board: 1 for words with the letter ب at the beginning, 1 for words with the letter in the middle and 1 for words with the letter at the end. As they tell me the words during the storytelling, I clearly write them in the relevant columns and highlight with the red pen the letter ب **.
At the end, I review with the kids the words they found and make them notice the different forms of the letter according to its place in the word.
NOTES: * children telling you the relevant words –> it makes them practice some Arabic speaking
** children looking at you clearly writing in Arabic on the board –> it’s good for their writing and reading skills.
2) Tracing & Play dough
I make the children trace the letter ب on sheets I prepared. They trace the letter with the help of dots and in the different forms according to its place in the word. As you can see on the picture, I make them write the letter in whole words. I think it’s better than making them write the different forms of the letter but isolated on a line. With whole word, they visually better associate the form and the place in the word.
Then, they “trace” the letter with the play dough. They firstly make the isolated shape and then make the different forms. They can do it with the help of the sheet (they place the play dough directly on the letters they wrote previously).
It’s a good activity to make them understand that they just have to remove the “tail” of the letter ب in order to attach it to the next letter at the beginning or inside the word. As for the ending form, they notice that it has the same form than the isolated form of the letter.
3) Craft about the Arabic Letter ب & Writing
I like to integrate creativity as well as daily life Arabic vocabulary in a lesson.
It’s enjoyable, meaningful and engage the children better.
Material:
- colored craft paper
- pre-cut shapes of the house
- glue stick
- pens
- scissors
Prepare the activity in advance:
— write the words “house” “window” and “door” in Arabic on the future craft sheet, but let a blank for the letters ب in each word.
— cut the different shapes of the house (1 triangle for the roof, 1 big square for the wall, 2 small squares for the windows and 1 rectangle for the door).
The activity:
The children make the house with the shapes and the glue.
Then, they write the isolated letter ب at the top of the craft and they complete the 3 words ( “house” “window” and “door”) by writing the relevant form of the letter.
And then, they link the Arabic words “window” and “door” to their representation in the house.
And finally they can decorate and personalize their house!
Feel free to share this article & leave a comment below!
Did you use these activities with your kids/pupils? How did they work for you? Do you have other ideas of activities?
Emilie, cofounder of Arabic Seeds.
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