How to teach your kids Lebanese Arabic (when you're not fluent)

You don't need to be fluent, own a shelf of textbooks or find an hour a day. Ten minutes, one letter and two words, the school word and the teta word, is enough to keep Arabic alive at home. Here's the routine we use, plus the words that trip families up.

By Souky Studio · Updated 24 October 2026

Fusha or Lebanese: which should your child learn first?

Children in Lebanese families abroad meet two kinds of Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha, الفصحى) is the written language of books, school, news and signs. Lebanese Arabic is what the family actually speaks: at the dinner table, on video calls with teta and jeddo, in songs and jokes. Nobody chats in Fusha, and Lebanese is rarely written in Arabic script outside messages.

Both use the same 28 letters, which makes the choice easier than it sounds: teach the letters in Fusha, and the words in both. Letters and their sounds are the same everywhere, so learning them is never wasted. Putting the home word next to the book word links reading to the language your child already hears, and that keeps them interested.

The differences fall into three types. It helps to know which one you're looking at:

• Same word, different vowels. كتاب is kitaab in Fusha and kteib in Lebanese: same spelling, different sound.
• Regular sound shifts. Lebanese usually turns ث (th) into t and ذ (dh) into d, so ثعلب tha3lab becomes ta3lab and ذئب dhi2b becomes deeb. In many words ق (q) becomes a glottal stop: قلب qalb (heart) is 2alb at home.
• A different word altogether. A cat is قطة qitta in Fusha but بسّة bisse in Lebanese.

Once kids notice these patterns, they start guessing the Lebanese word on their own. That's a great sign.

10 words where school Arabic and teta Arabic don't match

Start with these. They're everyday, picture-friendly words, and most kids find the differences funny. The transliteration uses the common "Arabizi" numbers, explained further down.

Pronunciation varies by region and family. The North, the South, Beirut and the Bekaa all have their own versions. If your family says it differently, use your family's word.

The 10-minute daily routine

Short and daily beats long and weekly. Ten minutes after dinner or before bath is much easier to keep up than a Saturday hour that keeps getting cancelled. Here's how to split the time:

1. Minutes 0–2: say the sound. Say the letter's name and sound together three times: in a whisper, a robot voice, a giant voice. If ع or ح isn't perfect yet, that's fine.
2. Minutes 2–5: trace the four shapes. Arabic letters change shape depending on where they sit in a word: alone, at the start, in the middle and at the end. Trace each form once with a finger, then with a pencil. Six letters (ا د ذ ر ز و) never join to the letter after them, so point that out when you reach them.
3. Minutes 5–8: one picture word, two ways. Colour the picture and say the word in Fusha, then in Lebanese. Ask "Which one does teta say?" Then use the Lebanese word in a real sentence before bed.
4. Minutes 8–10: one quick game, then stop. Pick a game from the list below and finish while your child still wants more. Ending on a high is what makes tomorrow easy.

Tip: slip the page into a plastic sheet protector and use a dry-erase marker, so one printout lasts all week.

A simple weekly plan

At four letters a week you'll introduce all 28 letters in seven weeks. Going slower is fine. Many letters share a shape and differ only in their dots (ب ت ث, or ج ح خ), so when your child mixes them up, count the dots together instead of correcting.

If you're not fluent yourself

Many diaspora parents understand Lebanese but don't read Arabic, or read it slowly. You can still lead this.

• Learn the three Arabizi numbers. In transliteration, 2 is the glottal stop (the catch in "uh-oh", ء), 3 is the ع sound (ayn) and 7 is the strong, breathy h (ح). Once you know these, you can read any transliterated word aloud.
• Borrow a native voice. Send the week's words to a grandparent or relative and ask for a voice note. Kids love hearing a family voice, and you'll pick up your family's pronunciation.
• Use the phrases you already know. Short family words count: يلّا yalla (come on), خلص khalas (done, enough), برافو brafo (well done), شو هيدا؟ shu hayda? (what's this?). Use them every day without translating.
• Learn alongside them. Saying "I'm learning this too" turns practice into teamwork instead of a test.

Games that make it stick

• Car quiz: "What's the Lebanese word for airplane?" (طيّارة tayyaara). Take turns, and let your child quiz you too.
• School or teta? Say the Fusha word or the Lebanese word, and your child shouts "school!" or "teta!".
• Letter hunt: find this week's letter on food packaging, a menu or a shop sign. Lebanese grocery products are full of Arabic labels.
• Sticky labels: put the Lebanese word on the fridge, the door and the window for a week.
• Video-call show-and-tell: your child shows the finished page to a grandparent and says the word. This is often the biggest motivator of all.

Resources that help

• Our free sample: 8 pages with Alif to Jeem (أ ب ت ث ج), each with the four letter forms, a picture word in Fusha, Lebanese and English, tracing rows, and a parent pronunciation guide. Direct download, no email.
• My First Arabic Letters ($7.95): the full 33-page workbook, Alif to Yaa, with three-language words on every page and a completion certificate. It's also in the Arabic Starter Bundle with our Ramadan & Eid kit.
• Leghetna: storybooks written in spoken Lebanese using Latin letters, made by two Lebanese moms in Montreal. Good if you don't read Arabic script and want stories to read aloud. We're not affiliated; we just like what they do.
• Your family: songs, recipes and stories in Lebanese count as much as any worksheet.

Frequently asked questions

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