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BAITI BAITUKUM By Umm Sulaimaan  LEARNING
AAs I learned recently with my daughters, six-year-old Asiya, eight-year-old Amaani and nine-year-old Hadiyyah, it doesn't take much to get kids going. We started speaking Arabic spontaneously at home when I had made an Egyptian meal for dinner. As I was setting out the ingredients, I named them in Arabic. Suddenly, half in English and half in Arabic, the kids were asking "min fadlik" and "shukran," for "ruz," "khubaz," "lahm" and "salata." Not long after, we were at our favorite Arabic restaurant when Asiya wanted to know how to ask in Arabic for a glass of water and dessert. A little hesitant, she sidled up to the counter and shyly asked, "Irjooka, mumkin maa' wa halwa?" She then returned to the table, glowing with pleasure at having made herself understood. If you are like us, you and your kids will probably end up speaking your own unique family version of whatever language you choose, with a generous helping of mistakes and English mixed in. Since I began learning after my first child was born. I found that the more I knew the more my children learned. This started me on my quest for success. Now I can clearly see that my last two sons: Siddiq 2 1/2 years-old and Sulaimaan 4 1/2-years-old are far ahead of their sisters because it is all around them on a daily basis. The two boys rarely even speak English at home, so you see Arabic has become their First Language almost! Teaching your kids to have fun with a foreign language while they are young will go a long way toward helping them feel good about more structured language learning, whenever they get to it. The following activities are based on our experiences with Arabic, but they can be adapted to whatever language you are familiar with. You don't need much language study under your belt--basic high school or college language courses are enough. The level you start at is so simple that you will need only the most basic review to feel comfortable. You may search our site and find wonderful programs to fit your needs. From there, the material you teach your kids will depend on you and them: What you are ready to teach, what they want to learn, and whether there are situations in which they can use the words they have mastered. I have worked with my five children and a couple of their friends in a series of short, playful, physically active lessons, and I have followed up with lots of reinforcement over the breakfast table, at the grocery store and especially at restaurants. My rule of thumb for each lesson is to present only a small amount of new material, to break the lesson into short segments, and always to include a game and some shake-it-up movement. Also, no lesson is complete without a snack and a drink--the way to kids' language learning is through their stomachs. Be creative!!
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