Session 40 — Sentences: I have...

جُمَل: عِندي...

Level: 4 — Sentences, paragraphs, reading Time: 30 minutes Audience: Heritage learners + total beginners (ages 8–11) Letter of the day: ن (nun) Big idea: I can say what I have and don't have.

👩‍🏫 For teachers

This session works in a 30-minute slot with 5–25 students. You'll need: a whiteboard or chart paper, sticky notes (3 per student), and the vocabulary cards from the prep packet. Set up before class: write the sentence frame عِندي ___ large on the board, with a blank for the object. Have one personal item ready to model with (a book works perfectly — indi kitab).

Differentiation:

• Heritage stretch: Heritage kids likely already say indi at home. Push them: have them build a 3-sentence "what I have" mini-paragraph in Block 5, and introduce ma indi (don't have) as a real conversational tool, not just vocab.
• Beginner warm: Stick to one frame — indi ___ — for the whole session. Don't introduce the negative until Block 4, and only if they're solid on the positive.

🏠 For parents at home

This session works one-on-one in 25 minutes. You'll need: 3 sticky notes, a pen, and 3 small things from around the house your child can hold up (a book, a stuffed animal, a sibling's drawing — whatever's nearby). No prep beyond reading this plan once.

If your child is heritage: they already say indi — they've heard you say indi shughul (I have work) a thousand times. The job today is to make them notice the pattern, name it, and feel proud they already know it.

If your child is new to Arabic: indi is one of the most useful words in spoken Arabic. If they leave this session saying just indi kitab and indi akh, that's a win. Don't push the negative form if it confuses them.

Materials checklist

• 3 sticky notes per child
• A pen or marker
• 3 small household objects (or classroom objects) to hold up
• Whiteboard or chart paper with sentence frame written large
• Audio file: session-40-audio.mp3 (vocabulary + dialogue)
• Workbook page 40

Block 1: Warm-up — what's in your bag? (3 min)

Goal: Activate the "having stuff" idea before any Arabic.

Script:

Say in English: "Look around. Name 3 things you have right now — in your bag, in your pocket, on your desk."

Let them call out: a pencil, a water bottle, a brother sitting next to me. Write a couple on the board in English.

Then say:

اليَوم نَتَعَلَّم نَقول "عِندي". (Al-yawm nata'allam naqūl 'indi'.) — "Today we learn to say 'I have.'"

Hold up a book. Say slowly: عِندي كِتاب. (Indi kitab.) — "I have a book."

Say it three more times. Each time, point to yourself on indi, then to the book on kitab. The gesture is the lesson.

Block 2: Listen & repeat (6 min)

Goal: Learn the indi frame and 4 things to put in it.

Today's vocabulary:

Script:

Play the audio once. Don't speak during it. Then go word by word. Have the child echo each one twice.

The grammar moment (keep it 30 seconds, don't lecture):

Say: "Notice — in Arabic, we don't say 'I have a book' with three words like English. We say it with TWO words: indi kitab. Indi already means 'I have.' One word does the work of two."

Then:

"And if I don't have something? I just add ma in front. Ma indi. I don't have."

Practice the swap together, out loud:

• Indi kitab. → Ma indi kitab.
• Indi akh. → Ma indi akh.

Heritage stretch: Ask: "What does baba or mama say when they're busy? Ma indi waqt — I don't have time. Have you heard that?" Watch the recognition land.

Block 3: Letter of the day — ن (nun) (5 min)

Goal: Meet the letter ن.

Script:

Say: هذا حَرف "ن". اسمُه "نون". (Hādhā harf 'N'. Ismuhu 'nūn'.) — "This is the letter 'N'. Its name is 'nun'."

Write a big ن on the board. It looks like a little bowl with one dot floating above it. Trace it together — curve down, curve up, dot on top.

Find it in words you might already know:

Point out: ن changes shape depending on where it sits in the word. At the start it leans forward, in the middle it connects on both sides, at the end it sweeps down into that big bowl.

Practice writing: Trace 3 nuns in the workbook. Then write your own — one at the start of a word, one in the middle, one at the end. Don't worry about perfect. Worry about the dot.

Block 4: Play with it — The Sticky-Note "Indi" Game (8 min)

Goal: Build real indi sentences about real things.

Setup: Give each child 3 sticky notes. On each one, they draw (or write in English) ONE thing they have. A brother. A cat. A best friend. A scooter. A grandma in Lebanon. Whatever.

How to play:

1. Each child holds up one sticky note and says: عِندي ___. They fill the blank in Arabic if they can, or in English if they need to. (You — teacher or parent — supply the Arabic word if they're stuck.)
2. The next person responds: إِلَك ___؟ (Ilak ___? / Ilik ___? — "You have ___?") with a little surprise face. Like a real conversation.
3. Original speaker confirms: أَيوا، عِندي! (Aywa, indi!) — "Yeah, I have!"

The twist: On one of the three sticky notes, have them draw something they DON'T have but wish they did. (A dog. A trampoline. A little sister.) When it's that card's turn, they say: ما عِندي ___. (Ma indi ___.)

Parent version at home: Take turns. You hold up sticky notes too. Show your child something silly you don't have. Ma indi dinosaur. Make them laugh.

Classroom variant: After everyone shares once, walk the room. Find one person who has something you don't. Come back and report: Sami indi scooter. Ma indi scooter.

Block 5: Tiny reading — three sentences (5 min)

Goal: Read three full sentences. Not words — sentences.

Show the child this on the board or workbook page:

Read them together, slowly, one at a time. Point to each word as you say it.

Then ask:

• "Which one is the negative? How do you know?"
• "Which word means brother? Point to it."
• "Which word means book?"

Stretch (heritage or strong readers): Have them write their OWN three-sentence "paragraph" in the workbook. Two things they have, one thing they don't. This is the first real paragraph of the level. Mark it. Celebrate it.

(In the workbook, this is the "I can read sentences" row — three boxes with one sentence each.)

Block 6: Goodbye & try at home (3 min)

Goal: Send the indi frame home, where it lives.

Script:

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

Tonight at home (tell the child):

At dinner, tell one person at the table ONE thing you have and ONE thing you don't have. In Arabic. Even if it's just indi akh, ma indi cat. They'll get it.

For parents: When your child uses indi at home this week — even messily, even mixed with English (indi a lot of homework) — don't correct. Just reflect it back in clean Arabic. Aah, indak shughul ktiir. That's how the frame settles in.

After this session

• Send home the Family Guide (one page).
• Send home the Vocabulary Cards (cut on dotted lines).
• Workbook page 40 stays in folder/binder.
• Next session: Session 41 — I want / I don't want (بِدّي), letter ه (ha).

Teacher / Parent observation notes (formative — not graded)

Watch for, this session:

No grading. No tests. Just notice and remember.

Yalla Arabic · Level 4 · Session 40 of 48