LanguageThe programme
A Three-Year Phonics Journey
From hearing Arabic before a single letter appears, to reading and writing with confidence. Three levels, thirty-six books, one continuous pathway.
Level 1
Sound Explorers
FS1 (EYFS1) / Pre-K · ages 3 to 4 · Books 1 to 12
Before a child ever sees an Arabic letter, they learn to hear Arabic. Sound Explorers is a full year of listening and speaking through twelve board books, each built around a sound: the noises of the majlis, the soft noises of an owl and the loud noises of a camel, the beat of Rashid’s drum, the voices of Mira’s many animals.
Children join in with movement, rhyme and repetition, meet Salim, Hind, Rashid and Mira one by one, and pick up their first Arabic phrases along the way. Nothing is read and nothing is written. By the end of the year a child can tell sounds apart, keep a rhythm, hear the first sound in a word and use everyday Arabic with confidence.
Level 2
Shape Detectives
FS2 (EYFS2) / KG1 · ages 4 to 5 · Books 13 to 24
Now the letters arrive. From the first week of FS2, children learn Arabic letters together with their short vowel sounds, discover how a letter changes shape at the start, middle and end of a word, and begin to blend sounds into simple words by the middle of the year.
The twelve storybooks carry the language: the seven emirates, counting under the desert sky, Ramadan lanterns, a gift from the sea, Rashid’s big family, the fruit garden. The stories stay spoken and shared, and in Book 21, Our Eid Celebration, children read their first Arabic words for themselves. By the end of the year they know all 28 letters, can read short words and are ready for Year 1.
Level 3
Code Breakers
Year 1 / KG2 · ages 5 to 6 · Books 25 to 36
Code Breakers turns readers into fluent readers and first-time writers. Children complete the Arabic vowel system, including long vowels, shaddah and tanween, and each of the twelve books works on two layers: a rich story for the whole class and, within it, text the children can decode for themselves using that week’s phonics.
Reading speed, accuracy and expression are tracked through the year, and writing begins in earnest, from letter formation and spacing to short sentences of their own. The year ends with the Arabic Phonics Screening Check, which every child is prepared for from Book 25 onward.
Bring the journey into your school
Tell us your year groups and where Arabic sits at the moment, and we will show you how the three levels would run in your setting.