Session 19 — My Body, Part 2

جِسمي، الجُزء الثاني

Level: 2 — Food, body, daily routine Time: 25 minutes Audience: Heritage learners + total beginners (ages 6–8) Letter of the day: ص (sad) Big idea: I can name parts of my body.

👩‍🏫 For teachers

This session works in a 25–30 minute slot with 5–25 students. You'll need: open floor space for a movement game (Block 4), and a board or large paper for drawing the letter ص. Set up before class: print or sketch a simple body outline (gingerbread-person style) on the board so you can label parts as you go. If you have audio: have the vocabulary track cued.

This is the second body session — kids already met head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears in Session 18. Today goes deeper: torso and limbs. Expect heritage kids to know id and batn from home; beginners will need more repetition on qadam and sadr.

Differentiation:

• Heritage stretch: Ask which words they already say at home, and whether their family uses id or yad. Both are right.
• Beginner warm: Stick with three words first — yad, qadam, batn — before adding the rest.

🏠 For parents at home

This session works one-on-one in 20 minutes anywhere your child can move around — the living room rug, the kitchen, even outside. You'll need: a pen, a few sheets of paper, and your phone for audio. No prep beyond reading through once.

If your child is heritage: they almost certainly know batn (belly) and id (hand) already — these are the words mama and teta use when kissing boo-boos. Lean into that. "You already know this one!" is the best reaction.

If your child is new to Arabic: point to the body part on yourself, then on them, every time you say the word. Touch + sound + repetition. That's the whole strategy.

Materials checklist

• 3–4 sheets of paper (for the body map in Block 5)
• A pen or marker (a second color helps)
• Audio file: session-19-audio.mp3 (vocabulary track)
• Optional: a small stuffed animal or doll (helps with pointing if kids are shy about their own bodies)
• Workbook page 19

Block 1: Warm-up — what we remember (3 min)

Goal: Reactivate Session 18 (head, face) and bridge to today.

Script:

Touch your head and say: "هَيدا راسي." (Hayda raasi.) — "This is my head." Touch your eyes, nose, mouth. Say each one in Arabic. Let the child copy. Then say:

اليَوم، جِسمي كُلّو!

(Al-yawm, jismi kullo!) — "Today, my whole body!"

Pat your chest, your belly, your legs as you say it. Make it big and silly. The point is: we're going below the neck today.

Block 2: Listen & repeat (6 min)

Goal: Learn 6 body-part words.

Today's vocabulary:

Script:

Play the audio once. Don't talk over it. Then say each word, slowly, and touch that part of your body as you say it. The child copies — both the word and the touch.

Go in this order (it travels down the body, then to the inside):

1. yad / iid — wiggle fingers
2. sadr — pat your chest twice
3. qalb — put your hand over your heart, feel the beat
4. batn — rub your belly in a circle
5. rijl — slap your thigh
6. qadam — stomp your foot

A note on yad vs iid: Tell the kids — when we read it in a book, it's يَد (yad). When mama says it at home, it's إيد (iid). Same hand. Two ways to say it. Both are Arabic. (Heritage kids will nod. Beginners will file it away.)

Block 3: Letter of the day — ص (sad) (5 min)

Goal: Meet the letter ص and hear its strong, deep sound.

Script:

Write a big ص on the board or paper. Say: "هذا حَرف 'ص'. اسمُه 'صاد'." (Hādhā harf 'sad'. Ismuhu 'sad'.) — "This is the letter 'sad'."

The sound of ص is like the English "s" — but heavier, deeper, from the back of the mouth. Have the child say "sss" the regular way, then make it deeper, like they're imitating a big lion. That's ص.

Find it in today's words:

• **صَدر**
  — *sadr* — chest. Starts with ص!

Find it in words they might know:

• **صَباح**
  — *sabah* — morning (from Session 1!)
• **صَديق**
  — *sadeeq* — friend

Shape tip: ص looks like a little boat 🛶 with a tail. Draw it that way. The boat part holds the sound; the tail trails off.

Practice writing: Trace one ص in the workbook. Then one on their own.

Block 4: Play with it — "Simon Says" in Arabic (6 min)

Goal: Move the body parts. Hear the words in a command.

This is "يَلّا نِلعَب" (Yalla nil'ab) — "Let's play!" — Arabic Simon Says.

How to play:

You're the caller. You say a command in simple Levantine, the child does the action. No "Simon says" trick yet — just listen and move.

Commands to use:

Go through all six. Then speed up. Then mix the order. Then — switch roles, and let the child call out commands while you do the moving. (They will love bossing you around. Let them.)

Classroom variant: Whole class stands up. Teacher calls; everyone moves together. Then pick one student to be the caller.

Block 5: Tiny reading + body map (3 min)

Goal: Read 2 words. Label a body.

On a sheet of paper, draw a quick stick-figure body (or let the child draw it). Together, label three parts:

Read each label out loud as you write it. Have the child point and say it back.

That's the workbook page for today, too — "I can label my body in Arabic."

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

Goal: End warm. Seed home practice.

Script:

Say: "يَلّا، مع السَّلامة!" (Yalla, ma'a as-salaama!) Wave with your يَد. Stomp once with your قَدَم. Make it a goofy goodbye.

Tonight at home (tell the child):

When something on your body hurts — even a tiny boo-boo — tell mama or baba in Arabic. Batni (my belly) or iidi (my hand) or rijli (my leg). Try it tonight, even if nothing hurts. Pretend!

For parents: When your child uses an Arabic body word — even mixed into English ("my batn hurts") — respond fully in Arabic if you can. "Batnik? Ween?" (Your belly? Where?) Don't correct the mixing. Just keep going.

After this session

• Workbook page 19 stays in the folder.
• Vocabulary cards for body parts (Part 2) go home.
• Next session: Session 20 — I'm hungry, I'm thirsty (أنا جوعان، أنا عطشان), letter ض (dad).

Teacher / Parent observation notes (formative — not graded)

Watch for, this session:

Also notice: did id vs yad land okay? Heritage kids sometimes resist the "book" form because it feels weird. That's fine — let them keep saying id out loud. They'll recognize yad when they see it written. That's enough for now.

No grading. No tests. Just notice and remember.

Yalla Arabic · Level 2 · Session 19 of 48