How to Teach Urdu to Kids: 11 Tips for Parents
When raising a child in a bilingual household and trying to teach kids Urdu, the general advice is to ‘speak to them in Urdu at home’.
Which is great. And it does generally work to a great extent. They understand well and respond well too as long as they are continually exposed to Urdu.
But sometimes, over time, and as they grow older, they may begin to respond less and less.
They may develop a preference for the other language over Urdu.
Their competency and ability in Urdu may decrease or stall.
They may become disinterested in engaging in Urdu.
*Cue panic*
Why do kids stop engaging with their home language?
There are many potential reasons.
One that could be a likely reason is because aside from speaking to their parent/carer in Urdu, they aren’t actually getting much exposure to Urdu.
Their friends speak in English.
They read books in English.
They watch TV and listen to songs/nursery rhymes in English.
They spend the bulk of their time speaking English.
Is it any surprise that just the one avenue of Urdu exposure at some point just can’t quite cut it any longer?
Is it really so surprising they stop engaging with Urdu?
Language Immersion
You may have heard of the term ‘immersion’ being thrown around when talking about learning languages.
What is language immersion?
Language immersion is essentially becoming so immersed in a language that is becomes your day-to-day communication. You spend all/most of your day listening to, speaking in and going about your day-to-day life immersed in said language, in our case Urdu.
Language immersion is the quickest way to pick up a language with all it’s facets – vocabulary, accent, grammar etc because it simply becomes a way of living. It is more effective than learning in a classroom setting by miles!
Urdu Immersion To Teach Kids Urdu
A small child whose parents speak only Urdu at home will be immersed in Urdu.
However, when that child goes to school in an English speaking country, makes friends who they speak to in English and at the same time begins to watch Sesame Street and Cocomelon on TV, that ‘immersion’ effect isn’t quite the same.
Here are some ways to increase your child’s exposure to Urdu if they cannot be fully immersed in the language
- Speak with them in UrduThis will ALWAYS be the best way you can give them exposure to Urdu. It is a huge feat to expect them to speak fluently in Urdu when we ourselves do not speak to them in Urdu. Ideally, you’d speak to your child in Urdu from birth as much as possible. Immersion powers, come hither!One method that works well once the child is older and speaking two languages is speaking only Urdu at home.If you are from a multilingual/biracial family, you can possibly apply the rule of one parent/one language. Lets say Urdu and French are the two languages spoken in the family. In this arrangement, one parent (lets say dad) speaks exclusively Urdu to the child, and the other parent speaks exclusively in French.
- Speak to your partner and family in Urdu, if possible. Talk to them about your desire to speak with your child in Urdu more, ask them to join you on this mission. This will just help create a more ‘Urdu’ environment at home, create more opportunities for them to listen and learn and will encourage the child to speak in Urdu more too. If your families can speak Urdu, it may be worth speaking to them beforehand and letting them know you intend on exposing your child to Urdu as much as possible and would therefore appreciate their support here by them also speaking to your child in Urdu.
Make friends with other families who speak Urdu
Understandably this isn’t always possible, but where it is this a great opportunity to increase exposure and to also build your tribe of fellow parent/carers who want to work to pass on Urdu. Children take a lot of joy in friendships, therefore having a group of friends who speak in Urdu to them can be a great opportunity for them to associate Urdu with positive relationships. Arranging a group Urdu story or activity time is a great idea here!
If you aren’t in a position to make friends in your local community with people who speak Urdu, there may be online groups and communities which can fulfil this role. Urdu Learning Lab is one I am aware of which hold weekly Zoom story times!
- Read books in Urdu
Just adding a handful of engaging, fun books to your bookshelf can do wonders – children enjoy and absorb so much from books. Making a bedtime story in Urdu a routine is a great idea to ensure some form of Urdu reading goes on daily!
If your child is young and can’t read, you don’t even need to specifically purchase Urdu books. You can just read the story out in Urdu, translating it from English as you go along. For older children who can read, you can either purchase Urdu books, or if that isn’t possible, writing/print out the translation and sticking it on top of the English text is an absolutely acceptable, thrifty alternate 🙂 -
Watch movies, shows, news, documentaries in Urdu
There are so many channels, shows, movies etc which can add exposure. Try watching an age-appropriate documentary together with your child. For older children, watching the news headlines together is a great opportunity to spark discussion.
