Infographic: Why Are You Teaching Your Children Arabic?

When learning a new language, it is important to first answer the question "Why do you want to learn this?" Arabic is a vast and diverse language, and the reasons for learning it can be just as diverse as the language itself.

For the Arabic speaking diaspora outside the Middle East, it is no secret that most parents and teachers face many challenges when teaching Arabic to children.  You can reach a certain point with teaching the Alef Ba Ta (ABCs) and decoding reading skills, but after that the learning path becomes somewhat unclear.

At this point, you have to ask yourself these questions. Do you only want them to be able to read the Quraan and prform Islamic rituals? Is your priority to teach them how to read and write to be able to learn about their history and culture? Or is your main concern to help them communicate with their grandparents and extended family back home? 

If you are like me, most likely your goal is to accomplish all three. I would like to think that is not impossible for our second and third generation immigrant children. We just have to break up our targets and approach them accordingly.

We will get there! 

This infographic shows how the different versions of Arabic relate to different learning goals and what type of learning activities can be used to achieve these goals. 

Remember that the different varieties are complementary to each other and are not meant to be learned independently of each other. The idea is knowing that you can teach using different activities that suit your target at a certain phase of the child's learning journey. The hope is that as they advance in their language learning, they will become more confident in communicating with the Arabic language in any situation. 

Are you a parent or a teacher teaching your children Arabic? What are your thoughts?