Any arabic speakers help me help my DD?

[Cathpot]

Hi- we have recently moved overseas and my daughter is learning arabic as her second language at school- she is 7. I don't have any arabic. She is very keen but 2 weeks in, very lost. The books they use in the lessons are entirely in arabic so I can't help there. I have downloaded an app to help her learn the alphabet but I can't work out if the alphabet we are trying to learn are the letter sounds or the letter names. So for instance the letter jeem - is that the sound it would make if we saw it in a word or is that the name of the letter and it says a different sound? She did ask the teacher for help today but she still didn't get it and then was too embarrassed to ask again. She has come home a bit upset and I don't want her to be put off as she was really excited about learning the language. The other children in the class are obviously well ahead of her as this isn't their first year. Any help at all would be great!

[aroomofonesown]

How wonderful for your daughter to learn Arabic! My 6 year old DS also started learning it when we were overseas and I am so sad that she's now back in the UK with crummy old French on offer when Arabic would be so much more useful and indeed interesting. My DS's Arabic lessons were entirely taught in Arabic (no English) and whilst she didn't do much as we were not there long enough, we found help from 1) other Arabic speaking kids and people and Muslims she and I made friends with on the compound and through school and 2) BBC Arabic language website and 3) good old Google Translate. Keep it going habibi! There are tons of Arabic speakers in the world (so same basis as Spanish and Mandarin are justified) but with the added bonus of being an even more global language and from countries with economic clout for investment!

[Archfarchnad]

Could you afford a private tutor to come round once a week and help her catch up? Perhaps a tutor who also speaks English so s/he can explain the grammar in a way your DD will understand.

[BananaPie]

Jeem is the name of the letter - it makes a similar sound to our letter "j" (unless in Egypt in which case it's pronounced like our hard "g"). So "jeem" means "jay" if you see what I mean. Good luck!

[Cathpot]

Thank you for replies- yes I am very pleased for her to be doing arabic, just feels odd not being able to help. Bannana pie - that makes more sense now- I need to find the letter sounds as well so we can learn them along side each other. So far everywhere I look online only does the letter names. I will ask around at the school gate as well- sensible suggestion, I was just in a flap last night as she came home upset.

[Cathpot]

Just had a quick peek at that bbc site- looks great

[veiledsentiments]

Do NOT use goole translate. It doesn't work and will give you a load of old rubbish that noone would ever say.

[JoandMax]

See if there's anything her teachers can recommend to help. My 6 year old does Arabic at school and they use a website to support the lessons - it will have the English/Arabic letter, the pronunciation etc

Also, any Arabic friends, ask them or the mum! My sons best friend is a native Arabic speaker and they have helped us loads.

[NotCitrus]

Memrise has some fun games to learn beginners Arabic for free, starting with the alphabet. Each letter looks a bit different depending on whether it's at the start, middle or end of a word.
Also printed letters have got more standardised in the last 20 years whereas they used to look more handwritten, so older books are harder to decide until you get used to it - I could read words in Whitwick & Ghafar's course books fine, but had trouble with books my dad used to learn in the 90s.

[Cathpot]

Hi- yes reading on the Internet I saw reference to the letters changing depending on position but the thought of sorting that out at the moment completely tipped me over the edge. I will go and have a chat with their arabic teacher as well but we are only 2 weeks in and I don't want to flap about it too much. The non- arabic speaking class teacher told me they follow a scheme of standard arabic when I talked to her about it so hopefully the letters will be the easier version. She is lovely but also in the dark!

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

My DC are learning Arabic as DH is Algerian. This book was a good starting point to get familiar with the alphabet.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0954750969/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1414140992&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

It's written for non Arabic speakers unlike my DC's text books which are entirely in Arabic so I leave it to DH.

[Cathpot]

Thanks- I have ordered it.