I think it is really important to make clear here – screen time cannot be used in lieu of actually engaging with your child in Urdu. Screen time is one-way and whilst it may help your child pick up words in Urdu, it will never come close to reading, speaking or engaging in human interaction in Urdu. Utilise screen time sparingly as an additional aid, but not a replacement.
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Make Urdu fun!
Play! Play is one of the primary ways in which children learn. Play engages the senses, captures the attention and helps cement concepts into memory. If you’d like to teach kids Urdu without making them assosiate Urdu with boredom, incorporating ways to make Urdu fun is a must.
Several studies support the finding that learning through play leads to improved memory, information retention and ‘larger brains‘.
Play on your child’s interests – if they are into water play, get on that and find ways to include language games in it.
Playing a board game such as Luddo or Snakes and Ladders can help getting familiar with counting in Urdu.
Playing with Lego or wooden blocks can lead to discussion about shapes and colours.
Imaginary pretend play will know no bounds in vocabulary development! Honestly the sky is the limit here.
- Sing songs and rhymes
For some reason, songs stick to our memory better. Singing songs and rhymes are an enjoyable way to connect with your child and continue to increase Urdu exposure.Singing songs helps children learn the sounds of words and their meaning. The repetitive nature of songs help children remember words too. I for one can vouch I learnt a lot of Urdu from attending Mehndi parties and singing songs as a child ;-)You will be able to find a variety of Urdu nursery rhymes and songs suitable for children on YouTube. - Travel/make plans to travel
OK, I know some people will find this option RIDICULOUS, because since when is travel so easy? But hear me out, this is the ULTIMATE language immersion program! This definitely isn’t doable for many people, but those who are able to travel there once a year or so may notice their children are better at Urdu than those who don’t travel.Fun fact, this is how I learnt Urdu. Legend holds I didn’t know Urdu until I went on my first holiday to Pakistan aged 4, and the rest is history 🙂 - Make Urdu writing/reading a part of their daily life.
I know for many parents simply being able to teach kids Urdu speech and understanding will be enough. And that’s absolutely fine too.I am incredibly passionate about giving my children the full spectrum of Urdu. I was enriched so much by being able to read Urdu books, by writing letters to my grandparents in Pakistan, by reading all those WhatsApp memes in Urdu 😉 jokes aside, the ability and read and write will naturally mean they use their Urdu skills more often, which means their Urdu will constantly be improving.Write shopping lists in Urdu and stick them on the fridge. Write their names in Urdu on their bedroom doors. Leave them notes written in Urdu. The sky is the limit here!
- Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Memory retention is increased through repetition. Indeed, even we as adults will forget information if we are only exposed to it once or twice.Therefore, it is very important for children to hear Urdu words and phrases again and again.Inevitably, you may find in children who aren’t very advanced in Urdu will know the same few words they are exposed to on a daily basis. This is because of repetition. To increase the repertoire of Urdu vocabulary, they need repeated exposure to a larger variety of Urdu words.Reading the same books over and over is a way to achieve this. Same for singing the same songs, going to the same places and talking about the same things. Repeating fun Urdu activities they enjoy is a good way too.But for the most part, the best way to do this is just to keep on speaking to them in Urdu! - Use educational tools to teach kids Urdu formally
In the same way we teach our children to read and write English, Urdu will need that sort of attention too. There are a large range of flashcards, posters and various other printable educational tools that can help you engage in more formal Urdu teaching methods on My Zuban over here!
Of course, this need not be boring, monotone and like a chore. There are many ways to make this fun. I share lots about how we go about making learning Urdu fun on my Instagram page @myzuban – check it out there!
Learning the Urdu letters using My Zuban flashcards, colouring sheets and some delicious mangoes 😉
Are there any tips you would add to this list? I’d love to hear them and how you encourage your child to learn Urdu!
Enjoy!
