+ A
A -
Tribune News Network
Doha
QATAR Foundation International (QFI) has declared Kalimah Programs in Rockville, Maryland, the winner of its #ArabicYoga contest conducted across the United States.
Having won almost 50 percent of the over 1,000 votes cast, Kalimah Programs for Arabic Language, Culture and Arts will receive a grand prize of $500 for improving their classroom resources.
Arabic Yoga began as a class that utilises yoga poses to teach Arabic vocabulary in the first Arabic dual-immersion programme in Texas, Arabic Immersion Magnet School (AIMS) - a QFI sponsored programme.
Combined with a larger health and wellness initiative, yoga was a fitting addition to the immersion experience, creating a fun and effective way to teach the language.
As part of the contest, students and teachers from across the US uploaded photographs and videos of themselves on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, describing their favourite word in Arabic with a yoga pose.
"We have been using yoga as part of our Arabic Immersion Weekend Program to engage children in active and meaningful language learning. We came up with pose names in Arabic that help kids remember words like table, chair, tree, frog, lion, star and child, among others. As part of the contest, kids were excited to come up with a new pose that involves group work. We plan to use the money as scholarships for families with limited income to help them access programmes for learning Arabic," said Layali Eshqaidef, founder and president of Kalimah Programs.
QFI also released a lesson plan on Arabic Yoga in Arabic and English on their Open Education Resource (OER) site Al-Masdar. The lesson plan, written by Eden Bass of the Arabic Immersion Magnet School in Houston, Texas, serves as a guide for a 45-minute Arabic yoga class and is meant to be used by an Arabic teacher with students aged between four and seven years. These thematic lessons can be adapted for any classroom and age group or language ability.
Maggie Mitchell Salem, QFI's executive director, said:"QFI is proud to support new and creative methods in Arabic pedagogy. Combining physical education with language learning is essential to keep students engaged in the classroom."
Arabic is spoken by over 400 million people worldwide and is the fastest-growing second language in the US. It has helped US students pursue careers in business, journalism, diplomacy and national security, among others.
