Vocabulary Cards — Session 44: Now I Read! — My Cat

Print this page. Cut along the dotted lines. Each card is index-card sized. These are reading words — words you'll see again and again in every story this year. Keep them close.

Card 1

Say it: AQ-ra Means: I read

🎨 Picture: A kid curled up on a couch with a book open on their lap, finger under a line of Arabic.

Use it when: You open a book. Someone asks what you're doing. You finish a page and want to say it out loud: ana aqra'! — I'm reading!

Card 2

Say it: QIS-sa Means: Story

🎨 Picture: A small book on a bedside table, with a cat curled up next to it.

Use it when: You want a bedtime story. You finish a book and loved it (hayde qissa hilwe! — this story is sweet!). You're telling someone about a book.

Card 3

Say it: KA-li-ma Means: Word

🎨 Picture: A finger pointing at one single word on a page, the rest of the page slightly blurred.

Use it when: You don't know a word and want to ask. You sound out a new word and feel proud. You're counting — wahde, tinten, tlat kalimaat — one, two, three words.

Card 4

Say it: SAF-ha Means: Page

🎨 Picture: A hand turning the page of a book, mid-flip.

Use it when: You finish a page. The teacher says open to page five. You want to show mama the page where the cat sleeps.

Card 5

Say it: QIT-ta Means: Cat (female / a cat)

🎨 Picture: A small striped cat sitting on a balcony railing in Beirut, looking out at the sea.

Use it when: You see a cat on the street. You're talking about the story (the qissa about the qitta). You have a cat at home — she's your qitta.

There are cats EVERYWHERE in Lebanon. On every street, every balcony, every shop. Ask any teta — she has a cat story.

Card 6

Say it: BAYT Means: House / home

🎨 Picture: A stone village house with a red-tiled roof, a lemon tree by the door, and a cat at the window.

Use it when: You're going home (yalla 3al-bayt! — come on, home!). The cat in the story lives in a bayt. You're drawing your family's house.

Card 7

Say it: ta-NAAM Means: She sleeps

🎨 Picture: A cat curled into a perfect circle on a sunny windowsill, eyes shut.

Use it when: You see a cat sleeping. Your little sister falls asleep in the car. The cat in the story sleeps a LOT — that's most of what cats do.

A bonus card — for the family

Card 8 (bonus)

Say it: qa-RA't Means: I read it! (past tense — I finished it!)

🎨 Picture: A kid holding a closed book over their head, grinning, both arms up like they won a race.

Use it when: You finish a whole book. You finish even ONE page by yourself. You want to tell baba, teta, the teacher, the dog — qara't! I read it!

This is the word for today. Not "I'm trying to read." Not "I'm learning to read." I READ IT. Past tense. Done. You did the thing.

Say it loud. You earned it.

How to use these cards

1. Keep them inside the storybook. Tuck them between the pages of My Cat. When you open the book, the words greet you first.
2. Point and say. As you read the story, when you hit a word from a card — stop, find the card, say it, keep going.
3. One card per reading. Don't drill all seven. Pick one. Notice it on every page it shows up.
4. Celebrate finishing. Every time your kid closes the book, they get to flip Card 8 and say qara't! That's the ritual.

On reading a whole story

These seven words are not just for My Cat. They are the words you'll use for every story, for years.

Aqra' a qissa. Kam kalima fi-l-safha? — I'm reading a story. How many words are on the page?

That sentence will come out of your kid's mouth one day, and you'll remember Session 44, when it was just seven little cards on the kitchen counter.

Yalla. Open the book.

Yalla Arabic · Vocabulary Cards · Session 44