← All programs العربية Ages 2–3 First Words & Tales Every word a child gains is a door to the world.
A warm, talk-rich journey into first words — naming the world, putting feelings into language, telling tiny tales, and playing with rhyme — growing two tongues at once, English and Arabic.
👨👩👧 For parents: Your child grows a rich first vocabulary in both English and Arabic — naming the world, putting feelings into words, telling tiny tales, and playing with rhyme. Talk-rich play now is the deepest root of reading, confidence, and connection later.
Language Acquisition Cognitive Emotional Intelligence Storytelling Play-based Sensory exploration Role-play
6 · 3 · 25 — weeks · sessions/week · min/session
Learning objectives Name at least 10 everyday objects, in English and Arabic. Language Acquisition · remember Use a word to say how they feel (happy, sad, tired). Emotional Intelligence · apply Retell a 3-step tiny tale in the right order. Language Acquisition · understand Modules 1 2 3 ✨ 🦉 Big idea: Everything has a name — in two tongues.
🔬 Why this works: Rich "serve-and-return" talk and labeling drive early vocabulary, the strongest predictor of later literacy (Harvard Center on the Developing Child). Naming each thing in both languages builds two lexicons at once — the additive-bilingualism advantage (Cummins).
☾ The gift of names — And He taught Adam the names, all of them — words are a gift we use with care. (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:31)
Picture & Word Play-based · 12m
Toddlers match a picture to its first word and say it in both languages.
▶ Show me how ❓ Question What is this? Say it your way — then we say it in both tongues.↳ Facilitator cue: Repeat their word back, expanded: "Yes — a red apple!" Never correct, only enrich.
↳ Support: Offer two pictures and let them point to the one you name.
↳ Stretch: Add a describing word: big, red, soft.
🎯 Challenge Can you find something that begins with "ba" — ball / كرة?↳ Facilitator cue: Stretch the first sound so the mouth feels it: "b–b–ball".
↳ Support: Point near two objects so the choice is small.
↳ Stretch: Find a second thing that starts the same way.
My Word Page Play-based · 12m
Toddlers draw three favourite things and name each in both tongues.
▶ Show me how 🎨 Create Draw something you love, and tell me its name.↳ Facilitator cue: Write their word beside the drawing so they see speech become print.
↳ Support: Offer a few ideas if they pause: a pet, a fruit, a toy.
↳ Stretch: Say the name in your other language too.
❓ Question Which is your favourite word today? Why?↳ Facilitator cue: Celebrate the reason; loving a word makes it stick.
↳ Support: Point to two pictures and let them choose.
↳ Stretch: Use your favourite word in a little sentence.
😊 🤝 🕊️ Big idea: I can say how I feel.
🔬 Why this works: Affect labeling — giving a feeling a word — calms the brain’s alarm centre (Lieberman, UCLA) and is the root of self-regulation. Emotion words are vocabulary and wellbeing in one lesson.
Name the Feeling Role-play · 12m
Toddlers match a face to a feeling word and show it on their own face.
▶ Show me how 🌙 Reflect Which face is you right now? What is its name?↳ Facilitator cue: Accept any answer warmly; mirror the feeling-word back to them.
↳ Support: Offer two faces to choose between.
↳ Stretch: Say one thing that made the feeling come.
💬 Discuss When do you feel happy? Let us say it in a sentence.↳ Facilitator cue: Model a full sentence they can borrow: "I feel happy when…".
↳ Support: Start the sentence and let them finish the last word.
↳ Stretch: Say it again in your other language.
Feeling Match Play-based · 10m
Toddlers match each feeling face to its word.
▶ Show me how 🎯 Challenge Match the face to the feeling word — happy goes with…?↳ Facilitator cue: Say each feeling word warmly as they match it.
↳ Support: Start with just two very different feelings.
↳ Stretch: Make the face that matches before you say the word.
💬 Discuss When did you feel this one? Tell us a tiny bit.↳ Facilitator cue: Receive every story kindly; talking about feelings is the goal.
↳ Support: Offer a sentence to finish: "I felt happy when…".
↳ Stretch: What helps when you feel the sad one?
1 2 3 ✨ 🦉 Big idea: A story has a first, a next, and a last.
🔬 Why this works: Sequencing and retelling a simple narrative builds story grammar and causal language ("and then…"), which research links to later reading comprehension. Oral storytelling is comprehension in its earliest form.
What Happens First? Storytelling · 12m
Toddlers put three story pictures in order and retell the tale.
