When I Paved the Sea

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

by Rania Zaghir, illustrations by Joyce Akkawi

An amusing book that introduces children to the world of idioms and phrases that colors the daily verbal interaction between family members in an Arab home, and ignites the child’s imagination.

Family Activities

"Sometimes I don't understand what my mom is trying to say", the child complains when he hears a traditional idiom to describe a situation. Idioms are prevalent in our daily speech - in general in the adult speech - where children are exposed to them. Idioms are often a mystery for children, ...

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Dear Parents,

Idioms are often a mystery for children, especially young children, since they are metaphoric and demand a high cognitive ability to understand. Therefore, it is important for parents to help their children understand the meaning of idioms, connecting the expression to real situations to help enrich the child's language, imagination and thoughts.

Some idioms have a story behind them, and it can be fun for children to hear the story (perhaps from grandparents) that inspired the idiomatic expression. You can also help your children draw a book using the idioms that family members often says. The family will be pleased to have this kind of a present.

Here are activities related to four idioms mentioned in this book:

Family Activities

If your friend is good as honey, don’t lick him all We can go over the situation without mentioning the idiom, and have a small conversation with our children regarding the child's desires in the story: are they logical? Can the mother give the child everything he/she wants? We can read the idiom and look at the drawing that describes it: who is the honey in the drawing? What does the drawing tell the child?
The camel limped because of his lips. Children sometimes try to make any excuse to avoid going to school. It is important to listen carefully to what the child says directly, and try to understand if there is an indirect call of distress because of something the child is going through. We can go over the situation, without reading the idiom, and have a conversation concerning the reasons why the child in the book may not want to go to kindergarten. We can take a look on the camel drawing: does his swallowed lip forbid him to walk?
The pot found its cover. We can talk with our children about the 2 friends in the story: do they love the same games? We can take a look at the drawing and have a conversation about the similarity between the pot and its cover to the two friends in the story. We can have a conversation about our friends who can be a "cover to our pot": what do we like to do with them?
A hair grew on my tongue We can check our tongue: can hair grow on it? Can it grow one day? We can read the situation that talks about the mother who asked her child, several times, to clean up his room: What happened to her tongue as a result of repeating the same sentence? We can imagine different things that might happen to her tongue. We can think together: What can the child and his mother do, so "hair won't grow on her tongue"?

المربّية العزيزة،

تحضر الأمثال الشّعبيّة في كلامنا اليوميّ، وتتميّز بها لغتنا العربيّة بتنوّع لهجاتها. فما هو المثل الشّعبي؟

المثل قولٌ موجز، قيل في مناسبة معيّنة، وصار يردّد على السنة النّاس في مناسباتٍ شبيهة. تناقل النّاس الأمثال عبر الأجيال، لطرافة أسلوبها ولما فيها من قوّة التّعبير. ويختلف اصل الأمثال؛ فمنها ما استُمِدّ من قصّة، مثل "بين حانا ومانا ضاعت لِحانا"، ومنها ما يرتبط بملاحظة النّاس لظواهر طبيعيّة، مثل "آذار أبو الزلازل والأمطار"، وغيرها.

تشكّل الأمثال تحدّيًا للأطفال من حيث فهمها. فهي تتضمّن معاني مجازيّة يتطلّب فهمها قدرة على التفكير المجرّد. تدلّنا دراسات نموّ الطّفل على أنّ هذه القدرة تتطوّر لدى الأطفال نحو نهاية سنتهم السّادسة. عليه، يحتاج أطفال البستان إلى مساندتنا في فهم الأمثال والتّمتع بها، وذلك من خلال ترجمتها إلى المحسوس، وربطها بسياقاتٍ حياتيّة يومية ومُعاشة للطفل. نشير إلى أنّ العديد من الأمثال الشّعبيّة لها قصّة، ممّا يسهّل على الطّفل فهمها.

ماذا يكتسب الطّفل من الانكشاف إلى الأمثال الشّعبية؟ أوّلاً، المثل نافذة يتعرّف من خلالها الطفل على بيئته الاجتماعيّة والمادّية. فكلمات الأمثال عادة مستقاة من المألوف واليومي في حياة النّاس ( أعط الخبز لخبّازه، وطنجرة ولاقت غطاها)، ومن خلال المثل يكتسب الطفل قيمًا اجتماعيّة وإنسانية (إسأل عن الجار قبل الدّار) وفهمًا أعمق لسلوكياته ولسلوكيّات الآخرين (عرج الجمل من شفتّه).

يمتاز المثل الشّعبي عادة بمبناه السّجعي ( البُعُد جفا والقرب دفا) ممّا يسهّل على الكبار والصغار حفظه، ويساهم في تطوير الوعي النغمي لدى الأطفال، وفي تطزير خياله. أخيرًا، هناك العديد من الأمثال المضحكة التي يتمتّع الأطفال بتردادها وتمثيلها.