Dunia Fi Lubnan (Dunia in Lebanon) Interactive Story Book Companion Guide

Dear Parents and Educators,

Thank you for your interest in our first Interactive Story Book (ISB).

Here you will find all the information you need to navigate through the educational material

and enjoy it to its fullest extent.

Your feedback is extremely important to us and will help us improve our offerings for the years

to come. Please take a few minutes to fill out the form on our website.

Alefb’s Philosophy: The idea of the interactive story book emerged out of our enthusiasm

about teaching Arabic as a foreign language to children learners in a playful and interactive

way. We recognize that learning a new language can have its challenges and moments of

frustration, and we wanted to supplement your teaching materials with an interactive tool that

will take the learner on a journey through an Arab country, all the while introducing various

language and culture themes. Through the story, the learners are transported to various real

life situations where they are confronted with the thrills and challenges of the need to create

with the language they acquire. For that reason, we chose to integrate in this material both

colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The narrative is in the latter, whereas the

conversations that pop up on each page of the storybook are held in colloquial Levantine

Arabic. In the same manner, we used both MSA and colloquial in the drills, while being

respectful of when and how to use each.

Dunia’s Story: Dunia is not too different from many language learners, in the sense that she

has acquired some knowledge about the Arabic language, yet she feels shy and uncomfortable

when speaking. She worries that others may mock her or make fun of her accent when she

goes to visit her grandparents in Lebanon. Like many children, Dunia loves the game of soccer;

she also respects nature and its creatures. During her summer in Lebanon, she manages to

slowly break out of her shell, to overcome the fear of speaking Arabic, and to make friends. The

learner is not simply a spectator in this story, but rather an active participant in the process of

helping Dunia overcome and navigate through certain situations. The learner is kept engaged

and interested in learning more thanks to the quiz questions that, solicit information and/or

asking for advice from him/her. The situations that Dunia encounters are similar to what a

language learner would go through when traveling to a new place. Moreover, the situations

carry within them many great lessons for increasing the learner’s linguistic and cultural

proficiency. The story has many characters that are essential to the learning process contained

within the story. Below is a brief description of the main ones:

Dunia(دنيا من أميركا): She is the main character is a child who grew up with some

knowledge of the Arabic language, but was born and raised in the United States. She

knows the language, but feels shy and uncomfortable about using it. On the other hand,

she is extremely talented in soccer and her skills help her make friends.

Dunia’s grandparents: Her grandfather and grandmother live in Lebanon where Dunia

travels to visit them. They are encouraging and try to create an environment in which

Dunia can learn and break away from her restricitve bubble. They do so by introducing

her to a little boy that lives nearby.

Samir(سمير الخبير): He is the young boy that Dunia gets introduced to. She approaches

him with some hesitation but also with a great deal of curiosity. She wants to play and

make friends, but is not sure how. Samir likes to learn and seek out information on his

IPad. He is also the energetic playful child that slowly helps Dunia overcome her fear

and encourages her to join him on fun and sometimes dangerous adventures. He is

helped by his imaginary friend, Nahla the bee.

Children (Tarek, Rayan and Yara): They are the friends that Dunia makes along the way

and shares fun adventures with.

The bee ( النحلة نهلة ): Throughout the story, Nahla the bee comes up every once in a while

to check on Dunia (and the learner) and to provide some helpful hints regarding the

progression of the story. The bee represents a helpful entity for Dunia and is the Samir’s

imaginary friend. She is always there, and acts as his conscience. At some point, Dunia

gets stung by a bee. This little scare however, provides a further opportunity for the

characters to learn and grow by seeking help and navigating through the situation. The

bee that stings Dunia is not Nahla, their friend. Dunia tries to explain that to family and

friends. The learner is introduced to the idea that bees are nice and that not all bees are

mean. In that sense, the bee acts as a catalyst prompting the learner and the story

characters to probe some more and look underneath the surface of what is going on.

What Does this Storybook Do? The interactive storybook is meant to be a supplemental tool

supporting a set curriculum for teaching Arabic to children ranging from a novice-mid to an

intermediate-mid levels (according to ACTFL standards).

