Session 4 — How Are You?

كيفَك؟ كيف الحال؟

Level: 1 — Hello, Arabic! Time: 25 minutes Audience: Heritage learners + total beginners (ages 5–7) Letter of the day: ث (tha) Big idea: I can ask someone how they are — and answer back.

👩‍🏫 For teachers

This session works in a 25–30 minute slot with 5–25 students. You'll need: three feelings cards (good / fine / tired — draw a smiley, a thumbs-up, and a sleepy face) big enough for the back row to see, plus a small set per pair of students for Block 4. Set up before class: arrange chairs in pairs facing each other so kids can ask each other kifak/kifik eye-to-eye.

Differentiation:

• Heritage stretch: Ask heritage kids what their teta or jiddo says when asked kifak. You'll often get الحمد لله — celebrate that. They already know the answer.
• Beginner warm: Let beginners answer with just tamam and a thumbs-up for the whole session if that's all they've got. That's a full sentence in Arabic.

🏠 For parents at home

This session works one-on-one in 20 minutes, ideally somewhere you can sit face-to-face — kitchen table, couch, the floor. You'll need: three sticky notes or scraps of paper, a marker, and your phone for audio.

If your child is heritage (Arabic spoken at home): they've heard kifak their whole life. Today is the day they get to say it back to you instead of just hearing it. Let them feel grown-up.

If your child is new to Arabic: focus on one word: mnih (good). If by the end of the session they can answer kifak with mnih and a smile, that's a complete win.

Materials checklist

• 3 feelings cards (good 😊 / fine 👍 / tired 😴) — draw or print
• 3 sticky notes or scraps of paper for the matching game
• A pen or marker
• Audio file: session-04-audio.mp3 (vocabulary + dialogue)
• Optional: print the workbook page

Block 1: Hello again & today's question (2 min)

Goal: Reconnect with greetings from Session 1, set up today's question.

Script:

Wave and say: "مَرحَبا!" (Marhaba!) — "Hello!" Wait for the child to say it back. Then lean in a little and ask: "كيفَك؟" (Kifak? to a boy / Kifik? to a girl) — "How are you?"

They might freeze. That's fine. Smile and say:

"اليَوم نَتَعَلَّم نَسأل ونْجاوِب: كيفَك؟" (Al-yawm nata'allam nas'al wa-njāwib: kifak?) — "Today we learn to ask and answer: how are you?"

Draw a big question mark on paper. Underneath, write كيفَك؟

Block 2: Listen & repeat (6 min)

Goal: Learn the question + three ways to answer.

Today's vocabulary:

Script:

Play the audio file once. Let the native voice land first. Then say each word slowly. Have the child echo.

Add a gesture for each feeling:

• Mnih → thumbs up
• Tamam → "OK" sign with fingers
• Ta'ban → slumped shoulders, sleepy eyes
• Al-hamdu lillah → hand on chest, small nod

A note on kifak vs kifik: tell the child — "We say كيفَك to a boy and كيفِك to a girl. One tiny sound changes." Have them ask you both ways. Make it a tongue-twister moment. Kids love this.

A note on al-hamdu lillah: this is what almost every Arab — anywhere, any background — says when asked how they are. It just means "I'm well." Like I'm good, thanks. Teach it as a phrase.

Play the audio one more time.

Block 3: Letter of the day — ث (tha) (5 min)

Goal: Meet the letter ث and the th sound (as in think).

Script:

Say: "هذا حَرف 'ث'. اسمُه 'ثاء'." (Hādhā harf 'th'. Ismuhu 'thā''.) — "This is the letter th. Its name is tha."

Write a big ث on paper. Notice it: it looks like ب (ba) from last session, but with three dots on top instead of one underneath. Point that out — Arabic letters are a family, and the dots are how you tell cousins apart.

Make the sound: stick your tongue between your teeth and blow softly — th, th, th. Like in English think or three. Have the child try. They will giggle. Good.

Find it in words:

• **ثَلاثة**
  (*thalātha*) — three
• **ثَوب**
  (*thawb*) — a long traditional dress/robe

Stretch (heritage kids): Some families say t instead of th (so thalātha becomes talāta). Both are real. Ask: how does your family say "three"?

Practice writing: Trace one ث in the workbook. Notice — three dots, always three. Like counting thalātha.

Block 4: Play with it — The Feelings Match (8 min)

Goal: Ask kifak/kifik and answer with a real feeling.

Setup: On three sticky notes, draw:

• 😊 and write مْنيح
• 👍 and write تَمام
• 😴 and write تَعبان

Place them face-up between you.

How to play:

1. You ask: "كيفَك؟" (or kifik if she's a girl).
2. The child picks the sticky note that matches how they feel right now and says that word out loud. Mnih. Or tamam. Or ta'ban.
3. You say: "الحَمدُ لله!" (Al-hamdu lillah!) — to model the "thank goodness" response.
4. Now switch. The child asks you: "كيفِك؟" (or kifak if you're a dad/uncle/brother). You pick a sticky note and answer.

Play 4–5 rounds. Encourage them to actually pick different feelings — pretend to be tired one round, great the next. Make a sleepy face when you say ta'ban.

Classroom variant: Pairs face each other. One asks, one answers, then switch. After two rounds, everyone stands up and finds a new partner. Do three partner rotations. The room will sound like a real Arabic conversation. That's the point.

Block 5: Tiny reading (3 min)

Goal: Read three feeling words.

Show the child these three words, side by side, with pictures:

Point to one. They say it. Point to another. They say it. Mix the order.

Then flip the game — you say the word, and they point. This is reading both directions.

(In the workbook page, this is today's "I can read these words" row.)

Block 6: Goodbye & try at home (2 min)

Goal: End warmly and send the question out into real life.

Script:

Say: "يَلّا، مع السَّلامة!" (Yalla, ma'a as-salaama!) — "Okay, goodbye!"

Tonight at home (tell the child):

Ask one person in your family "كيفَك؟" (or kifik if it's a girl/woman) before dinner. Listen to what they say back. Tomorrow, tell me who you asked and what they answered.

For parents: When your child asks you kifak/kifik, answer fully in Arabic — mnih, al-hamdu lillah — even if they only understand half. This is exactly how heritage kids absorb language: hearing the answer to a question they just asked. You're the audio file now.

After this session

• Send home the Family Guide (one page).
• Send home the Vocabulary Cards (cut on dotted lines).
• Workbook stays in folder/binder.
• Next session: Session 5 — Numbers 1–5 (الأرقام), letter ج (jeem).

Teacher / Parent observation notes (formative — not graded)

Watch for, this session:

No grading. No tests. Just notice and remember.

Yalla Arabic · Level 1 · Session 4 of 48