Dear Moms,

Did you know this?

Concentration-span develops from a 7-minute attention span in a two year old to 10 minutes for a three year old. This means they are capable of concentrating for that length of time. However, some studies have shown that at the age of three, children are able to amuse themselves for about half an hour. My experience with Zara confirms this - after 30 minutes of Urdu lessons and after that she looses motivation.

There have been times where Zara has been on eSHAGRID for 45 minutes to an hour in one sitting. At times she even asks me to do Urdu lessons with her twice or more during the day!

For those moms who are concerned about whether their toddlers would like/dislike the program then here is your answer. Also, for parents who think that by enrolling there child they will become computer-bound for several hours- well that is definitely not the case- children under the age of 5 may/may not require adult assistance, but kids above 5 years old are able to use the online interactive program on their own.

Hope this information helps all the moms.Till next time, Khuda Hafiz.

ANYONE OUT THERE!

Is it me or it's just LONELY here!!! This blogger mom gets to see a soaring fan list on facebook of all these eager moms; who want to teach children their mother tongue, and yet refrain from sharing their experiences. Why so?

Come on lets make this a more happening blog shall we.

No Confusion over Language Fusion!

Dear Mums,

It’s me again!

Sometimes I think that Urdu and English are just two inseparable languages - maybe it has to do with the fact that the British once, for a very long time, ruled us. I mean there are quite a few English terms to which you cannot find an equivalent/appropriate Urdu translation. Is that mere coincidence or did we never develop any Urdu vocabulary regarding these English words? At times - well in fact most of the time it is hard to complete an Urdu sentence without squeezing in a few English words. They just seem so right and apt in the sentence that it’s difficult to discard them. The two languages seem to blend in so smoothly - that at times you think that one may not exist without the other.

I was just repeating this short tête-à-tête (consisting of 11 or 12 solid questions) from Zara's previous module. The purpose of this oral conversation was to teach children how to introduce themselves in Urdu. Zara did a very good job in listening to the questions attentively (the part which I was proud of) - she understood the questions completely (this is where I was being thankful), but she answered back in ENGLISH!!!

This was both a teacher and a mother’s nightmare! No matter how sweetly and nicely she answered back to me, it just completely defeated the aim of the conversation altogether!

Anyhow, we did a few repetitions together and I helped Zara practice the questions and the answers. I am hoping in our next session we will be talking in Urdu.

Khuda Hafiz

Assalamalikum to all Moms,

Its a sunny morning we just finished our morning routine of breakfast with Dora the explorer. Zara and I are now all set to start our Urdu lesson for today.

In her previous lesson ( Alif mudh-Se) she had trouble with lesson #2 - identifying the pictures that start with the given alphabet letter. I am proud to annouce that we have overcome this difficult exercise. Zara usually met this lesson with a frown, but now she takes up the challenge and repeats, " Yeh tu app ne kamaal kar diya!" after receiving three stars. :D. It never ceases to amaze me how quick children are at picking up new things.

Well, that is it for today Im afraid. We have a long day planned with Zara. We plan to take her to the St Louis Science Museum after the morning Urdu lessons. They have a new dinosaur exhibit that she has been dying to see. I wonder if they have a word for dinosaurs in urdu. Anyone?

This morning my 3 year old daughter, while brushing her teeth goes, " Noon se *nal, Mama." It felt good to hear that. I was certainly proud of her, and how she recalled the Urdu alphabet letter and the corresponding picture from her online lessons.

Rest of the day was filled with a few similar anecdotes-we went outside, and I asked Zara to watch out for the puddle to which she retored, "Mama, this is a **hose." I laughed and corrected her - saying, "it looks like a hose but its not. Hose is a little body of water with duckies in it." I kind of tried to make a similar picture in her mind of the word as the Urdu at Home website depicted it in their lessons.

Truly a joy to see how these little minds retain so much information, and how they love to make associations with their current knowledge of Urdu vocabulary.

*nal=tap

**hose=pond

Urdu at Home

Today, life is virtually impossible without computer or the internet!

Nowadays our mornings start not with coffee, but with the click of the keyboard. We instantly get in touch with our families and friends. One of my recent discoveries- the Urdu at Home website- aimed at teaching children Urdu via the Internet is definitely another reason to sit on the Internet. I stumbled upon this website while searching for an Urdu alphabet song for my toddler. I became an instant devotee, and ever since then I have enrolled my daughter in the foundation stage of the Urdu learning program. This website is outstanding; it provides the users with a fun and easy way to teach/learn Urdu, the curriculum is up to par, the online teachers are very helpful and friendly, and last but not least the feedback system is prompt. This website provides a complete package for an at- home Urdu classroom. My daughter is in love with this program and is eager to start her lessons everyday - she forgoes her favorite cartoons and breakfast, and instead logs on straight to this website. And no, I am not exaggerating! I admire this website for the way it engages my daughter so well. As a mum, I think its a great way to click-start my daughter's day, as well as mine.

I want to thank the entire Urdu at Home team for taking the time out to build something as constructive as this urdu website. It caters to the fundamental need of all parents, especially ones living abroad. You have done a remarkable job in making our lives easier by helping parents to overcome the challenge of teaching children their native language. It is very difficult to instill our religion, culture, heritage and values in to the young minds of our children when living far away from home country. It is a tall order to be able to preserve our Pakistani identity when living abroad; however, learning the language is an important tool in enabling that. Therefore, I am grateful to Urdu at Home for allowing our children the opportunity to learn their identity. On top of all that, the website is convenient, practical, affordable and you can capitalize on it from the comfort of your home. I certainly wish you good luck and look forward to, the expansion of your website.

With this blog I aim to relate the progress and development of my three year old. I hope other mums in the same boat will get involved and share their experiences on this blog. This could be a two-way stream that could prove to be productive both for the mums, as well as help the website grow.