Culture & Education | Tuesday 31 October, 2017 3:29 am |

Lughati, the Sharjah-based initiative dedicated to supporting Arabic learning the smart way, has received submissions from 32 public schools for the second edition of the Lughati Cup competition – a competition designed to target grade 2 students in all of Sharjah’s public schools.

 

The competition will be held during Lughati’s participation at the 36th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2017), an 11-day fair which will commence this Wednesday, 1 November.

 

The competition seeks to enrich young students with a lexicon of Arabic words and develop their Arabic language skills in ways that are fun. Lughati’s ultimate goal is to foster a culture of reading, speaking and writing Arabic daily among younger generations, and develop their Arabic language skills using a thrilling and fun-filled approach by involving a digital platform that is hugely popular among children.

 

Badria Al Ali, Manager of Lughati, said: “At Lughati, we believe in the importance of modernisation and development in line with educational advancements, and the need to adopt modern technology to pedagogy, ensuring that it captures the attention and interest of children.”

 

“This will be the second edition of the Lughati Cup, and we hope to build on the success that we achieved in the first edition of the competition. The core objective of the competition is to stimulate children’s interest in the Arabic language, and encourage them to reach out to it naturally while expressing themselves. We are delighted with the turnout of participants in this year’s edition; 32 elementary public schools compared to 24 last year,” she added.

 

Approved by the Ministry of Education, the competition’s judging panel will take into account considerations that include fluency, efficiency, pronunciation, understanding, and proper expression, through a series of questions that will test the teams’ Arabic language skills acquired in kindergarten and first grade.

 

The organising committee of Lughati Cup 2017 has established the entry criteria for the competition, where participation should be on behalf of the school who would then choose the best three students in Arabic from their second grade classes. Lughati Cup 2017 is a team-based competition, with teams from all public schools in the Emirate of Sharjah eligible to compete their way to the final round.

 

The competition’s organising committee has dedicated cash prizes for the winners. First place winners will receive the Lughati Cup, as well as a cash prize worth AED 10,000. Second place winners will be awarded AED 7,000, while the third place winner will be given AED 5,000. All students and supervisors participating in the competition will receive certificates of appreciation. Winners will be announced on the final day of the competition.

 

The supporting of Arabic education in public schools in Sharjah using state-of-the-art technology was officially announced in 2013 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. The initiative was approved by His Highness in January 2016 under its new title ‘Lughati’ to develop education in the emirate, preserve the Arabic language and endear Arabic studies to children by incorporating modern methods.