”Making reading a fun activity through storytime helps encourage “print motivation”- i.e. the association of story-telling with excitement to develop the idea of reading as a pleasure and not a chore.
Tom Brunohttps://medium.com/everylibrary/library-storytime-its-a-lot-more-than-just-the-story-c1aaf978aa29
If you have the inkling of starting an Arabic group, I highly encourage you to do so! It is a great way to do the following two things (1) expose your child to Arabic outside of your home and (2) help you network with other parents who are also interested in teaching their kids that language and potentially the culture. Kids learn the language is useful to others and you feel connected. It’s a win-win!
Here’s are the basic steps!
STEP ONE: DECIDE ON A TIME AND PLACE that works for you (the organizer) and one maybe two acquaintances or friends. My motto is “If we build it they will come and if they don’t, we’ll have fun anyway”. The schedule has to work for you if you are going to sustain your efforts. Plus, there is no way to make it fit everybody’s schedule. If someone loves the idea , he/she will make it work.
As for places, we used our own living rooms and local libraries, which had public meeting spaces that we reserved in advance. If none of those is an option, check out your local community center, look through local ParentMap children’s magazines to see where other language meet-ups are happening, or ask around on social media to see if local friends have ideas for where you can meet. For toddler circle time you really just need a carpeted quiet-ish space to sit in a circle. The less distractions the better. Having tables and chairs are not necessary but are great if you plan to do crafts or snacks.
STEP TWO: PLAN YOUR STORY TIME. Story times are generally for children ages two to six – roughly preschool age. You will want a quick generic opening song to get the kids settled into the circle and then a warm-up welcome song. And then you will want to be prepared to do a mix of gross motor activities (where the children are standing up and moving along with you (e.g. head, shoulders, knees and toes), itsy-bitsy spider, 1,2 counting song, flower/counting song) , finger play (fine motor) where the kids are sitting but still using their hands to follow along (also Itsy Bitsy Spider, although you can make this gross motor, too, Old MacDonald with toy farm animals) and stories. I personally like to do stories in Arabic that the kids are likely to already know in English (e.g. The Gingerbread Man, Pete the Cat) – you will find those in the ArabishWay Treasurer Chest here. This way the kids whose Arabic is not as strong can follow along. It’s much less work and they can anticipate what’s going to happen.
Please remember: Kids often reject activities so they don’t have to sit in the discomfort of not understanding. Be ready to throw English in regularly – sandwiching in between the Arabic words repeated or jump in earlier rather than later help with words. Struggling in circle time will not make them stronger speakers, it will make them hate the language.
If you want books written in Arabic, Arabic Book-A-Month has some great books in Arabic to choose from! Try and use books where the pictures explain the story.
Thirty to 45 minutes is the maximum length I would commit too. I like to close with a goodbye song and a sticker or stamp prize for the kids.
Do build in some social time for parents to connect, exchange information afterwards. You could do this by offering a snack, working on the kids using their Arabic to ask for more and say please and thank you.
STEP THREE: SPREAD the WORD. If you have a large enough personal reach, invite your friends. You can also ask the place where you are hosting if they publicize events. And consider creating a Facebook Event or list it in your local Parent Map or Red Tricycle (both are free).
If you feel you do not have the enough Arabic to lead then STEP FOUR: CONSIDER POOLING FUNDS TO HIRE SOMEONE TO LEAD (ideally someone with childhood education experience). We collected money and paid some young native speakers who were good with kids to come and lead the group. When I gained a little more confidence and when my children were old enough to follow along without assistance, I decided to lead the groups myself. Other groups have parents rotate the responsibility, though it is challenging to lead and have your children there with you.
It is a lot of fun! And the ArabishWay Treasure Chest has other ideas for filling that 30 minutes! There are tons of resources on line (here is another post about starting a story time by Maktabatee, and this one about the benefits of story times from Medium.com for example). I believe these are so important that I am also happy to work with anyone one-on-one who is interested in setting up a circle time or story time in their area. Call me 425-242-1211 or email me at Arabishway at gmail.com with questions or to set up a time to chat.
Yella! You can do it!
