Learning a language with all of the grammar rules and big vocabulary can sometimes get pretty stressful, so it’s important to take some time away from your Arabic language lessons out to give your brain a rest and have a little fun. I thought about this because, when I was teaching at an English academy in Jordan, I remember a game I saw an Arabic teacher playing with her students, so I thought I’d take time out and teach it to you as a fun way to learn Arabic.
The game is called “حَرْف – إسم – حَيوان” (harf – ism – haiwaan) meaning “Letter – Name – Animal” and the rules of game play are pretty simple. First, each player gets a piece of paper with seven columns. At the top of each column is written:
حَرف – إسم – حَيوان – جَماد – بِلاد – طَعام – نبات
Harf – ism – haiwaan- jamaad- bilaad – ta’aam – nabaat
or
“Letter – Name – Animal – Non-Living Thing – Country – Food – plant”
With each player taking a turn, the first player picks a letter from the Arabic alphabet., then has a turn to pick a letter and once that letter is chosen everyone begins filling in the first row with words that begin with that letter as fast as they can. When the first player to finish announces that they are indeed, finished, everyone then stops writing and the points are added up like so:
- If you wrote down a word that no one else wrote, you get 10 points.
- If someone else had the same word, you get 5 points.
- If you couldn’t think of a word, you get 0 points.
- If you finish first and all your words make sense, you get an extra 10 points.
Once everyone decides to end the game, each player counts their points and the one with the most points is the champion game usually last about half an hour if you do ten rows. Of course, you can play this game using any other language, but since your learning Arabic, it makes it a fun and easy Arabic practice. of course, you can play this game by yourself but is much more fun if you can get your fellow Arabic learners to join you. Try playing it once or twice a month to break up the boredom of learning the same old thing over and over again.
Can you think of any other Arabic games that you can adapt from your language? Let us know your ideas! We would love to hear them.
Although today’s post was all fun and games, we are very serious when it comes to teaching you about both the Arabic language and the Arab culture. If you would like to learn more visit us at kaleela. com and don’t forget to download the kaleela Arabic language learning app and fun and easy way to learn the language. Stop playing games and head over to our website now. One thing is for sure: you won’t regret it.