When the word ‘Quran’ is mentioned, what your child’s first reaction? Some children might initially think that learning to read the Quran is a chore and something that can’t understand, but with the right approach and encouragement, this opinion can be reversed. Reading the Quran can and should be fun and fulfilling for your child, because it will affect their life relationship with the Book of Allah. So it’s definitely a worthwhile investment of your time to figure our a few ways to make Quran time. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Connect With Their Why
Before any of us embark on any learning, it’s important to have solid and useful reasons for improving oneself in this way. With children, it is even more important to ensure they are aware of the benefits of reading the Quran, as they will be more likely to engage with the content and enjoy their lessons. One approach you may want to try, and one that is proven to work well, is to inform them that reading will give them special powers (their faith- eman- in Allah), just like a superhero.
Embrace Failure, Not Fear
Although a rewarding skill, reading the Quran, particularly in early lessons, can often be tricky and your child may feel dejected and disappointed by their slow progress. Despite this, it’s important to avoid the culture of fearing failure. Getting things wrong is a key part of this journey, as research suggests that mistakes must be made for information to truly be absorbed. It’s important that children make these mistakes in order to discover the path of self-correction.
Make it Meaningful - Literally!
Remember, that this can be an excellent opportunity to teach other important skills. As the Quran contains many abstract words which children may feel are not relevant to them, remember to detour into the meaning of words so they gain more than just a surface understanding.
Add a Timer
For a competitive element, and an exciting way to improve fluency, add a timer while students are reading or spelling aloud. You’ll find that their progress is accelerated and the lesson is much more fun.
Show Them the Word They've Just Read
An excellent way to raise your child’s confidence is to cover a word in the Qaida and then search for that same word in the Quran. Making them read this will improve their ability to independently pronounce words as many Qaidas use actual words from the Quran in their examples. It will also help endlessly with their fluency.
Celebrate the Small Wins
Remember that praise and encouragement are also very important. You should celebrate all your child’s successes, no matter how small, in order to keep their motivation high and improve their engagement and willingness to learn. It doesn’t matter whether this is with a smile, a ‘well done’ or even an edible treat.
Get Creative in Your Approach to Teaching
Although the priority is to improve reading proficiency, try to be creative in your delivery and approach. Search for Arabic alphabet songs on YouTube, look for handwriting books such as Learning Roots Scribe and help them familiarise themselves with letters from different perspectives.
(This article was originally posted on our international site at www.LearningRoots.com)
2 comments
I. Love. The. Book