1. Correct
your intention for teaching your children. Make it sincerely for Allaah and do
not allow intentions of showing off or boasting about your children.
2. Start
young. Let the children see and hear you reading out loud regularly. Set an
example for them.
3. Listen
to the Qur’aan often yourself when you are cooking, ironing, travelling etc.
4. Start
informally surrounding them with audio Qur’aan so that they can absorb the
sounds and words even before they can speak. They will learn to recognize
familiar sounds much easier if they are used to hearing them.
5. Each
child is different so you have to try out and judge when to start them
memorizing formally.
6. Download
the electronic Qur’aan programme called ‘Ayaat’ onto your mobile, computer,
ipad. You can set the ayaat you want to learn and repeat them multiple times.
You can also choose different reciters. See the separate review discussing this
‘Ayaat’ programme.
7. You
can invest in a digital Qur’aan called ‘Misk’. It is the best one tried and
recommended so far. It is also safe to put in the hands of children. There is
no internet and therefore no risk of them becoming corrupted like with mobiles
etc. The children feel they own it and they quickly learn how to use it. It is
portable so they can bring the Qur’aan along with them on a journey or in the
bedroom before sleep to listen and learn. Children learn very quickly how to
find the surah they want to listen to and choose their favourite reciter even
before they can read.
8. Find
a good teacher skilled in reading Qur’aan with tajweed. The Misk can help with
pronunciation but it cannot check or correct their mistakes. Neither can it
motivate them with praise.
9. Use
reward charts to motivate them. Tick off and give a sticker when they have
completed a surah. Treat them with an outing or a present when they complete a
juz.
10. Set
a timetable but be flexible. There will be days that they will be willing and
other times not!
11. Set
the ayaat to learn and repeat ten times. Let them listen to it then sit them
down and listen to them or read it with them. Correct them.
12. Record
their voices and play it back to them. However, make sure you delete the files
so no one hears them and thinks that it is an accurate recital of the Qur’aan.
Do not keep mistakes even if it sounds cute. The Qur’aan is to be preserved
accurately. Recording the children reciting can be motivating for them and it
is a good way for them to read over the ayaat whilst listening to their
recitation to find and correct their mistakes. Then let them listen to a
reciter to consolidate the correct recitation.
13. When
they are older and praying, encourage them to read the aayaat they learn in
their salaah. Let them read the aayah before they start praying to remind them
and also straight afterwards to check and consolidate it.
14. Let
the children write out the aayah they are learning. Either by copying it by
looking or even off by heart if they know the rules of writing and joining.
15. Let
their Father, Uncle, Aunty, Grandfather, Grandmother, brother or sister listen
to them for a few minutes a day. To read a page of Qur’aan can take 3-5 minutes
in a fluent reader. For a family member to listen to one aayah or one page a
day is not a burden on anyone. It just requires a regular time slot.
