tutor/childcare

topic posted Tue, December 5, 2006 - 9:25 AM by  offlineandrea
hey everyone,
i would love for my son, rohnan, to be exposed to more arabic than what he gets from his intermittent visits from his grandfather and my sister. santa cruz is low on the diversity scale, i know, but does anyone know somebody or have any bright ideas aside from playing arabic music?
thanks!!!
posted by:
andrea
California
  • I'm not in your area so I don't have any suggestions on tutors or childcare, but if part of what you want is more exposure to the language and it's within your budget...how about satellite TV? I know that in my area, many of the satillite networks have options to receive international signals, including several stations from Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East. Obviously, you don't want your child watching excessive amounts of TV, but if you can find some shows that look vaguely interesting to him or have the arabic channels on in the background sometimes...that might help. I know more than one person who learned to speak English partially by watching TV. :-)
    • that's actually quite brilliant - thank you.
      • One of my buddies found alam sim sim (that's Arabic sesame street) on video, somewhere. I could ask if you are interested.

        I have the satellite TV. The dish cost something like $300 as I recall, but there is no monthly charges (and it's legal). There about 12 different arabic stations, encompassing all the different dialects.

        You can also get arabic channels through the dish network.
  • how old is your son? If he's still pretty young , young can pick up books & games pretty cheap from the desert boutique online:

    www.thedesertboutique.com/

    I'd also do a search or keep my eyes open for DVDs, like arabic cartoons or arabic sesame street. Sometimes you can get disney flicks in Arabic from ebay.

    Good luck finding a tutor...
    • Is there a masjid near you? I'm sure there are sisters that do childcare, or depending on your son's age, will do tutoring for him.
      In addition to ebay and the desertboutique, you can find a LOT of stuff at www.soundvision.com and other websites... 'course they all slip my mind at the moment. That's how it always is, isn't it...

      I hope you find some kind of "saturation" for your son. If he's old enough, Rosetta Stone makes a good Arabic program, as well. I really like it. :o)
      • thank you, all of you! as of now, rohnan is 6 months. i grew up watching arabic sesame street - i can't believe i didn't think of that!!!!
        sadly, i have had so little arabic consistently in my life since i was nine years old that i can only make the correct sounds and occasional terms of endearment.
        i'll look at desert boutique.
        i am very interested in the sesame street!
        cheers,
        andrea

Recent topics in "arabic arabe 'arabe !!!"

Topic Author Replies Last Post
new arabic lang. student Zana 3 May 29, 2008
Moroccan Arabic translation please Samira 7 May 24, 2008
Arabic Script 14 May 21, 2008
TIGI ZAY TRANSLATION vivika 4 April 7, 2008