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Arabic · Grade 1

Arabic Sounds and Letter Forms

The starting point for reading Modern Standard Arabic. Learners see that Arabic runs right to left, meet all 28 letters through families that share one shape and differ only in their dots, train their ears on the sounds English does not have, and learn that most letters have four forms depending on where they sit in a word.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 90 minutes
  • Letters and sounds check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, highlight a text, match pairs, put in order and sort into groups
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What learners will discover

  • Read in the right direction and identify the 28 letters by name, using shape families whose members differ only in their dots (ب ت ث ن ي, ج ح خ, د ذ, ر ز, س ش, ص ض, ط ظ, ع غ, ف ق).
  • Tell apart by ear the sounds that have no English equivalent: ح and ه, ع and أ, خ and غ, ق and ك, and the heavy letters ص ض ط ظ against س د ت ذ.
  • Recognise the isolated, initial, medial and final forms of a connecting letter and find a letter in any position in a word.

Lessons

  1. Right to left, and the dot family 5 steps3 practiceabout 22 min
  2. The whole alphabet, family by family 5 steps3 practiceabout 22 min
  3. Sounds that are new for English speakers 6 steps4 practiceabout 24 min
  4. One letter, four forms 6 steps3 practiceabout 22 min
  5. Letters and sounds check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Spanish Adventure¡Hola! Learn first Spanish words through pictures, little stories and short conversations.
  • French AdventureBonjour ! Learn first French words through pictures, little stories and short conversations.
  • Arabic AdventureMarhaban! Learn first words in Modern Standard Arabic, from letter shapes to little stories.

More 1st grade world language

Guide for grown-ups