Moms for Urdu

2010-09-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I would love to hear about your experiences with Urdu at Home.

Please take the time out to send me the progress of your little ones. If you have ideas about how the lessons or exercises in the Urdu curriculum can be enhanced then please feel free to share your thoughts. All ideas and stories are welcome.

Take care.

Savera

2010-09-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

End of Foundation Stage

2010-09-08T20:06:00.001-07:00

Dear Reader's

Zara has successfully reached the last part of the Foundation Stage!! In this stage she has learned the Urdu Alphabet and sounds. She has also learnt Urdu writing but we are still practicing more handwriting! She has gained some knowledge of Urdu words which has enhanced her vocabulary quite a bit. She is now familiar with the short forms of the Urdu Alphabet as well. We are spending more time on this section of the Foundation Stage since the short forms of the alphabet are joined together to form words. It is therefore important to be proficient in them. We are hoping to complete the Foundation Stage very soon. Zara will then start Stage 1-probably soon after Eid.

Both of us are excited about it :D

Until then, wish you all lots of Eid Mubariks!

Regards,

Savera

URDU FLASH CARDS!

2010-08-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Urdu at Home users,

Ramadan has come to an end and Eid preparations must be in order!

The new Urdu flash cards can make a wonderful Eid present for children. My daughter is currently using the Bilingual Flash Cards on word opposites and she is loving them. She usually sits with them and plays on her own and when she forgets something she calls me.

Do try them.

Regards,

Savera

Love it!!

2010-04-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

I completely love the second level of foundation stage!

Zara is enjoying it very much. Some Urdu words are however very difficult for her to pronouce

Foundation Stage: Level 2

2010-04-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

Amazing ......totally love the 2nd level of foundation stage! It not only helps children learn the sound of each alphabet letter but helps them learn how to spell the word that corresponds to each letter.

2010-04-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

Zara is doing

Juggling between family, home and work!

2010-03-24T16:12:00.001-07:00

One huge advantage of Urdu at Home is that you have the liberty to customize your own learning schedule. There are no time limits in which lessons are expired or deadlines that have to be met- you can move at your and your child's individual pace. Which come to think is great benefit!

I have been working for almost a month now and it has been difficult for me to divide time between family, home and work. In the start Zara's Urdu lessons did suffer and it took us a while before we could acclimatize to our new routine. When I was at home Urdu lessons were the first thing we did in the morning after or at times along with our breakfast. Zara enjoyed the lessons so much that we managed to spend a lot of time doing Urdu. Now that circumstances have changed we had to reorganize our Urdu timings.

As a working mom I will be honest in saying that it is at times very hard to stick to a strict routine- in this case regular Urdu lessons for half an hour after a long and exhausting day at work does become a challenge. Sometimes you just want to come home and collapse on the sofa. I think the same is true for children they are equally tired and weary. Its hard to grab their attention let alone motivate them to do Urdu lessons. What I have learnt from my experience it that its alright to divide your time and do what suits you the most. You can choose to do Urdu lessons 3 times a week or 5 times a week depending on what is convenient for you and your child. Don't worry they will not forget their lessons! The key is to be persistent in whatever learning schedule you decide to apply.

I hope that this information is helpful for all the working moms out there and that it answers all their queries. Please feel free to ask any further questions. And remember I look forward to your participation on the blog. Your experiences are invaluable for all the moms who are in the same boat as you.

Khuda Hafiz

2010-03-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Moms,

This has been by far the longest gap in my weekly blogging. I had a drastic change in my usual routine - my status has been changed from a stay-at-home mom to a working-mom! In addition to this, I fell sick - seasonal flu and cough. These changes had an impact on Zara's daily Urdu classes. This all happened two weeks ago exactly around the time when Zara was supposed to take her first, First-Term test. Talk about coincidence!!

However, we are now back on track. Zara just took her test and she scored 85% on it. HORRAY!!

I was very pleased with the results. Especially considering the fact that we did not manage to do any Urdu for the past 2 weeks.

Do share with us your child's performance up until this point.

Khuda Hafiz

My Enthusiastic 3 Year Old!

2010-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Moms,

Last week we managed to revise all Urdu lessons (module 1-4). Zara did a superb job! She wanted to go ahead and do the next Urdu lesson, but we had to wait - though sometimes we do end up taking a peek in what lies next.

All week long Zara and I have been preparing for the upcoming tests. Each day I sat with Zara and we had a 20-30 mins revision time - Zara is a quick learner and we managed to cover a lot in a short period of time.

Zara is very excited about her First, First-Term today - and so am I!!

Khuda Hafiz.

Assessment Week :)

2010-03-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Moms,

Zara's last lesson was about farm animals- she completely loved it - the animation and the sounds. However, I prefer her using the English term for a dog than the Urdu term, but that is just a personal preference. :D

This week is Zara's assessment week- after 8 weeks of Urdu lessons! My daughter has done very well mA - I am proud of her performance.

Have a nice day.

Khuda Hafiz.

2010-02-28T15:40:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

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.