If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I do a lot of translation work to create Urdu teaching resources for my kids.
Although better quality Urdu books, nursery rhymes and poems are now available, they are still very limited. They are also almost always, only available in Pakistan. I still remember bookshop videocalls with my mum, her trying to show me the text in Urdu children's books because there's no kindle sample book equivalent for Urdu books.
Teaching your children Urdu in a foreign country comes with lots of constraints BUT IT IS POSSIBLE. Sure it requires a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication on your part as a parent but the joy that you will feel when you can hold a conversation in Urdu with your child, or enjoy your favourite Urdu song with them, makes it worth it.
Besides the special connection we feel with our children when they can speak to us in our native Urdu, learning the Urdu language is also hugely beneficial for Pakistani children because:
- Urdu is part of their ethnic identity and the Urdu language will help promote a sense of belonging
- Urdu connects them to other Pakistanis and family members back home who may not speak English
- Urdu enables them to better understand the Pakistani culture and their heritage
- Any additional language, including learning to speak, read and write Urdu, will increase their linguistic ability, so they will find it easier to learn other languages
- Learning languages leads to better brain health and greater levels of intelligence
With ever increasing global connectedness, learning additional languages has become more accessible and also advantageous from an employment perspective. Through learning Urdu, our children will find it easier to learn additional languages too.
Given all the benefits of learning Urdu, I had to find a way in which to overcome the obstacles presented within teaching Urdu. That's how and why I started to create my own Urdu teaching resources over 7 years ago.
The first Urdu resource I ever created was Urdu number and Urdu shape flashcards BY HAND. Yes, you heard that right! I'm glad that since then, technological advancement and my ability to access technology have both improved greatly and now, I can create more appealing Urdu resources for my kids and share them here with you too.
Here is a Julia Donaldson poem I translated from English to Urdu to use with my son. We used it when exploring Urdu numbers and the quality or feeling that different numbers carry.
I hope this post will encourage or support you in your kids Urdu language journey.
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