Let’s move away from rote learning of Arabic

I spent the last few weeks talking to many parents and teachers to understand the challenges we face when it comes to learning Arabic in the classroom but at the same time I couldn’t leave out the ‘heroes’. I must confess that the latter ended up being my favourite experience. Talking with the little ones brought a clear perspective to the problem that Arabic poses for non-Arabic speaking expatriates.

For all that we focused on earlier - the problems, the innumerable challenges, the speed breakers - it was enlightening to see how children start off by being truly open-minded and excited about learning. While most of those I spoke with did find learning Arabic a challenge, none of them were opposed to the idea of learning the language to begin with. For the little ones in kindergarten and Grade 1 who were just starting out, it was all a part of the school experience. There was no laboured thinking, no mental or emotional baggage they carried to and from the classroom. As simple as that.

So, the question is, if a child starts off with eagerness and enthusiasm to learn a language, what happens along the way to make him percieve it as a problem? When does the learning of Arabic turn from being a natural part of learning into an experience of resistance and worry? What happens to make a child see it as a duty by rote rather than a discovery of a new dimension of communication?

Sumi Mathew, a parent of child who is learning Arabic in school, says, “Growing up, I remember how much I resisted learning Arabic in school. All we did was try to cope. We learnt entire lessons by heart and wrote the pronunciation of the words in English and understood nearly nothing. After learning the language for 10 years, I can neither speak nor understand anything and I regret not knowing more now.” She, like many other parents, has faced the dilemma in the past and now hopes things will be better for her son who is just starting to learn the language. “For me and my classmates, there was no motivation to learn,” says Mathew. “Our teacher would just ask one of the children to read and then perhaps even doze off. We didn’t learn because no one was really teaching us.”

The quality of teaching and the attitude of the teacher impacts hugely on how Arabic is perceived. Most children, especially the smaller ones, decide if they like Arabic or not based on how they feel about their teacher. “Last year, my teacher was very strict and I couldn’t even ask her any questions. I was scared. But this year, I love Arabic. My teacher smiles all the time and I can ask her anything,” says my 7-year-old daughter, Keya.

Ethan Daniel Rego, who has just started Grade 1, agrees, “I don’t like Arabic. My teacher is very strict. The letters are very hard to learn and I can’t write them. Sometimes, though, when my teacher plays an Arabic alphabet song, I like that.”

There’s no arguing the role teachers play in creating and sustaining interest in Arabic or for that matter, in any subject or art form. But situations are not perfect and we can’t always have the perfect teacher. But that does not do away with the fact that we still need to engage in effective learning for our children.

That is why I believe we need to focus on the teaching methodology. Children naturally, and organically, love to learn. From the time they are born, they are constantly learning and absorbing from their environment and experiences. It’s when exploration and discovery is subdued and replaced by handing down of information that the alarm bells go off.

I spoke to Lubna Sarwar, an educationist passionate about using creative and stimulating methods of learning in the classroom and we both agree on how vital it is to focus on the methodology of instruction. As things stand, a teacher-student relationship seems to set the pace for how well a child learns. If this relationship is poorly defined, the learning process is compromised. Content, which is equally a part of the learning process, therefore takes secondary place and is danger of becoming almost irrelevant.

It is from this rather dismal reality that hope arises. If we can keep up with the times and introduce innovative games, fun projects, show-and-tell means, music, dance and more conversation in the classroom, and simultaneously expand the horizon of learning so children can be encouraged to also learn on their own and from their environment, suddenly, the methodology defines the interest level. Once an interest is created, sustenance is a natural outcome.

“My teacher puts on Arabic cartoons for us and I hear some of the words that we learnt in class,” says 7-year-old Dishita.

“Sometimes, my teacher puts on Arabic music and we dance to it. It’s such fun,” laughs Zara-May, 7, who clearly enjoys learning the language. “We also speak Arabic in class so now I can understand quite a bit. I like talking to my friends in Arabic. Some of them know more so they teach me the words I don’t understand. I also try to teach my mum how to read the letters.”

“I teach my younger sister Arabic and I help my mum by taking up her dictation,” says Dishita’s elder sister Dipita.

As these children’s views prove, learning a language is an incomplete exercise if it cannot be used as a tool of communication. If only more conversations in Arabic were encouraged among children, learning would go a long way. Students would find their lessons to have true resonance outside of the classroom. After all, language is for communication and it is through communication that we can learn effectively.

Says 12-year-old Nathan, “We speak English during the Arabic class and our teacher translates everything in English so we can understand.” “I can read and write Arabic but I can’t understand very much. Although we don’t speak Hindi or Arabic at home, I know Hindi better because we speak Hindi in class so I understand it easily,” Nathan continues.

He, like so many other children I spoke to, understood their third language much better.

“I like Arabic but I prefer French because we talk French in French class and it’s fun,” says 9-year-old Anshita Hedge.

Sarwar believes that contextualising a language is key to its proper understanding and usage. “We need to make sure that we contextualise Arabic. Expose children to its usage. Even more so because the interaction with the language on the street is so limited.”

I agree. If we can stimulate learning through simple but effective ways like encouraging children to take what they have learnt in the classroom to the outside world and also bring what they see and learn outside into the classroom, learning by rote will soon be an extinct device.

If we can empower our children and believe in their instinctive nature and ability to grasp, then all we need to do is encourage:

1) Exposure to culture, heritage, conversations, poetry, art, history thereby making the language relevant and alive for them.

2) Learning by themselves by collecting words and creating their own dictionaries.

3) Pushing them to teach what they have learnt and thereby increase their own confidence.

4) Having bits of conversation in class through role-play and acting.

5) Having fun and creativity.

6) Sense of involvement.

Learning Arabic is not about ascribing it a personal idea of its usefulness or non-usefulness. Instead, it’s about recognising the immense opportunity it offers to discover a whole new world.

We can start by making it fun to learn.