Bilingual Activities in Restaurants?

Bismillah.

As I was sitting down flipping the pages of my bilingual reference book, I came across an interesting idea about bilingual activity. An activity outside home, inside a restaurant. Yes, a restaurant!

Instead of having to spend lots of money to go and travel to the country that speaks in the minority language that we teach our kids (in my case, it's Arabic and English- but English is not really a minority language in Malaysia I guess), why not we try to bring our kids to the ethnic restaurant. I believe we have lots of restaurant run by different ethnics. Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Indian, Western and more. However I am not sure whether the workers there are the native speakers of the 'meals' served. But I have found a lot Arabic cuisines restaurants which are truly Arabic! The waiters, the owners, and the customers are real Arab people, and even the menus are in Arabic.

This is definitely a cool idea for bilingual family with Arabic as a target language. Our kids will definitely feel awesome with the small-yet-original piece of the real country. Believe me, kids will feel good when they see that there are more people outside the family that use the minority language. We can let our kids to check on the menus and order them in the minority language, let them call the waiters, ask this and that about the menus & order whatever food they want; in the target language. Both you and your kids will definitely get the sensation of euphoria upon having this kind of chance.

Besides restaurant, any ethnic shop outlets or stores is a good place too to bring your kids. Though the name of every item might not be displayed, you can still teach your kids about their names while shopping. InshaAllah this kind of activity can make your child happy about being bilingual and always in the mood for learning more and more about the target language.

A piece of Middle East in Malaysia.

A piece of Japan in Malaysia. 

Arabic Daily Conversation with Kids

Bismillah. 

As promised in my facebook page, here's how to pronounce all these sentences. By the way, I copied them from another facebook page. These are the usual phrases used when talking to kids. 


صباح الخير - sobahal khayr
Good morning

اغسل اسنانك - ighsil asnaanak
Brush your teeth

اعمل واجبك - I'mal waajibak
Do your homework

احسنت صنعا - Ahsanta sun'a
Well done

ممكن تساعدنى - Mumkin tusaa'iduni?
Can you help me?

انا فخورة بك - Ana fakhuratun bik
I'm proud of you

نظف غرفتك لو سمحت - Nazzif ghurfataka lau samahta
Clean your room please

اخلع ملابسك - ikhla' malaabisak
Take off your clothes

ارتدى ملابسك - irtadi malaabisak
Put on your clothes

احضر حقيبتك المدرسية - ihdhir (i am not sure about this. is it true? or is it uhdhur) haqibataka al madrasiyyah
Bring your schoolbag

اذهب الى السرير - Idzhab ilas sarir
Go to bed

تصبح على خير - Tusbihu 'alal khayr
Goodnight

احلام سعيدة - Ahlaam sa'eedah
Sweet dreams

ماما تحبك - Mama tuhibbuk
Mammy loves you

I love your smile
انا احب ابتسامتك - Ana uhibbu ibtisaamatak

From fb page: https://www.facebook.com/LearnEnglishEasilyWithUs

Arabic-Speaking Friends for My Baby

Bismillah.

I can't remember where did I read the statement that said kids acquire a big percentage of their language proficiency from conversations with their friends. (Same thing goes to adults.)

I have three conclusions to be made from that sentence:

1) Now I finally found the reason why I am not very fluent while speaking in Arabic or English; I only speak Malay with my friends.

2) I need to send my daughter to kindergarten with Arabic medium. Do we have it in KL? I think I have read one time ago that the mom of the famous Darwisy & Darwisya sends her daughter to an Arabic kindergarten.

3) I have to encourage more and more friends to speak Arabic with their kids, so that my baby will have friends to speak in Arabic with her. :)

Mentor Untuk Projek Bilingual

Bismillah.

