Session 24 — Project: My Home Picture Menu

مَشروع: قائمة بَيتي بِالصُّوَر

Level: 2 — Food, body, daily routine Time: 30 minutes (project session — slightly longer) Audience: Heritage learners + total beginners (ages 6–8) Letter of the day: Full Level 2 alphabet review Big idea: I can describe my home in Arabic with pictures and labels.

👩‍🏫 For teachers

This is a project session — the culminating activity for Level 2. Kids will make a "picture menu" or mini-guidebook of their home, with Arabic labels they've learned across the level. Plan for 30 minutes instead of 25. You'll need: a folded paper booklet for each child (3 sheets of paper folded in half and stapled = 12 pages), crayons or markers, and the Level 2 vocabulary wall or word bank visible somewhere in the room.

Set up before class: pre-fold the booklets. Write today's two anchor words — قائمة and بَيتي — on the board.

Differentiation:

• Heritage stretch: Ask them to write a full sentence under each picture, like في غُرفَتي سَرير ("in my room there's a bed").
• Beginner warm: One word per page is enough. Drawing counts. Tracing counts.

🏠 For parents at home

This is a fun one — your child is making a little book about your actual home, in Arabic. Plan 25–30 minutes at the kitchen table. You'll need: 3 sheets of paper folded in half (or a small notebook), crayons or markers, and a willingness to walk around the house with them.

If your child is heritage: they probably already call rooms and foods by their Arabic names at home. This project is about putting those words on paper. Let them lead. If they want to write تيتا (teta — grandma) on the couch page because that's where she sits, yes. That's the whole point.

If your child is new to Arabic: keep it to 5–6 labels for the whole book. Pick the rooms and items they know best. Drawing is the main job today.

Materials checklist

• A folded paper booklet (3 sheets folded in half = ~12 pages), OR a small blank notebook
• Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
• A pencil for labels
• Level 2 vocabulary cards or word bank, visible
• Optional: a few family photos or magazine clippings to paste in
• Optional: audio file session-24-audio.mp3 (review playlist)

Block 1: What's a قائمة? (3 min)

Goal: Introduce today's two anchor words and frame the project.

Script:

Hold up a restaurant menu (or draw one on paper — a list with little pictures of food next to prices). Say: "هَيدي قائمة. شو يَعني قائمة؟" (Hayde qa'ima. Shu ya'ne qa'ima?) — "This is a qa'ima. What does qa'ima mean?" Let them guess. Then say: "قائمة يَعني list — مِتل قائمة الأَكِل بِالمَطعَم." (Qa'ima ya'ne list — mitl qa'imet el-akel bil-mat'am.) — "Qa'ima means list — like the food list at a restaurant."

Now write on paper:

Say: "اليَوم رَح نَعمَل قائمة بَيتي — list of my house. كُل صَفحة فيها صورة وكَلِمة بِالعَرَبي." (Al-yawm rah na'mel qa'imet bayti — list of my house. Kell safha fiha sura w kelme bil-'arabe.) — "Today we're making the list of my house — each page has a picture and an Arabic word."

Show them the empty booklet. Their eyes will light up. This is a thing they get to make.

Block 2: Word bank warmup (5 min)

Goal: Quickly review the Level 2 vocabulary they'll be using.

Walk through these categories out loud, fast, like a game show round:

Script:

Say each word. Have the child echo. Don't slow down — this is review, not new learning. You're warming up the muscle.

Then ask: "شو الكَلِمة المُفَضَّلة عِندَك؟" (Shu el-kelme el-mufaddale 'andak?) — "What's your favorite word?" Whatever they say — write it on the first inside page of the booklet, big and proud. That's their cover word.

Classroom variant: Do this as a call-and-response round with the whole class standing up. Sit down when you hear your favorite word.

Block 3: Alphabet quick-check — full Level 2 review (4 min)

Goal: Recognize, not produce. We're checking that the letters are still in there.