This tool can be best used with children ages 6-12. Since this is an interactive tool that requires

navigating the web and uses references to online material, in the “Did you Know?” Section, we

strongly advise that children always be supervised by adults (parents, teachers, tutors etc...)

This will ensure that the learner is immersed in a teaching environment that is safe, and age-

appropriate.

While the storybook has a diverse array of topics and can aid the learner in reviewing and

learning various words and phrases, it’s not a comprehensive curriculum in and of itself. This

interactive tool can be used by the learner with some supervision from a classroom

instructor/parent/tutor. It can also be used in the classroom along with extra worksheets to

supplement the language curriculum.

The ultimate goal of this supplemental material is to foster interest for the Arabic language and

culture. The learning goals in terms of content are for leaners to acquire new vocabulary, and

comprehend new phrases and words from context. In terms of form, we aim at reinforcing

learners’ recognition and reproduction of Arabic sounds and letters (we assume learner have

had some prior exposure to the alphabet, however we provide an external link to learn),

develop awareness of patterns in language, reinforce reading and writing ability. In terms of

communication, we expect learners to listen and understand general ideas in short paragraphs,

express feelings, identify places, people, things, colors, activities and express opinions using

structured language. Finally, in terms of cultural awareness, this tool will help learners

recognize some differences between Modern Standard Arabic and colloquial Arabic, enhance

understanding of the Arab community around them, and learn more aspects of the Arabic

culture.

The topics contemplated in the story are the following: family, friends and neighbors;

Activities; House(inside, outside); food; colors; feelings (sad, lonely, mad, shy, afraid etc.);places

(countries; village, clinic; soccer field; stores); body parts( at the doctor);colors(the ice-cream

flavors and colors; numbers-ordinal and cardinal- pages 8,20,22)

How do we use this Storybook: The storybook can be used in the classroom as a supplemental

tool to accompany the instructional materials within the core curriculum. This can best be

achieved by pairing various parts of the story with the appropriate units within the curriculum.

Additionally, it is advisable that there be more activities designed to increase interpersonal

communication among the learners. This can be done by dividing the students into groups and

encouraging them to discuss the story amongst each other and practice asking/answering

questions.

In addition, the storybook can be used by the learners individually. This is possible due to the

built-in periodic self-assessment within the storybook that allows the learner to recap what

he/she has gathered from each unit and to practice/assess comprehension through drills and

consistent prompts.

Overall, there is no one set way to use this tool. Here are a few ideas that can help you utilize

this book based on your own instructional needs:

-Story time: The instructor can utilize the story book as a story with various chapters that bring

up different situations and call for various uses of the language. When the learner/instructor

clicks on the story, they will be guided from one chapter to the next and given the option of

either continuing on with the story or “playing” by going to the drills section. The story can

certainly be viewed and enjoyed without needing to complete the drills. However, before

transition from one chapter to the next, the bee (being the little helper here) pops up to ask a

question about the narrative. The answer to this question will be found in the big illustration.

This is done to keep the learner engaged and to somewhat test their general comprehension of

the scene they have just watched. Pre, during and post reading and listening strategies can be

found on this link: National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of

language teaching.: http://nclrc.org/essentials. Please read our Appendices for more resources,

directly relevant to “Dunia Fi Lubnan”.

-Story and play/learning time: The instructor can showcase each chapter of the story and can

encourage the learners to complete some drills before proceeding to the next story chapter. In

such case, it is advisable that the instructor familiarizes him/herself with the drills to determine

which ones are appropriate and can support the content of what is being taught in the

classroom.

-Learning through Drills: The drills can also be utilized on their own and as a separate

component from the storybook. More on how the drills are designed is outlined in the

following section.

Storybook Drills, the “Play and Learn” section: The drills that accompany the storybook are

theme-based and can certainly be used as standalone language drills. The drills are divided into

the following sections:

Greetings and Farewell: this module contains various words and phrases that have

come up within the storybook. It acquaints the learner with the various greetings

(formal and informal) and takes the learner from learning the basic sounds and

responses to building a basic dialogue using what has already been learned. In this

section, we have employed both MSA and colloquial forms of greetings.

