Questions
What schools ask us most often about the Arabic Learning Journey: the year groups it covers, what arrives with it, and how to bring it into your school.
The Arabic Learning Journey covers three year groups: FS1 (EYFS1 / Pre-K, ages 3–4), FS2 (EYFS2 / KG1, ages 4–5) and Year 1 (KG2, ages 5–6). Each year group has its own twelve-book sequence, so a school can start with one year group or run all three as a continuous three-year pathway.
Twelve bilingual Arabic and English storybooks per year group, each anchoring three weeks of teaching. Alongside each book: daily lesson plans, individual 30-page workbooks for students to accompany the three weeks, daily PowerPoint slides for use with a class, flash cards to support teaching, a phonics strand for each week which extends across the year with each new book, printable classroom resources, Continuous Provision resources and ideas, and a Storybook Companion Pack of extension and support activities to facilitate further differentiation. Teachers also get CPD materials and parent workshop resources.
The books are fully bilingual and every daily lesson plan and PowerPoint comes with structured guidance, so a teacher does not need to plan in Arabic. The programme is designed to support Arabic specialists and to make the material accessible to non-Arabic class teachers working alongside them.
The Majlis Academy ecosystem is a comprehensive core provision rather than a supplement. The twelve books map to an academic year, with a defined language objective for each (numbers and counting, days of the week, family vocabulary, positional language and so on), and a phonics progression running through. Schools typically use it as the structure their Arabic teaching hangs on, rather than as extra resources beside something else.
Yes. The curriculum framework across FS1 to Year 1 is aligned with KHDA guidance, and the assessment framework provides look-fors and rubrics that support inspection evidence. The programme is aligned with all relevant MoE requirements and online content is updated as new requirements are published. What the regulations require, and how the programme supports each one.
Schools are contracted and invoiced directly rather than buying through The Majlis Academy shop. Access is by membership, either a Class Licence for named teachers and their registered classes, or a Site Licence covering all teachers at the school. Get in touch and we’ll talk through your year groups and where your Arabic sits at the moment, in order to help you choose the best provision for your school or setting.
Yes, in two ways. The Sample page shows a glimpse of three real weeks of teaching: pages from the storybook, some of the classroom slides, a vocabulary card and a teacher activity, all taken from Salim’s Adventures in the Seven Emirates. And a school can request a free four-week trial: its teachers get Week 1 of Book 2, Counting Under the Desert Sky, in the members area, in English and Arabic, with its five days of presentations and the matching continuous provision and assessment.
UAE regulations explained
Last reviewed:
Since September 2025, two new sets of Arabic requirements have applied in the UAE: one to private schools across the country, the other to early childhood settings in Dubai. They overlap, but they are not the same.
The federal Ministry of Education rules set how many minutes of Arabic children must receive each day. The KHDA policy in Dubai sets out who teaches Arabic, how it is taught, and how children’s progress is assessed. This guide explains each requirement as it currently stands and how The Majlis Academy’s programme helps schools meet it. It also makes clear which obligations remain with the school.
| Requirement | From | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Daily ArabicMinistry of Education. All private schools in the UAE, kindergarten stage, every curriculum | 2025-26 | 40 minutes a day, rising to 60 minutes a day in 2027-28 |
| Compliance inspectionsMinistry of Education. As above | 2026-27 | Formal monitoring by Ministry inspection teams |
| KHDA Phase 1Dubai schools and early childhood centres, ages 4 to 6 | 1 September 2025 (September-start schools); 1 April 2026 (April-start schools) | Arabic built into the curriculum for all children |
| KHDA Phases 2 and 3Ages 3 to 4, then under 3 | Dates to be notified by KHDA | As Phase 1 |
| One-third ruleKHDA, Dubai | With each phase | An Arabic-speaking teacher delivers at least one third of weekly instructional hours |
The Ministry has approved mandatory guidelines for teaching Arabic, Islamic Studies and Social Studies at kindergarten stage. They apply from 2025-26 to every private school in the UAE, whatever curriculum it follows.
