Ms. Jacqueline Haitham Al-Qadri is an inspiring Arabic teacher at the beginning of her professional journey. She is Lebanese and works in the field of early childhood education. Her impact story focuses on teaching the Arabic alphabet specifically the letter “Alif’’. Although she does not have extensive experience in this field, her participation in the learning journey where she encountered the concept of Active Deep Learner eXperience left a significant mark on her career. This journey opened new horizons for her and ignited within her the enthusiasm to apply educational ideas she had long thought about but never dared to implement.
Children in Ms. Jacqueline’s class learn the Arabic letters, but the main challenge was keeping them excited and engaged during the learning sessions, considering their young age and their sensory and emotional needs. To address this challenge and to increase the children’s passion for movement and imagination, the teacher decided to design and facilitate an Active Deep Learner eXperience, and to adopt gamification, discovery, and active participation.
In a private kindergarten in Lebanon, her class included children aged 4 to 5 years, sharing a colorful world filled with diverse tools such as cardboard cards, playdough, sorting boxes, and motivational tools like stars and stickers. The teacher maintained daily communication with parents, creating a safe and supportive environment for both herself and the children who eagerly shared their classroom experiences at home.
Session Design and Learning Outcomes
The teacher chose FIRST-ADLX Framework because it helped her design and facilitate a flexible and well-structured session, allowing her to transform every classroom moment into a real Learner eXperience. She saw this framework as a combination of interaction, organization, and real-life relevance, making it highly suitable for young children. Consequently, she designed the following learning outcomes to be achieved sequentially over multiple learning sessions:
Learning Outcomes:
Attitude:
- To love the Arabic language
- To emotionally connect with the letter
- To feel a sense of accomplishment upon recognizing it
Skills:
- To distinguish the letter among a group of letters
- To shape the letter using playdough
- To sort words based on the presence of the letter
Knowledge:
- To recognize the shape and name of the letter
- To identify its sound
- To connect the letter with familiar words and names
The learning journey consisted of several sessions, each set of sessions was dedicated to one letter of the alphabet. The activities were conducted synchronously and in person in the classroom, following an ascending sequence that began with curiosity and storytelling to introduce the letter, followed by practical and applied recognition, then review and reinforcement through sensory and linguistic activities.
Learning Activities
The teacher designed a series of activities using the RAR model. We share one of them here as an example:
Activity: Getting to Know the Letter ‘’Alif’’
Readiness Increase: The children were mentally and emotionally prepared through a storytelling approach. The teacher told them that a friendly guest would be visiting today—one who wore a hat, had a vertical body, and said “A A A.” She began mimicking the letter’s sound and gesturing theatrically, sparking the children’s curiosity and excitement.
Activity Facilitation: The teacher knocked on the door and introduced the letter ‘’Alif’’ illustrated on a card. The children interacted with it as if it were a real character. She then presented words that began with ‘’Alif’’, linked it to the names of some students, and posed a riddle about a fruit that starts with the letter.
Reviewing Actively: The teacher asked the children: Who visited us today? What’s its name? What’s its sound? What words start with it?
In another activity, the children played a game sorting words that contained the letter Alif into one box, and those that did not into another.
In a later session, the children identified the letter among a group of letters and shaped it using playdough. The children expressed joy, some shared what they learned with their families at home, and even brought drawings of the letter from home, which were proudly displayed on the “Gallery” board.
Applying the Five Domains of FIRST-ADLX Framework
F – Focusing on the Learner
The teacher activated the principle of individualization by interacting with each child by name, linking the letter to the children’s names, and making them feel that each had a special connection with the letter. For probing and assessing, she asked questions, observed, and tracked the children’s responses during sorting and shaping. As for trusting the learner, this was evident in allowing the child to guess, participate, try, and express themselves without fear of error.
I – Interacting Within Positive Group Dynamics
The teacher made the session feel like a joyful social event by acting out the guest character and engaging in dialogue. She reinforced the positive spirit with constant encouragement, smiles, and motivating words like “wonderful,” “excellent,” and “well done.” She also maintained children’s motivation through varied methods including storytelling, play, hands-on activities, and surprises.
R – Reviewing Activities Within RAR Model
The three RAR stages—Readiness Increase, Activity Facilitation, and Reviewing Actively—were clearly present in each learning activity. ‘’Reviewing Actively’’ extended beyond the classroom, as children shared what they learned at home and returned the next day with self-made contributions.
S – Sequencing Within the Session Flow
The teacher organized the session in a logical sequence starting with capturing attention, then letter recognition, followed by practice, and finally reinforcement. She repeated concepts in various ways to avoid boredom and ensured a child-friendly connection between activities.
T – Transforming Learning into Performance
Real-life connections were made by blending classroom experiences with what children live at home. Parental involvement in follow-up, and encouraging children to write the letter at home, extended learning beyond the classroom. Linking the letter to children’s names and real-world objects further reinforced the transformation of learning into tangible reality.
Conclusion
This experience had a deep impact on the children, who grew more passionate about letters and began to expect something new in each session. Their excitement was evident, and parents expressed appreciation for the activities their children shared at home. As for the facilitator, she gained greater confidence and found in FIRST-ADLX Framework a practical tool for designing enjoyable and impactful learning. She is now more confident to experiment with new tools and techniques and more aware of the importance of deep educational planning for every learning activity.Bottom of Form