The verb in Arabic includes the following items of information:
Meaning
Time reference
Gender reference
Grammar case [mabni/murab]
Number
Subject-verb agreement [SVA], therefore, is an agreement of gender and number. Of course this is the case only when the verb follows the doer [subject] of the verb but not when the verb precedes the doer.
Look at the charts below and notice how [ا], [و], [ي] and [ن] function as indicators of gender and number suffixed to the verb.
When the verb precedes the subject the verb is either singular masculine or singular feminine.
Now you can do this quiz to check your understanding of the Subject-Verb agreement.
Subject Verb Agreement
Try to complete the sentence with the correct form of verb that agrees with
the subject [pronoun] given.
This quiz can be used as a reading exercise of simple sentences. It can also be used to introduce and test colour words. The teacher/ parent can assess the progress of the learner using this quiz.
This quiz is for beginners. It depends on the illustration with each question. In addition to the prepositions of place, this quiz includes colour words, too.
Prepositions of Place
Look at the image and complete the sentence with the correct preposition.
This is a collection of cards for playing and testing. These cards can also be used to introduce new words of vegetables and fruits and revising the ones the learners already know. Actually, they are designed to teach rather than to test. Each card includes one word naming a vegetable or a fruit along with three images of three food items. The learner is supposed to make guesses with the first few cards. After several attempts with a few cards the learner will figure out that some images are repeated in a way that they are left with one option to match the word with the new image. This is called indirect teaching or learning. The learner is not being spoon-fed the information but the information is being put in a certain way that they have to workout the sequence and relation between the words and the images. To achieve the teaching objective, it is recommended that the teacher/parent ask questions about the three items even if the learner knows the answer straight away. Naming the other two items on the same card will be an introduction for the coming slides. Hence, the learner is learning new items through graduation and repetition. The names of the fruits and vegetables are indirectly and gradually introduced and then repeated in a systematic way that the learner will not make an effort to guess the next answer. Some cards are made to surprise the learner and invalidate the image orders they may have got familiar with to guess the answer and therefore, the learner will focus on the language aspect rather than their mere calculation of the sequence and order of the images.
For example consider cards [1,2,3]:
Card 1 reads: [تفاح ] apples and the three images are [spinach, apples and mushroom]
Card 2 read : [سبانخ ] spinach and the three images are [carrots, mushroom and spinach]
Card 3 reads; [فطر ] mushroom and the three images are [ mushroom, carrots, and cucumber].
The word [فِطر ] mushroom occurred twice in card 1 and card 2 as an image and a sound (if the parent/teacher does as recommended above) before it occurs as the question in card 3 where the learner has to link the script to the image after he/she has heard the word from the teacher/parent twice.
The gallery below shows samples of the cards. To download the whole collection as a PDF file with high resolution scroll down to the end of this page.
apples
spinach
mushroom
carrots
cucumber
onions
dates
green pepper
This collection can be downloaded for a donation (1.00 to £3.00) . Choose the amount you would like to pay for this collection. Once it is downloaded teachers/parents can print as many copies as they want.
This PDF is a collection of forty cards designed as postcards with a stamp to make it more exotic and attractive to learners. The collection can be used to teach young and adult learners the names of fruit and vegetables. The collection can be used as well to empower the memory and enhance the photo memory.
today [اليوم] ( remember to refer to [الـ] as the definite article which makes the word ‘day‘ means ‘today‘.
tomorrow [غداً ]
the day after tomorrow [بعدَغدٍ ]
yesterday [أمسِ، البارحة ]
the day before yesterday [أولأمسِ ، أولالبارحة ]
last night [الليلةالماضية ، ليلةأمس ، ليلةالبارحة ]
tomorrow night [ليلةغد ]
The best way to introduce days of the week is to use a calendar. Start with the word ‘today’ and repeat the simple sentence ‘ today is …‘ [اليوم ….] pointing to the day on the calendar sheet you are using. Ask the students to answer the simple question ‘ What day is today?‘ [ ما هو اليوم؟]. When you become sure that the students have understood what you are saying, extend by replacing ‘today’ with ‘yesterday’ or ‘tomorrow’. Go on till you do two past days and two next days. By this stage your students will have learned five days.
If your students have already studied the numbers, it is very helpful to refer to the names of the days and their relation to numbers.
Sunday [الأحد] = one [واحد ]
Monday [الإثنين]= two [اثنين ]
Tuesday [الثلاثاء]= three [ثلاث ]
Wednesday [الأربعاء ]= four [أربعة ]
Thursday [الخميس ]= five [خمسة ]
It is important to remind the students that days in Arabic can be prefixed with the definite article [الـ], Unlike days in English.
