Bridging Language & Heritage: Kalamna Brings Arabic Learning to the UK
Languages are an excellent way for people to shape their identities and connect with their ancestors. We tend to understand more about our forebears and origins through language. With the Arabic language being one of the most distinctive languages ever created, due to the fact that it has impacted other languages, including the sounds that aren’t found in other languages, it takes on many forms depending on the situation and context, it is indeed a crucial language to learn.
Many people want to keep the Arabic language alive so that they can pass it on to their children as a kind of identity and legacy that should not be disregarded. This is especially true for families that reside in English-dominant communities and are concerned that their children may lose that aspect of their identity. As a result, Kalamna, a UK-based social enterprise and Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) established for the benefit of Arabic-speaking families, is here to help solve this problem by using an innovative and research-based strategy to teach Arabic to individuals of all ages. We got the wonderful opportunity to speak with Saussan Khalil, Kalamna’s Founder, Director, and Teacher. With a Ph.D. in Arabic Studies and an MA in Research in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL) from the University of Leeds, Khalil is an accomplished Arabic as a Foreign Language teacher. She also lectures at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.
So, what does Kalamna have to offer? It offers Arabic classes with a focus on learning spoken Arabic in a friendly setting that promotes Arabic culture and identity. Kalamna also provides pedagogical research and practice to teachers and management, assisting them in planning and delivering high-quality Arabic classrooms as well as producing dialect-based materials to promote Arabic learning.
Khalil explained how the concept for Kalamna occurred to her after she had children in the UK who spoke English but did not pick up Arabic. She then decided to teach her children the language and began her studies because she had previous teaching expertise. This time, though, she needed to devise a new strategy that would place a greater emphasis on children and how they would acquire a new language. The entire objective of this program was to show that bilingual Arabic-speaking families who are trying to teach their children everyday spoken Arabic face a lack of assistance.
Kalamna Phonics Toolkit + Font
Kalamna designed a phonics toolkit that brings the language to life for children with its eye-catching pictures to enhance the reading process, because children learn in unique ways, especially if it’s a second language that they don’t use or hear in their community. As a result, lessons at Kalamna are divided into age groups. The youngest students participate in a play and singing group with their parents. Arabic Phonics program aims to bridge the gap between spoken, standard, and formal Arabic after the children are confident in their spoken Arabic.
Additionally, Kalamna’s font has been adjusted to be more clear and simple for the children to pick up and understand, as the Arabic language contains a variety of fonts that can be perplexing at times. However, Khalil added in the interview that she customized the font that is now being used to cater to children and assist them in the process of reading and writing words after they have grasped the sounds of each letter. This enables children to become more familiar with the alphabet and Arabic words as the font used paves the path for those kids to become more engulfed with the language.
Kalamna’s seventh-anniversary goal is to continue providing families and children with opportunities to preserve their heritage and identity by fostering the Arabic language and hosting social events during the holidays to create a community that genuinely cares about their language and wants their children to learn more about their roots. This is one of the noblest missions of our modern-day, and what makes Kalamna a unique initiative is the sense of interest that is instilled in children as they gradually learn more about Arabic as a language, as well as the relationship that they and their parents have to it.
