It is this time of the year, when children are out of school and at risk of falling behind. Studies show the importance of continued practice, especially for students of Foreign Languages. 

Over the years, Alefb stood by you and constantly offered group workshops during the Summer, as well as 1-on-1 Arabic classes with native speakers and local teachers. A good way to continue to speak and listen to Arabic in a playful way!

Thankfully, this year some of our students have also the opportunity to travel to their parents home country in the Summer, and /or to host some native family members in their own homes. Don’t be shy and speak with them Bil Arabi!

Here are some hints:
– Have your children create a blog, a vlog or a journal: kids and parents alike will contribute their pictures, souvenirs, and best moments of the summer in Arabic.
– Send us photos of your vacation with captions Bil Arabi, in the comment section!
– Read to and with your children. We recommend our interactive storybook “Dunia Fi Lubnan”, accessible for free from the Play &Learn tab on our website. Find it here.
– Play card games, board games, during down time. You will find ideas in the Play & Learn tab on our website. Click here.
– Watch trailers, or short movies in the target language, together. This is good way to engage in interesting debates. One source could be YouTube of course, Netflix, or AFMI (Arab Film and Media Institute). We encourage you to find “The Present” nominated for the Oscars this year, recommended for 12years and up.
– Listen to music and watch clips, have your child to recognize some words previously learned, and count them together.
– If you’re visiting a country in the Arab world, take a trip with the kids to a public library, a bookstore, and pick some books together.
– Enroll in Alefb’s Online Summer group workshops, you will find amazing themes on our website from tech to composting and cooking all Bil Arabi, and finally ….
– We challenge you to do this:
Change your language settings to the target language, on your laptop and phone! Show your kids that you are totally committed to Arabic like them:) On both Facebook and Twitter, you will still be able to read status updates or tweets in their original language but menus, buttons and other parts of the websites will be in whatever language you select. Similarly, with many phones or computers, you can change the language settings. Ever wondered what a “tweet” or “poke” is in Arabic? Here is your chance to find out!
[Adapted from Rebekah Stathakis, author of A Good Start: 147 Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class.]