Year 7Spring TermAges 11-12
Tips & Hints
Building Arabic Sentences
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You don't need to be an Arabic expert to teach your child. Consistency, encouragement, and making it fun are far more important than perfection. These tips will help you feel confident and prepared.
🏫 For Teachers
- The absence of "is/are" in Arabic nominal sentences is a lightbulb moment — "The house big" means "The house IS big". Make this explicit.
- VSO word order (verb first) will feel strange to English speakers. Use lots of physical movement to reinforce: stand up = verb, walk to = subject, pick up = object.
- Label sentence parts with colours consistently: red for verbs, blue for subjects, green for objects throughout all lessons.
- Some students will naturally want to use SVO (English order) in Arabic. Gently correct to VSO but acknowledge that both orders exist in Arabic.
🏠 For Parents
- Your child is learning about sentence structure — a concept they may not have even studied in English! This is building strong linguistic awareness.
- Ask your child: "What are the two types of Arabic sentence?" — getting them to explain builds deep understanding.
- Arabic does not use "is" or "are" — so "The cat beautiful" means "The cat is beautiful". If your child explains this, they understand!
- Encourage your child to read their Arabic sentences aloud — hearing the word order helps it feel natural.
💡 Learning Hints & Memory Tricks
- ✦Arabic has no word for "is" or "are" in the present tense. "الكتاب جديد" literally means "The-book new" but means "The book is new".
- ✦Nominal sentences start with a noun (think "name" = noun). Verbal sentences start with a verb (think "action").
- ✦In verbal sentences, Arabic puts the verb first: "Eats the boy the apple" instead of "The boy eats the apple". Think of it as action-first!