Arabic 12 Days of Christmas Nursery Rhyme {Resource}

December 24, 2019December 24, 2019 | acraftyarab

I translated the Twelve Days Of Christmas into Arabic as Christians around the globe celebrate Christmas Eve tonight, including the 25+ million in the Arab world.

In most Western traditions, Christmas Day is considered the “First Day of Christmas” and the Twelve Days are 25 December – 5 January. Many Arab Christians follow this calendar.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is an rhyme that is sung by children as a cumulative song. This means you say one verse, then include it in the next line as well, building up to the final verse when you repeat all the verses together. Each verse contains a series of increasingly grand gifts, given by a loved one on each of the twelve days of Christmas.

This is how it’s sung in Arabic

Fi alyawm alawal min eid almilad
 Habi alhaqiqi ursil li
  
 Alhajl fi shajarat alkumuthraa
 Hamamatan barryatan
 Talatu dagaagat faransiyyah
 Arbau tuiur tugrrid
 Hamsu hauatim dahbiyyah 
 Sittu wazzat tabiid
 Sabu bagat tasbah
 Tamani gaariat yahlibuun
 Tsiu nisaa yarqusun
 Asratu asiad yaqfizuun
 Ahda asar zammarun yuzamirun
 Itnaa asar tabbal yutabilun

 On the first day of Christmas 
 My true love sent to me
  
 A partridge in a pear tree
 Two turtle doves
 Three French hens
 Four calling birds
 Five gold rings
 Six geese a-laying
 Seven swans a-swimming
 Eight maids a-milking
 Nine ladies dancing
 Ten lords a-leaping
 Eleven pipers piping
 Twelve drummers drumming

You can download it for free here.

Stop by these other Arabic fun educational posts:

Arabic ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ Nursery Rhyme {Resource}

Arabic ‘Head, Shoulders, Tummy & Feet’ Nursery Rhyme {Resource}

Visit A Crafty Arab on Pinterst to see more tutorials to teach Arabic to toddlers or check out these

Learning Arabic In A Flash {Review}

December 12, 2019January 18, 2020 | acraftyarab

I recently received Arabic educational materials from Tuttle Publishing to review. They have a vast selection of language products from the Middle East and North Africa.

These materials could not have come at a better time, while I am improving my Arabic to head back to Morocco and my teen starts her winter break soon. We received four items total, so I’d like to break down how each one worked or didn’t work for us.

The workbook Salamaat! Learning Arabic with Ease: Learn the Basic Building Blocks of Modern Standard Arabic was designed as the first building block once you master the Arabic alphabet. It does not teach you how to connect the letters or how they are pronounced, but rather helps with sentence structure and learning the gender endings of words. The book was a little advanced for my daughter but perfect for me that I found myself taking it along on bus trips to work on worksheets. The book came with a CD of conversations which my daughter found more useful, to help hear how letters and words sound.

We also received two flashcard kits that help learn Arabic words with cards and an index booklets. Volume 1 starts easy with the first 28 cards devoted to the alphabet. Each card has four ways in which that letter is used in different words. After the alphabet, the cards have an Arabic word on the front with four derivations. On the back are the same words, but with corresponding English translation. There is also a sample sentence using the main word. The kit comes with a 32 page booklet.

Volume 2 has 448 more flashcards and includes a 48 page booklet with more key abbreviations and pronunciation guide. The cards in both kits come wrapped in a paper band, but there is a number in the upper left corner to help keep track of them all once the band is broken. The index included in both booklets has the words alphabetical in English, but gives the number on the card so they are easy to find.

We also received a little Survival Arabic Phrasebook & Dictionary: How to communicate without fuss or fear INSTANTLY! guidebook. My daughter loved the drawings inside, set up like comic strips, that showed various conversations. I loved how easy the words were to read and that many were in both Romanized form as well as authentic Arabic script to help with pronunciations.

Whether you decide to buy all four of these together, or each one alone, on your path to learning Arabic, they would make a great addition to any classroom or home use.

Arabic Chalkboard Vase {Tutorial}

December 10, 2019December 11, 2019 | acraftyarab

I sneak in Arabic around our house as often as I can and this chalkboard vase allows me a chance to do it with names of Arabic colors.

I received the chalkboard paint as a Plaid Ambassador and have used it before on multiple projects around our home. We added it to my daughter’s lunchbox so I can leave her messages, we painted it on a lazy suzan so I can write down what we were having and used it as a writing block.

We’ve used it on several other projects as well that are listed on the bottom and it is really great how there is still so much left to do with that little bottle.

Follow along as we used chalkboard paint to help learn our Arabic colors.

Supplies

Make sure your glass vase has been cleaned and is thoroughly dry before you apply the tape. We didn’t measure where to put it, just about a few inches from the bottom.

Tear off the tape to make sure there is overlap, then go over with your fingertips to remove any air bubbles. Especially around the bottom edge.

Use the sponge brush to add the chalkboard paint to the glass vase. We waited a few hours, then added another coat. Then another.

We left the vase alone for a few days, then followed the instructions on the paint bottle on how to condition our surface.

Once we wiped all the chalk off, our vase was ready to use. Here I’ve written the Arabic for white flower: زهرة بيضاء

Reminder: Arabic is read right to left, so زهرة is Arabic for flower and بيضاء is Arabic for white.

I have to admit that it is a bit harder to write on a rounded surface, but with time, I think I can get it down. Now when we change out the white flower for a different one next week, I can practice again on that color.