Keep the Conversation Going: this serves as a “putting it together” module where the

learner can move beyond some basic memorized words and phrases to creating basic

dialogues within the Arabic language.

Color the “Bouza” flavors: this is an introduction to colors, with the opportunity to

connect colors with flavors. It is also a typing drill.

Where, What, with Whom? This section introduces the learner to question words in

Arabic and gives him/her another opportunity to create with the language. The drills

always build up in terms of difficulty level and the learner is usually quizzed on a

concept that has already been modeled to him/her through the storybook and the

previous drills.

Create your own Project: It is recommended that the learner attempts to do this

module after completing all previous drills and reading the story book. This is a chance

for the learner to showcase what he/she knows by creating further with the language

and to seek help from his/her surrounding, thereby engaging in interpersonal

communication. The learner is asked to write a post card to his family or friends using

specific guidelines and information. The postcard can also be sent to Alefb for review

and feedback on this presentational task.

Each of the modules listed above starts with a recap glossary page, where the learner can click

on words related to the module, listen and repeat. This serves as a recap of the most important

vocabulary terms before embarking on tackling the various drills.

The final project can be printed out and assessed by the instructor. If the learner is working on

the project on their own or with little supervision, he/she can send the final project to Alefb by

email for feedback and for it to be published on the website.

Using Arabic Keyboard in Drills: Some drills require typing in Arabic, and in such case, a virtual

keyboard will display allowing the learner to type the answer in Arabic. The purpose of this

storybook is not to teach Arabic typing, but rather to familiarize the leaners with the Arabic

alphabet and to build on their existing knowledge with Arabic writing.

Cultural Notes in the “Did you know?” Section: As per ACTFL standards we, recognize that

foreign language acquisition is closely knit with cultural awareness. We developed worksheets

incorporating some of the themes tackled in the story and provided opportunities for the

learner to expand his/her knowledge about the Arabic-speaking community in the US and

abroad. To make learning more fun and to provide a greater incentive, we created a point

gathering system, where the learner can engage in various cultural activities that prompt

him/her to gather some information, do a little research, prepare a recipe, ask some questions

and submit the findings to Alefb through email. Correct submissions amount to a certain

number of points per activity, and when the learner collects a total of 20 points, he/she will

receive a surprise.

Arabic, Arabic and more Arabic: We want this story to be an opportunity for learners to

immerse themselves in the Arabic language both written and verbal, while providing

navigational tools and tips to help make the process smoother, more fun and less daunting. We

have purposefully stayed away from transcribing Arabic texts phonetically. While we are aware

that the learner may not possess considerable Arabic reading skills, we do want him/her to be

immersed within the language and to not resort to reading phonetically transcribed words. We

have provided other tools to facilitate comprehension. The animations, sounds, recap

vocabulary pages and English tool tips translation all provide additional hints and aid the

learner in staying engaged without resorting to the excessive use of English.

Thank you!

Appendix 1: Pre-During-Post activities.

1- Sample while-listening activities

• listening with visuals

• filling in graphs and charts

• following a route on a map

• checking off items in a list

• Match

• Rearrange the sentences

• listening for the gist

• searching for specific clues to meaning

• completing cloze (fill-in) exercises

• distinguishing between formal and informal registers

2- During pre-reading you may: Use pre-reading activities to prepare students for reading

The activities you use during pre-reading may serve as preparation in several ways.

• Assess students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text

• Give students the background knowledge necessary for comprehension of the text, or

activate the existing knowledge that the students possess

• Clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to comprehend the passage

• Make students aware of the type of text they will be reading and the purpose(s) for

reading

• Provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for class discussion activities

3- Sample pre-reading activities:

• Using the title, subtitles, and divisions within the text to predict content and

organization or sequence of information

• Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and their captions

• Skimming and scanning to find the theme or main idea and eliciting related prior

knowledge

• Reading over the comprehension questions to focus attention on finding that

information while reading

• Constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement of concepts or words showing how

they are related)

• Conducting a survey

Pre-reading activities are most important at lower levels of language proficiency and at earlier

stages of reading instruction. As students become more proficient at using reading strategies,

you will be able to reduce the amount of guided pre-reading and allow students to do these

activities themselves.

