7 Actionable Arabic Language Tips That Work Like a Charm
Setting up language learning goals is easy, but we all need help in taking action to reach these goals. Realistic goals are key to learning a new language successfully and effectively. Otherwise, children will feel discouraged and give up when they stumble upon something they don’t understand. Goals for learning the Arabic language need to be simple and attainable. You can start with small goals like learning 10 words per week or speaking to a family member for five minutes a day. Using the I Read Arabic application, children have access to easy methods to learn Arabic and increase their language acquisition. The application is fun and engaging and most importantly easy to use.
Our linguistic experts have compiled a list of 7 actionable tips proven to be effective and provide real results. These are useful with children learning the Arabic language in terms of their speaking, listening, and reading skills.
- Repetition: The more they see, the more they learn. The more often information is repeated; the more likely it is to be retained. Repetition can be further encouraged by family members at home while engaging in regular day to day activities. Something as simple as a good morning greeting in Arabic helps strengthen their speaking skills and retain words in their brain. Children generally enjoy repeating their favorite stories and songs. It helps build a foundation in their Arabic learning and strengthen their vocabulary.
- Practice listening: It takes patience for children to listen and pay attention for certain periods of time in any learning experience. This is a common challenge when listening to a foreign language. Listening skills are fundamental to developing speaking skills. To help improve them, encourage your child to draw the things they hear when listening to something new in Arabic. You can help by filling in the blanks for any words they don’t understand. This will encourage them to focus more when listening to a story or a passage. It will also provide them with confidence to listen more and understand more. The app helps in that aspect as children can pause and repeat and skip back any videos on the app when they need to hear it more than once. All these tips are most effective when there is constant exposure to audio sources around the household. Exposure provides them with means to practice their listening skills, during breakfast or car rides or watching a movie in the afternoon.
- Read-out-aloud: This is a favorite amongst children and it helps them in their comprehension and most importantly pronunciation. Encourage your children to choose books from I Read Arabic’s library of Award winning children’s Arabic books. You can be their guiding audience. Using the “read” feature, children can listen to a professional read the text and catch any mistakes they made. With continued reading out aloud, the children’s pronunciation will flow smoother. Reading out aloud helps with improving Arabic writing skills, as children try reading what they wrote and spotting any errors.
- Use learned vocabulary to form new sentences: Challenge your child to form two new sentences everyday using new vocabulary they learn through the app. Build this into their routines and it will help them remember the word and gain confidence to use it. Utilizing new vocabulary in sentences helps children make sense of the word in relation to other familiar topics or concepts. Try to encourage your child to use the new word in a sentence as soon as they learn. This helps build a strong connection in their mind. Another helpful tip would be to use the word with your child often around the household. If the word has more than one meaning, challenge your child to learn it!
- Focus on core grammar concepts & verb forms: Using I Read Arabic app, grammar can be learnt through fun and engaging videos. The simple videos teach basic concepts that are necessary to learn the language. They focus on core concepts and verb forms that help the children form and speak proper sentences. Grammar is not very popular amongst children but the Arabic language has only two verb tenses (present and past). They also follow a very predictable pattern that is easy to learn and apply especially with children at a young age.
- The understanding of the root of the word: The beauty of the Arabic language is that once a child understands the basic roots and patterns of the words, they can easily learn many more words through derivation from a single root. The basic root system is simple enough with the vast majority of Arabic words consisting of 3 letters. They can also create nouns, adjectives, and verbs from the same root letters and even guess the meaning of any new word that has the same root! This expands the learner’s vocabulary at a much faster rate and improves their speaking and reading skills.
- Practice free writing: Free writing is an effective technique where the child writes down their ideas or simple phrases or words without paying attention to spelling or grammar. It helps with stimulating creativity and creating a smooth flow of ideas. This is beneficial to learn Arabic because it gives the child a chance to think and form ideas in Arabic. It is a great way to become fluent in the language. Practicing writing skills is an effective way to learn how to express their thoughts in any new language.
I Read Arabic app is available on both Google Play and App Store
For more info please visit: https://app.ireadarabic.com