Also, in Arabic, it is optional to use the word ‘day’ [يوم] with the name of the day, unlike the names of the days in English because the word ‘day’ is already suffixed to the name of the day.
ch). It is very good for all types of classroom activities, including pair and group work. The collection includes various versions of the same puzzle which helps teachers print and use different versions of the same topic for each group in the classroom.
Head parts are fun to learn and fun to teach as there are many games that involve the senses. As you know the head is the place for four of the senses: smell, hearing, sight and taste. Introducing the parts of the head is as simple as ABC as the teacher can use body language to introduce the names of these parts without the need for further explanation or illustrations.
If the teacher or parent wants to go further, they can teach some relevant verbs such as:
hear [يسمع ]
smell [ يشم]
see [يرى ]
taste [يتذَوَّق ]
eat [يأكل ]
open [يفتح ], open! [إفتح ـ إفتحوا -إفتحي ] imperative
close [ يغلق], close![أغلق – أغلقوا – أغلقي ] imperative
The teacher can also go further and explain the dual in Arabic [ المثنى].
It is good to know and tell the students that all organs in the human body which are pairs, the singular of each is considered feminine [مؤنث] such as: ear, eye, kidney, lung and so on. Other organs in the body are considered masculine [مذكَّر].
Therefore, these words are feminine though they don’t end in taa marbouta [ة]:
eye [عين], both eyes [عينان].
ear [أذن ], both ears [أذنان].
Here is a chart of the parts of the head in Arabic. For high resolutions, you can download the file as a PDF by clicking here.
Click on the image below to do an interactive quiz about head parts.
Learning the body parts is one of the most important and fun things young learners can do during their basic learning of a language. Their body parts are the closest objects they can be sure of as they are theirs and they use them with no interference of adults. Therefore, they are always excited to learn about them and speak about them. Also, it is noticeable that they learn the names of these parts quickly and more easily than other relatively easy and basic topics as ‘family members’ and ‘colours’.
Here is an illustration from Lisan Arabi of the body parts that you can print in all sizes. It is designed to suit schools and homes. Teachers can print this illustration in large sizes ( poster or A3 ) and put it in the classroom or in the bulletin board for learners to see or get back to if they need to check a word. Parents, too, can print off this illustration in a small or big size and put it up in a place where the child can see it properly (in the kitchen or in the child’s room).
This illustration is also designed to help parents/teachers introduce the moon and sun letters in Arabic.
The cards or slides in this pages can be used for evaluation and also can be used to practise :
Listening: by using a screen or a data projector, the teacher can hide the Arabic script and read the sentence and the 3 distractors to the students and ask them to choose the answer. The teacher here can use classroom language in Arabic to elaborate suing expressions such as: “ما رأيك؟” ” هل هذه الإجابة مناسبة؟” to motivate and encourage students to speak up and thus, the activity becomes a speaking one, too.
Reading for speaking: The teacher can ask the students to read the sentence and the 3 distractors and try to find the answer. The teacher can elaborate and ask the students questions about other images in the quiz emphasising the “What” and “Where” to get the students using the same sentence structure to describe other images. Here some new items of vocabulary can be introduced by asking the students to guess the meaning of other items of vocabulary and why they choose their answers.
Reading for writing: The teacher can ask the students to read the sentence and try to find the answer and write description of the other images using the same sentence structure. Once the students have grasped the meaning of words, the structure of the sentence, the teacher can ask them to work in pairs asking each other using “Where?” and “What?”. Here the teacher can conceal the Arabic script and ask the students to use different names of the subject of each sentence writing sentences about ‘family members’, for instance.
These cards/slides can be used by Arab parents who want to help their children maintain or develop their Arabic in a non-Arabic speaking country.
Click on the image to download in high resolutions
This worksheet includes a full lesson. The lesson includes:
A short introduction about Nazik Almalika
A translation of one of her poems ( The Night Asks Who I am)
Both Arabic an English texts are provided
Grammar hints with examples and explanation
Questions that suit all learning styles.
Audio for the reading of the poem can be provided if requested.
This worksheet includes a full lesson. The lesson includes:
A short introduction about Nazik Almalika
A translation of one of her poems ( The Night Asks Who I am)
Both Arabic an English texts are provided
Grammar hints with examples and explanation
Questions that suit all learning styles.
Audio for the reading of the poem can be provided if requested.