Saya sangat sarankan kawan-kawan yang ada asas dalam bahasa arab untuk sama-sama belajar dengan anak untuk bercakap menggunakan bahasa alQuran. Sememangnya asas dalam bahasa ini adalah satu bonus kerana kita sudah sedia tahu serba sedikit tatabahasa bahasa Arab. 

Kita tahu beza kata ganti diri untuk lelaki, perempuan, fi'il madhi (past tense), fi'il mudhari' (present tense) dan seterusnya. Apa yang kita perlukan sekarang (untuk memulakan projek bilingual) hanyalah mengetahui perkataan-perkataan yang perlu digunakan ketika berinteraksi dengan anak-anak.

Kita tak perlu tunggu sehingga anak kita bersekolah baru didedahkan dengan bahasa-bahasa lain. Kerana apa? Kerana kita sememangnya mampu mulakan sejak anak-anak masih kecil. Tak perlu bersusah payah di kemudian hari untuk menghantar anak-anak ke tuisyen atau mengupah seorang tutor datang ke rumah untuk bercakap bahasa asing dengan anak-anak anda. Gunakan cara paling mudah dan murah dan sangat bermanfaat untuk kita dan anak-anak; iaitu kita (dan pasangan) sebagai guru anak-anak.

Terus terang saya katakan, perjalanan bilingual saya yang baru beberapa tahun ini bolehlah disifatkan sebagai 'slowly but surely'. Kerana saya sendiri merasakan bahawa saya sangat-sangat kurang vocabulary dalam bahasa arab terutamanya yang berkaitan kehidupan seharian dan perbualan dengan anak-anak. 

Benar, saya mengambil degree dalam bidang yang 90% subjeknya adalah dalam bahasa arab, tapi itu tidak bermakna saya cukup ilmu untuk merealisasikan impian bilingual saya. Agak menyedihkan pada permulaan usaha ini, kerana perkataan 'lampin bayi' dalam bahasa arab pun saya tidak tahu.

Saya tidak rajin untuk cari satu persatu perkataan yang berkaitan di dalam kamus, lantas saya membuat keputusan untuk meminta tolong dari sahabat saya yang berbangsa Arab yang menetap di Jeddah. Cara saya:

1) terus bercakap dengan anak dalam bahasa arab. Jika saya tak tahu apa perkataannya dalam bahasa Arab, saya akan segera catatkan dalam buku dan biasanya saya kumpul sehingga 7-12 'soalan' (biasanya dalam bentuk ayat)

2) saya beri soalan-soalan tersebut kepada sahabat saya dan minta dia terjemahkan.

Bagi saya cara ini lebih mudah dan selamat jika dibandingkan dengan cara saya merujuk kamus. Kerana saya akan tahu istilah mana yang lebih biasa digunakan oleh masyarakat arab dalam sesuatu situasi. Sahabat saya biasanya akan menerangkan serba sedikit tentang istilah mana yang kerap digunakan atau perkataan mana yang jarang digunakan.

Di sini saya letakkan satu contoh jawapan dari sahabat saya itu kepada persoalan saya:

Mungkin selepas ini anda juga boleh mencari seorang mentor sebagai rujukan. Moga kita kekal bersemangat untuk mengajar bahasa kedua atau ketiga kepada anak. InshaAllah. 

Having Breakfast in Arabic Language

Bismillah.

It's morning here! Don't you feel it will be great if you can enjoy your morning in Arabic language? :D Waking up with a prayer to Him, greeting your loved ones in Arabic, invite them to breakfast in Arabic and having a chit chat during breakfast in Arabic! I bet you would love to be able to do so, right? ;)

Believe me Arabic Language is very beautiful and different from other languages. Especially because it gives us the good feeling (while using it) since we know we are talking in the same language as our beloved prophet Muhammad sollallahu 'alaihi wasallam.

And you know something? For me, nothing is cuter than a little (non arab) kid speaking in Arabic fluently. ^__^

Insha Allah once in a while I will share with you some of the common terms used in morning conversations. So, stay tuned everybody!