About Ummi teaches me Arabic

Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullaah sisters ❁,

Welcome at Ummi Teaches Me Arabic!

I am umm Hidayah, it’s nice to meet you! I’m a mother, just like you are, and I have three lovely daughters that keep me on my toes, all day long!

Ummi Teaches Me Arabic is all about enabling and empowering mothers to teach their children Arabic at home! We make teaching easy for you by providing you with a lot of fun products to keep your children engaged while learning them Arabic at the same time. All the while being at home.

Background story of Ummi teaches me Arabic

It all began back in 2015 when my husband and I started a website centered around learning Arabic words: learnarabicwords.net. We really wanted to provide an easy to use resource for people to rely on when they want to start their Arabic learning journey. Learning Arabic words is an amazing start, and not too overwhelming.

When my first daughter became a toddler, I knew that I wanted to teach her the Arabic language. Arabic is the language of al-Islaam and you can never start soon enough when it comes to mastering this language. I thought to myself that if my daughter can understand the Arabic language, what doors will be opened for her when it comes to learning about her religion and understanding the Qur’aan later in her life, by Allaah’s Permission? It all boils down to the fact that it is very beneficial for your child if you teach them Arabic at an early age.

But when I wanted to start to teach my daughter Arabic at home I found it quite overwhelming to be honest. Where did I have to start? What printables and resources could I use to ensure that I was being efficient? What was the way I could keep my daughter entertained but attentive at the same time? And above all, I wanted to do it right, which would mean I would have to research a ton. And even though I’m always ready to unleash my inner nerd, I didn’t have enough time to do that properly. I wished that there was a ready to use way for me to teach her Arabic at home.

From there, an idea started to develop. What if I could create something for other mothers in the same situation: wanting to teach their children Arabic at home without the overwhelm?

But the website that we had back then did not cut it when it came to the first step of this journey: learning Arabic words. Sure, it would be a great resource for grown ups who have the discipline to sit down for some time and memorize the words. But as you may know, this doesn’t work for small children. They want to be entertained and at the same time they want to be challenged without feeling pressured or obliged to participate in a challenge. They’re eager to accomplish but they don’t have a mountains of patience in their system yet. They want results, fast!

Enter “Ummi teaches me Arabic”! We wanted to create unique products that were easy to access and fun to use. We wanted to create products that would help children learn efficiently while being entertained at the same time. These products are designed in a way that you don’t have to spend hours sitting down to get your child to learn. If you could only spend a few minutes a day with one of these products you could achieve big results!

How are these products made?

There’s a small team behind Ummi teaches me Arabic: my sister, my husband, and I.

The drawings

My sister is very creative and loves to draw, so she’s behind the amazing illustrations of our products. The drawings that she makes are also Islamically approved since they’re without distinctive facial features. We have asked a student of knowledge if we could use these pictures for educational purposes, and they are a-ok!

The digital illustrations and designs

After she submits the drawings, I make sure to get the drawing on my computer, either by scanning them or through a photo. I load the image on Adobe Illustrator and there I trace it, color it and finetune the whole design. I will upload a video of that process soon! After that, I design the products themselves, whether they be Arabic flash cards, memory cards or coloring pages. There are more products to come, in shaa Allaah!

To give you an idea of the process behind the designs, here are some examples from start to finish!

So, every product that you come across on this website is lovingly designed and made from scratch. We all make sure that every product you lay your eyes (and hands) on is unique and of premium quality. We’re working hard behind the scenes to give you, as a mother, the feeling that you don’t have to be overwhelmed and that you got this Arabic-teaching-endeavor! I’m with you every step of the way, and, of course, am always available to you if you have any questions or inquiries. Just e-mail me at umm.hidayah@ummiteachesmearabic.com!

The website and all things technical

My husband is the technical force behind our business. He’s a professional web developer and he’s the one behind the website and all things related to it.