How to teach children Quran- part 2

Today’s blog post is carrying on from part 1 in the how to teach children Quran series. This post will continue to focus on how to teach Quran starting from the early stages of Qaidah.

My child knows the arabic alphabet, now what?

Before moving on to introducing harakahs, make sure that your child or student knows the alphabet properly. They should know what the letters look like as standalone letters. They should also know what the letters look like at the beginning, middle and end of a word. If they’re still struggling, use our bank of Arabic letter resources to help build up letter recognition and confidence.

Introducing Harakahs- Fatha, Kasra and Dhamma

When introducing Harakahs, start by explaining that in Arabic the letters sound different depending on what harakah (symbol) is on top/ underneath a letter.

Show them fatha (or Zabar) and tell the child that this is called Fatha. Also explain that when a Fatha is on top of a word, it makes the ‘a’ sound. 

It’s really important to emphasize not to stretch the sounds and to keep it short and sweet. I find that some children begin to stretch the letter as they try and mimic the sound of those reading the Quran (where there are words that need stretching). 

When teaching Kasra, explain that the Kasra symbol makes an ‘ee’ sound (again emphasize no stretching). Make sure that they are able to differentiate between Kasra and Fatha before moving on to Dhamma. 

I use these Fatha, Damma and Kasra cards below to help children break up the sound. These cards also allow me to make sure the child is saying each letter individually before attempting to say it altogether (as in fluently without pause between each letter). It also gives them an opportunity to learn the Harakahs in a more practical and hands-on way. 

How can I use these fatha, kasra and dhamma Arabic cards?

Please laminate for best results. You can use the cards in the following ways:

1. Kids can match the standalone letters to the joint letters- Use sticky dots for easy use
2. Get kids to practise going over the letters using a whiteboard pen. Once they’ve finished, they can swap with the person next to them
3. Keep them unlaminated and kids can have a go at finding the missing letter (see picture below for details
4. You can cut the strips short and get kids to match the standalone or joint arabic letters to the whole word

Introducing Fathatain, Kasratain and Dhammatain

When introducing Fathatain, Kasratain and Dhammatain (otherwise known as tanween), explain the symbols as double Fatha, double Kasra and double Dhamma. You can take it a step further and say that the word fathatain ends in a ‘n’ sound and so do all fathatain letters. This could potentially go over some heads but for some it might be extremely beneficial.

Kids who struggled in differentiating fatha, kasra and dhamma might also falter here. If that’s the case, just encourage them to keep practising by themselves or with someone else. I am in the process of creating resources to support mastering tanween and will Insha’Allah upload it in the upcoming weeks under Arabic Letters.

How to teach kids to read Qaidah fluently

So in the traditional sense of learning from a Qaidah, I employ the following method. 

I will call a child individually and first listen to their sabaq from the previous day. If they make a mistake, I will ask them to read the word again. After that, I will also ask them to read the line going the other way (as in from the last word to the first word). This is just so that they can really iron out any mistakes that they might be making. If they are still making quite a few mistakes, i give them the same line again and get them to repeat after me.

After they have read their previous sabaq to me, I will then go on to give them the next line. I will read each letter individually and get them to repeat after me. With some children, I can read 2 letters in a 3 letter word together, as they are more able and understand new concepts a little quicker than others.

I then listen to their back sabaq, depending on the time. If I have less time I will listen to just 1 back line and if I have more time I’ll listen to 2 or more. Going over previous sabaq is really important for kids at any beginning stage as they tend to get mixed up a bit. 

I then ask them to read and practise it independently. They do this for around 20 mins. I regularly remind them to come and ask me if they’re stuck. 

Mini assistants

Teaching children Quran can be time consuming and some days you just don’t have enough time. As my classes are mixed ages and abilities, I sometimes get the older ones (who are on Quran) to listen to the younger ones on Qaidah. The older lot love getting to listen to sabaq and take great joy in giving praise or correcting them. They do this quite well as in schools most children are taught how to give feedback to their classmates in a constructive way.

Extra support when teaching Quran

I have had a few dyslexic children that get mixed up between the harakahs. For these kids and for those who need additional support, I use these Malaysian Qaidahs. These Qaidahs are fantastic as they have pages and pages of letters with fatha, kasra and Dhamma.

If a child’s reading is continually slow, inefficient and erroneous then they may be experiencing visual stress and could potentially have Dyslexia. For Dyslexic kids, I have a few blue overlays that they are welcome to use. 

However before asking a child to use an overlay, please check with both parent and child to see if the overlay actually helps them with their reading. Asking a parent if their child is dyslexic is probably not the best way to do this. They might just need additional support or they might not have had the diagnosis from their school. I would probably ask the parent if their child struggles to read letters, words or books in school. For some children, the overlays might have little to no impact, which is something to keep in mind.

I hope this post on how to teach children Quran has helped you in some way. Insha Allah, I will be continuing this series to include teaching kids how to join letters with Saakin and Tashdeed. Also upcoming is a tajweed series which will include tips and resources for each tajweed rule.

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