▶ Show me how ❓ Question Which one happens first? What comes next?↳ Facilitator cue: Act each picture with your body; the order is felt before it is said.
↳ Support: Lay the first card down for them, then ask for the next.
↳ Stretch: Add a fourth picture — where does it go?
🎨 Create Now tell the whole tiny tale to a friend.↳ Facilitator cue: Welcome both languages in one telling; meaning leads.
↳ Support: Give the linking words: "first… then… last…".
↳ Stretch: Give the story a happy ending of your own.
Mix-Up Tale Storytelling · 12m
Toddlers fix a jumbled three-picture tale and retell it.
▶ Show me how ❓ Question These pictures are all mixed up — which truly happens first?↳ Facilitator cue: Ask "could this happen before that?" to test the order.
↳ Support: Find the last picture first — work backwards.
↳ Stretch: Tell what might have happened just before the first picture.
🎨 Create Now tell the fixed tale your own way.↳ Facilitator cue: Both languages welcome in one telling; meaning leads.
↳ Support: Give the linking words: "first… then… last…".
↳ Stretch: Add one new character to your telling.
1 2 3 ✨ 🦉 Big idea: Words can dance and rhyme.
🔬 Why this works: Rhyme and clapping syllables build phonological awareness — hearing the sounds inside words — the single strongest early predictor of reading (NELP). Song makes the practice joyful and memorable.
☾ Gratitude for the tongue (Shukr)
Make a Silly Rhyme Play-based · 10m
Toddlers clap the beats of words and invent a playful rhyme.
▶ Show me how 🏃 Movement Clap the beats of your name: Mu-ham-mad! How many claps?↳ Facilitator cue: Exaggerate each syllable; the body counts before the mouth.
↳ Support: Clap it together, hand over hand, once.
↳ Stretch: Clap a friend’s name and count those beats too.
🎨 Create Make up two words that rhyme — cat / hat, نون / كون!↳ Facilitator cue: Silly is perfect; nonsense rhymes train the ear best.
↳ Support: Give the first word and let them find a rhyming partner.
↳ Stretch: Turn your two rhyming words into a little song.
Clap the Word Play-based · 10m
Toddlers clap the beats inside words and compare how many.
▶ Show me how 🏃 Movement Clap the beats of "ba-na-na" — how many claps?↳ Facilitator cue: Over-emphasize each beat; the body hears syllables first.
↳ Support: Clap a one-beat word first, like "ball".
↳ Stretch: Find a word with even more claps.
🎯 Challenge Which word has more beats — cat or banana?↳ Facilitator cue: Let them clap both to decide; comparing is the thinking.
↳ Support: Clap the two words slowly, one then the other.
↳ Stretch: Sort three words from fewest beats to most.
Leadership we plant 🌱 Uses words to say what they need. 🌱 Tells a little story to others. 🌱 Tries new words in both languages. Research foundations Serve-and-Return — Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Responsive, back-and-forth talk literally builds a child’s language brain.
In practice: Adults echo and expand every utterance; naming play in both languages.
Additive Bilingualism — Jim Cummins
A second language adds to the first; both grow stronger together.
In practice: Every word, feeling, and tale is met in English and Arabic.
🏡 Try at home Narrate Your Day · 10 min Talk through everyday moments out loud — "Now we wash the red apple." Name objects in both languages and let your child echo you.
Rhyme Time · 5 min At bath or bedtime, make up two silly rhyming words together and clap the beats of names. Keep it playful, never a test.
Standards alignment NAEYC — Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Language & Communication
Vocabulary, expressive language, and early phonological awareness through play.
UK EYFS — Communication and Language
Listening, Attention & Understanding; Speaking
Building vocabulary and using language to express needs and ideas.
Head Start — Early Learning Outcomes Framework
Language & Literacy
Receptive/expressive language and phonological awareness.
Value anchors The gift of names — And He taught Adam the names — language is an honour we use kindly and truthfully. (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:31) Gratitude for the tongue (Shukr) Everything you’ll need (home or school) Picture–word cards, feeling-face cards, three-step story cards Picture–word cards (apple, cat, sun, water, book, ball) Paper, big crayons Feeling-face cards (happy, sad, sleepy, surprised) Feeling-face cards and feeling-word cards Three-step story cards (seed → sprout → flower) A second set of three-step story cards 🖨 Printable checklist Assessment — observation emerging: Names a few objects when prompted.developing: Names objects and a feeling in both languages.confident: Retells a tiny tale and plays with rhyme.Future skills Cultural fluency Empathy Creativity Metacognition