Al-Khayyat ‘creates’ a spelling encyclopedia for young children

Move to master mother tongue

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 15: Director of the Center for Literary Creativity Hamza Al-Khayyat’s determination has enabled him to create a spelling encyclopedia for young children which, he hopes, will change the situation of students, especially young people, to enable them to master their mother tongue – Arabic, reports Al-Jarida daily.

Despite his illness and old age, AlKhayyat has always wanted to change and improve education in the country as everyone expects to have an educated generation able to master their mother tongue. The current situation is not pleasing because some cannot differentiate between the open Arabic letters ‘Taa Maftuha’ and ‘Ta Marbouta’. This is clearly seen on social media where misspellings are noted. Unfortunately, this is due to the poor language skills of many.

He affirmed in an interview that he developed the idea for years by formulating a curriculum which is different from the one used by the Ministry of Education to teach students the principles of Arabic. He thinks the ministry’s curriculum is rigid and lacks the

Al-Khayyat

elements of suspense, joy and creativity that can enhance young children’s love for language; especially at a tender age.

He designed a different curriculum and used it in his center to teach young students in the early stages of education where he made a big difference.

He said 100,000 copies of the encyclopedia will be distributed to parents of primary school students from Oct 27 at the headquarters of the Women Cultural Association in Khaldiya. The remaining copies will be distributed to private school students including expatriates, Bedouns and whoever wants a copy.