Script:

Write these letters on the board or a paper, in a row:

ب · ت · ث · ج · ح · خ · د · ذ · ر · ز · س · ش · ص · ض

Point to each one. Ask: "شو هَيدا الحَرف؟" (Shu hayda el-harf?) — "What letter is this?" If they know it — great, move on. If they pause — say it for them and move on. No drilling today.

Find it in your name: Ask them to circle (in the air, or on paper) any letter that's in their first name. Most kids find at least one. Heritage kids will find several.

Stretch (heritage kids): Pick one letter and name three words that start with it. (For ب: بَيت, بابا, بَطّيخ.)

Block 4: Make the menu — the project itself (12 min)

Goal: Build the booklet. This is the heart of the session.

Setup:

Open the booklet to page 1. On the cover (outside), they write:

…and their name. They can decorate it — flowers, stars, a little drawing of their house.

How to build the inside pages:

Walk around the home (parents) or imagine each room (teachers — use a printed home outline if helpful). For each room or item, the child:

1. Draws a picture on one page (big, takes up most of the page).
2. Labels it in Arabic underneath — copying from the word bank if needed.
3. Optional: adds one item inside that room on the next page. (Bedroom → bed → pillow.)

Suggested page sequence (use what fits your home):

Script (gentle prompts as they work):

"شو هَيدا؟" (Shu hayda?) — "What is this?" (pointing at their drawing) "كيف نَكتُب 'خُبز'؟" (Kif neketob 'khobez'?) — "How do we write 'bread'?" "حِلو كتير!" (Helu kteer!) — "So beautiful!"

Classroom variant: Have kids work individually but share at each new page — "Show your neighbor your kitchen page." This builds the talking habit in Arabic with peers.

Heritage stretch: Encourage a full sentence under the picture: هَيدا مَطبَخ بَيتي ("This is my house's kitchen").

Beginner warm: One word per page. Tracing the word is fine. The drawing carries the meaning.

Block 5: Read your menu (4 min)

Goal: Read aloud — to a parent, to a classmate, to a stuffed animal.

Script:

Say: "يَلّا، اقرا لي قائمتَك." (Yalla, eqra-li qa'imtak.) — "Okay, read me your menu."

The child opens the booklet from the right side (Arabic reads right-to-left, and so do books). They go page by page, pointing to each picture and saying the Arabic word.

That's it. That's the reading.

If they miss a word — don't correct. Say the word warmly, have them echo, turn the page. The booklet is theirs forever. They'll re-read it many times.

Classroom variant: Pair kids up. Each reads their menu to a partner. Then swap partners. Each child reads to 2–3 different listeners.

Block 6: Goodbye & take it home (2 min)

Goal: Close Level 2 with pride. Seed continued use.

Script:

Say: "خَلَصِت قائمتَك! هَيدا كِتابَك أَنتَ كَتَبتو بِالعَرَبي." (Khallset qa'imtak! Hayda ktabak inta katabto bil-'arabe.) — "Your menu is done! This is your book — you wrote it in Arabic." Then: "مع السَّلامة، ولِلِقاء بِالمُستَوى التّالِت!" (Ma'a as-salaama, w lel-leqa' bil-mostawa et-talet!) — "Goodbye, and see you in Level 3!"

Tonight at home (tell the child):

Read your قائمة to one person at home tonight. Could be a parent, a sibling, a grandparent on video call, even the cat. Out loud, in Arabic.

For parents: Put the booklet somewhere visible — a shelf, the fridge, the coffee table. Pull it out next week. Let them re-read it. The booklet is now a real Arabic book they made. That's huge.

After this session

• Send home the booklet (with their name on it).
• Send home the Level 2 Family Guide — celebration page, certificate, and what comes next.
• Vocabulary cards from all of Level 2 go home in an envelope.
• Next session: Level 3 — Session 1: My Family Tree (شَجَرِة العيلة).

Teacher / Parent observation notes (formative — not graded)

Watch for, this session:

No grading. No tests. The booklet is the assessment — and it's also a keepsake.

Yalla Arabic · Level 2 · Session 24 of 24 — last session of the level 🎉