Khaimat Al Kisas Al Arabiya (Arabian Story Tent)

Our mission over the course of a weekend at the Mall is to re-create an engaging, effective literacy event by launching a publicly located, free to all "Khaimat Al Qisas AlArabia", Arabian Story Tent to fuel the mastery and love of the Arabic language among UAE based children who represent 21 Arabic speaking nations yet reside in UAE (where English is largely the language of business) and based on the influx of Western pop culture, technology and gaming, where Arabic is losing ground and interest among youth -- a big problem for the future.
KaQaA aims to inspire more kids toward reading and writing in Arabic based on the observation that kids crave Arabic books yet aren't always afforded the chance or time to 'choose' to read (or write, or listen).

Khaimat Al Qisas will again be comprised of four core areas, Reading Lounge; Storytelling; Creative Writing Station, and Puppet Theatre. By way of these integrated activities our project aims to:
1. Provide youth with the opportunity to read in the Story Tent reading lounge. Kids can pick a book from the bookshelf, claim a beanbag in a comfy and safe environment.
2. Deliver animated storytelling/book reading to the little ones throughout the day to help cultivate imaginations as well as provide an excellent exercise to improve concentration, comprehension, and focus while allowing children the ability to internalize grammatical structures, improve or reinforce vocabulary, and depending on the chosen books, help impart cultural heritage and pride.
3. The “Amazing Emirati Puppet Theatre” with original stories written and acted out for kids ages 2+.
4. Provide youth ability to undertake Arabic creative writing exercises to empower them to explore their creative instincts and express themselves in their own words in their native tongue and nudge their creativity to develop their stories, later sharing with group. We also will display stories day for public passers-by to read.

Грант предоставил Dubai (February 2015)