A Comprehensive Guide of 41 Songs to Help You Learn Arabic
Image credit: How to Speak ArabicBY: Nadine Ismail/Ambassador Blogger
You are in the car listening to the radio while driving to work or dropping the kids off at school. Suddenly, they play a song that you have not heard in 15 years, but you can sing along and easily remember the words.
Or perhaps you find yourself singing a silly jingle or a song from “Iftah Ya Simsim” that was playing in the background when your kids were watching TV while you were making dinner. Do you ever wonder why you can remember music without a problem, yet are awful remembering names or the multiplication table?
The reason is simple. Music activates more parts of the brain than language alone does, on both the right and left sides of the brain. People can remember an entire set of vocabulary words if they were integrated in a song much better than if you were to just hear them spoken or read off a sheet.
This is why it is very important to include songs when teaching kids the Arabic language. It makes the learning process more fun, portable, and a daily habit. You can simply listen to these songs while driving and distract the kids, while teaching them the Alif Baa alphabet, phonetics, and new words. You will be surprised when you hear them humming the tunes later. Additionally, learning through music can help improve memory on the order of the letters in Arabic, which is a crucial skill that kids will use later to learn more advanced concepts. To learn about other ways to include Arabic language in your day, click here to read my previous article.
Here is my ultimate “Alif Baa” Playlist ranked in the order of complexity.
Alif Baa Alphabet
Alif Baa by Little Thinkers and Arabian Sinbad recite the Arabic Alphabet. This tool is perfect for toddlers and anyone who just started learning the Arabic alphabet, regardless of age. You might shrug off this skill, but learning the alphabet, as well as the order of letters, is very important to the language learning process.
Little Thinkers
Below is the same song, but with real children singing along, which is helpful for other kids to hear.
Arabian Sinbad
Alif Baa and Phonetics
Phonetics are an integral part of learning any language. This list compiles videos of the Alif Baa alphabet with the proper sounds.
Alif Baa and the Alphabet Mat
Alif Baa and Sparkles
Alif Baa and Playdough
Alif Baa and One Word
This list of videos shows us the alphabet in addition to one word that starts with the letter.
Adam w Mishmash
From Alif to Sad
From Dhad to Yaa
Alif Baa with Blocks
Alif Baa and Many Words
This list is geared towards native Arabic speakers or kids who are ready to learn words. The videos have the Alef Baa alphabet with words and stories.
Iftah Ya SimSim
Alif Baa with a Story
Alif Baa Boubaye
Individual Letters of the Alif Baa
Iftah Ya SimSim created a song for every individual letter of the Alef Baa. I compiled them all in a playlist. Below, you can listen to the entire Playlist of individual letters.
I also compiled all the above songs in one playlist, which can be found below.
Let me know if you tried any of my suggestions and how they worked for you. Do you have other products in Arabic to suggest? Do you want me to review your product? You can reach out to Nadine Ismail on Facebook at “Reinventing Nadine” or Instagram @ReinventingNadine
Nadine Ismail of Reinventing Nadine is a blogger living in the Bay Area in California. Nadine shares on her blog and Instagram account her recipes, crafts and embroidery tutorials, and parental advice, especially raising a bilingual child.
Find more articles on learning and teaching Arabic by Nadine Ismail here.
