Urdu for Children is the first comprehensive instructional package for teaching children Urdu as a second language. It includes a two-volume textbook, a workbook for learning the mechanics of Urdu writing, a comprehensive teacher's manual, and an audio cassette. Aimed at North American children between the ages of four and six, Urdu for Children combines traditional and whole-language instructional methods. The two-volume textbook includes forty lessons, each structured around a story or poem that reflects the theme "All About Me." This theme was chosen because children in the primary division show the greatest enthusiasm for things that relate to themselves. The methodology, outlined in the teacher's manual, was specifically designed to promote the integration of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills; the children listen to the story or poem recorded on the audio cassette or read by the teacher, repeat it in unison, and read it from the chart. Flash cards, role-playing, and drawing are also used to reinforce vocabulary and comprehension. Developed by a team of trained school teachers with extensive backgrounds in teaching Urdu as a heritage language, Urdu for Children will help meet the needs of a rapidly growing Urdu-speaking community in North America.

Sajida Alvi is professor, Indo-Islamic history, Islamic studies, McGill University.

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