Institut für Kurdische Studien

This new school book is meant for Kurdish pupils of the first grade. Over 175 pages the children are taught the Kurdish alphabet in Arabic script.

In the first part of the book you will find various illustrations from childrens’ everyday life. In these first lessons, the children are asked by the teachers to describe these illustrations. As the pictures portray everyday situations, it is easy for them to explain the depicted actions. For example, in one of the many series a child’s routine is shown from getting up in the morning to going to lessons in the classroom. With these illustrations the children shall practise to express themselves adequately and competently. It shall help them with arranging their thoughts and for later writing short lines of texts competently which refer clearly to the illustrations.

Before that is possible, the right pen handling while writing the individual letters is described to the children. Arrows make clear where the children have to position their pen to be able to write the letter correctly.

After the children have learned to handle the pen correctly, they are introduced to short words in the third section of the book, in which each word has enough space on a double page with the fitting illustration, so that it can be easily comprehended by the children. An example is the word “dar”, in English “tree”. On the left page is shown how to write the word correctly and on the right page the illustrated tree is clearly recognisable. In this way it is made clear to the children which word is supposed to be written there. As additional help, on the lower half of the page the right pen handling is explained with arrows.

Because of teaching many words in the third section of the book, it is possible to let the children read small stories in the fourth and last section of the book. In these short stories, exclusively those words are used which beforehand were clearly defined on the basis of illustrations. So it is guaranteed, that the children will not lose interest, because in the fourth section of the book it is possible for them to read short stories independently.

The book is to be understood as a first cautious approach to the Kurdish alphabet. With its numerous coloured illustrations and comprehensible writing it should enable children to master the alphabet. Already by the end of the schoolbook they will be able to read and write short stories independently.