Teaching Children the Six Kalimas Without Turning It Into Homework

One at a time, and the first one for a long time

The six are usually taught as a set, because that is how they are printed. Taught as a set to a young child, they become six similar-sounding paragraphs, and the child learns to produce whichever one the teacher asks for without knowing what any of them say.

The first Kalima is short, it is the one they will hear most often in their life, and it carries the whole idea. A child who has it properly at six has plenty of years for the other five.

Meaning before memorising

1. 1

   Say what it means, in their language

   Before a word of Arabic. Plain English or Urdu, in a sentence a six-year-old would use.

2. 2

   Then the sound

   The teacher says a short piece, the child repeats, until the mouth is comfortable. This is where the Qaida work pays off.

3. 3

   Then the whole

   Joined up, slowly, then at normal speed.

4. 4

   Then the use

   Said at bedtime, or on the way to school. A Kalima that lives only in the lesson is one the child loses over the summer.

If you do not speak Arabic yourself

You do not need to. Your job is the first step and the last one -- the meaning, and the habit. The teacher handles the pronunciation. Ask your child what it means, not whether they can say it, and you will find out quickly whether it went in.

• Ask for the meaning once a week, never as a test, always as a conversation.
• Say it together at a fixed moment, such as bedtime.
• Let a wrong word go in the moment and mention it to the teacher instead.
• Do not add the second Kalima because the first is going well. Wait.

Where this sits in the lessons

The Kalimas are part of Islamic Studies, which runs inside the same 30-minute lesson as Quran reading here rather than as an extra class. Most families give it the last ten minutes. The teacher will tell you after each lesson what was covered.

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