4- During-reading activities:

In while-reading activities, students check their comprehension as they read. The purpose for

reading determines the appropriate type and level of comprehension.

• When reading for specific information, students need to ask themselves, have I obtained

the information I was looking for?

• When reading for pleasure, students need to ask themselves, Do I understand the story

line/sequence of ideas well enough to enjoy reading this?

• Identify each main idea and supporting details:

• Stop at the end of each section to review and check their predictions, restate the main

idea and summarize the section

• Use the comprehension questions as guides to the text, stopping to answer them as

they read

5- Post-reading exercises can include the following:

• Graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams

• Timeline projects

• Discussing the text: Written/Oral

• Summarizing: Written/Oral

• Making questions: Written/Oral

• Answering questions: Written/Oral

• Filling in forms and charts

• Writing reading logs

• Completing a text

• Listening to or reading other related materials

• Role-playing

• Cooperative projects for further research and investigation

• Technology-based presentations

Source: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/index.htm

How to apply these to the Alefb Arabic Interactive Story Book (ISB): Dunia Fi Lubnan.

1- Pause on the cover page of the ISB, look at the picture and try to predict what the

overarching theme of the story is. Explore the maps, the continents, the countries,

Observe the long way from Washington DC to Beirut-Lebanon. Talk about the plane as a

means of transportation, in the target language, Arabic (how many times have you

travelled overseas? Where to? whom did you visit? Etc.)

2- Walk through the ISB looking at the pictures only. Put the sound on mute, and navigate

using the next button on your left. Note that the pictures come in from Right to Left.

Have students point this out and explain that this is the way we read and write the

Arabic language. Note that when you click on Next, a transition page will appear; try to

use it as a way to predict what will happen next.

Attempt to have learners identify the characters (Dunia, Samir, Family-including the

uncle, friends, ice cream man, doctor, post officer), the places (airports, home, yard,

village square, Ice cream place, Doctor’s clinic, soccer field), transportation (airplane,

taxi, cars), recurrent things ( soccer ball, IPad, Samir’s bag, Nahla the bee)

Take the learner on a slow "walk" to allow time for learners to point out things they like

and ask questions about things they are not familiar with. Continue to ask questions

that will spark some new vocabulary and concepts. Once you get to the end of the story

and have looked at each picture, have your child recall and think about what they saw.

Ask "What do you think this story will be about?" (making predictions) "Can you tell me

about your favorite picture? Why is that your favorite picture?" (making connections)

"What is the character doing in this picture?" (analyzing characters) "Where are the

characters?" (setting) "Why did the character act this way?"

3- Activate prior language about relevant topics in the story: Family, friends and neighbors;

Activities; House(inside, outside); food; colors; feelings (sad, lonely, mad, shy, afraid

etc.);places (countries; village, clinic; soccer field; stores); body parts( at the

doctor);colors(the ice-cream flavors and colors; numbers-ordinal and cardinal- pages

8,20,22)

4- During reading:

Have learners listen to the narrative and raise their hand when they hear a word related

to family topic for example; or when they hear a target word set up by teachers/parents

and learner jointly, from a list of vocabulary words you want to teach. Write a

vocabulary list gradually as you go along.

Have learners find in the big picture, the illustration of words written in the narrative.

Let learners draw a picture of any association they make while listening or reading the

narrative.

5- Ask learners to predict what will happen next after learner has answered the Bee

Question. Then revise prediction as learner finds evidence in the following pages. For

example: On page 3: try to have them predict how Dunia, who is afraid to speak Arabic,

will find a friend? On page 4: will Dunia find a friend? On page 9: Where do you think

the ball is? Page 10: who took the ball?