Arabic is taught every day, starting at 200 minutes a week (40 minutes a day) and rising to 300 minutes a week (60 minutes a day) by 2027-28. It must be taught by qualified early childhood teachers using approved resources and age-appropriate methods suited to both native and non-native speakers. Ministry inspection teams begin monitoring compliance from 2026-27. Schools whose year starts in April implement the guidelines from 2026-27.
Every teaching day has a 45-minute lesson in five parts: Welcome (5 minutes), Phonics (7), Story (8), Activities (15) and Reflection (10). On its own, this lesson exceeds the current 40-minute daily minimum.
From 2027-28, when the requirement rises to 60 minutes a day, The Majlis Academy will provide supplementary materials so that the daily lesson covers the full 60 minutes. The continuous provision plans for every book are designed to carry Arabic into the rest of the day.
The programme is written for children learning Arabic as an additional language. All teacher materials are provided in English and Arabic, so class teachers who do not speak Arabic can support the work alongside the Arabic teacher.
A school receives a presentation and lesson plan for every day of the year. The year is built around 12 books, each taught over three weeks, with four books a term.
Arabic in the Early Years, continued
The KHDA’s Policy on Arabic Language Provision in Early Childhood Education has legal force through Administrative Resolution No. (48) of 2025, issued on 23 July 2025. The resolution requires Arabic to be taught to both Arabic-speaking and non-Arabic-speaking children in three stages: ages four to six, then ages three to four, then under three.
KHDA will notify settings of the start date for each later stage. It has said it will evaluate the first phase’s outcomes over two years before expanding the policy. Settings have three years from 1 September 2025 (or 1 April 2026 for April-start schools) to ensure their staff comply with the policy guide and hold the required Arabic teaching qualifications.
The resolution sets out six technical standards. Each is listed below with the programme’s response to it.
The curriculum and assessment methods must align with KHDA’s guide and UAE policy, and must reflect the children the setting actually serves.
The Majlis Academy programme follows a three-year progression, with 12 books for each year group:
In a British-curriculum school, FS2 and Year 1 are the ages covered by Phase 1. FS1 is designed for Phase 2, whose start date KHDA has yet to announce.
This is required by the resolution in these terms.
Every week of the programme is built around a story set in the UAE, including:
Guided play, continuous provision and cultural boxes of authentic artefacts turn each story into days of exploration rather than worksheet exercises.
Settings must assess children’s attainment and progress using the periodic assessment model KHDA has approved.
The Majlis assessment guide is built on Section 4 of KHDA’s 2025 Arabic guidance. It uses KHDA’s four bands (Emerging, Developing, Proficient and Mastering) and divides each band into three levels. The middle level of each band is KHDA’s own descriptor. The levels on either side let teachers show inspectors progress within a band as well as progress between bands.
Teachers also receive weekly comprehension and sequencing checklists and a set of regulatory competency cards, in English and Arabic. No data about children is stored online.
An Arabic-speaking teacher must deliver at least one third of total weekly instructional hours and join child-led activities, large-group sessions or small-group work every day. The Arabic teacher’s timetable must place them with different year groups at different times of day, so that Arabic is part of daily routines such as mealtimes and play.
This is a staffing requirement, and only the school can meet it. What the programme provides is planned material for all of those hours, not just the taught lesson: continuous provision plans and learning environment guidance for every book. With these, the Arabic teacher’s time across the day is purposeful rather than improvised.
Arabic teachers must complete at least 20 hours of training a year, focused on teaching Arabic to young children through play-based and inquiry-led activity.
The Majlis Academy’s founders deliver training in schools, in English and Arabic, and this can contribute towards those hours.
Parents must be told about the setting’s Arabic plan and their child’s progress, and settings must offer tools and resources that help parents support Arabic at home.
The Majlis Academy’s bilingual books and book boxes are designed for families to continue at home the stories their children meet in class.
No resource or programme can make a school compliant on its own. The school must still:
For schools that want support with these obligations, The Majlis Academy’s whole-school implementation offer includes leadership guidance, curriculum and policy documentation, and in-class coaching.
Schools can explore the programme through a free four-week trial.
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