6- Ask the learner to identify who is speaking. Note that the character who is speaking in

the dialogue box is glowing.

7- Point out hints to cultural products, perspectives, and products: Jeddo’s sayings ( yelli bi

dok al bab biyesma3 el jawab يلّي بدق على الباب بيسمع الجواب- page 17), Picture of Gibran

Khalil Gibran in the bedroom- page 4, reference to playing Basra( a card game), nursery

rhyme that Dunia sings while juggling the ball–page 7, you can find the integral version

here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRUOFBGhZM , the color red for

blackberries ( in the Arab world, all berries are referred to as “toute” توت , therefore

they are said to be red. Page 13), the Lebanese houses, tomato terraces, pine trees etc.

Some cultural expressions: السالم عليكم ، بالهناء و الشفاء، أنت صديقتنا مثل أختنا، بالتوفيق، انشاءهللا

8- Post reading:

Have learners act out the ISB or a part of it; retell the story for one character

perspective. Use prompts such as: if you were Yara, how would you tell the story?

Explain that Yara was in Dunia’s situation a few years ago, when she came back from

Canada. (See page 11)

Have learner write labels for specific pictures in the big illustrations according to theme

studied: house, ball, boy, girl, bee, tree, rock, and trai.l

Let learner imagine another ending: Will Dunia’s postcard arrive to her parents in

Washington DC before she returns? (See page 21)

Of course, use the project activity designed at the end of section2 of the “Learn and

Play” component: writing a postcard.

It is recommended that most of these activities be done in pairs and/or in group if you are in a

class setting.

Appendix2: Differentiated activities

Language classes are always challenging in that there are always learners with different levels

of skills, background, readiness, and maturity in the same classroom. This is true, in particular,

when heritage learners are mixed up with learners whose native language is English.

Traditionally, teachers have dealt with different student levels by attempting to teach to the

middle of the class. Studies reveal the limitations of this “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Some technology tools enable teachers to differentiate instruction and adapt classroom

activities and homework assignments, thus enhancing the language learning experience. See

more at: http://www.actfl.org/news/position-statements/role-technology-language-

learning#sthash.kPjvyGQ9.dpuf

Actually, both heritage learners and second language learners can tremendously benefit from

the ISB, although in different ways. The story narrative is rich enough to provide a challenge for

more advanced students, while at the same time offering a context that makes the gist of the

meaning clear to novices. Teachers can use each page text for one or more activities rather

than find and manage multiple texts for each level.

The class will remain cohesive and thematic when all students have access to the same

material. While planning activities for a heterogeneous group can be challenging, there are

significant benefits for all learners when themes, vocabulary, and some activities are shared

with the whole class.

The differentiation will come at the assessment level, when each learner will be expected to

reach a different learning goal. We suggest designing appropriate assignments that challenge all

learners, for example: Ask different levels of questions to different levels of students, keep your

students motivated, and interested. Always ask yourself if your students feel they are

progressing, if they have enough activities ‘choices, if they are engaged in inspiring activities, if

there is diversity in end-of-unit products?

You will find below some suggestions to address the issue of multilevel language classes, as

they pertain to “Dunia Fi Luban”.

- Mute the narrative and have more advanced learners read, while less advanced are

listening for comprehension

- Replay the narrative and have some learners identify words verbally and others identify

selected written words

- Have students point at the selected images referred to in the narrative or the

conversations, and more advanced learners; write those words on a white erase board.

- Mute the Bee quiz questions and ask it in Arabic for the more advanced

- In the drills section 1: ask more advanced kids to help the others to solve the questions.

- In drills section 2: Turn all the questions into Arabic instead of English.

- In the Cultural notes/Did you know section: this section is ideal for group work.

For more check this

website.http://languagelinks2006.wikispaces.com/Differentiating+Instruction

Appendix 3: Assessment using” I Can Do” statement

For teachers who may want to measure the progress of their students when using this

supplemental learning material, we recommend adapting the standard forms in the pdf below.

http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Can-Do_Statements.pdf