Review of Arabic Playhouse published in The Minaret

The Minaret

Arabic Playhouse - Qur’anic Arabic Teacher
CD-ROM in English with Arabic Qur’an
ISL Software.........Suggested Ret. $69.95

You might not agree with the statement that learning the Qur’an is easy if you are trying to learn as an adult or if you are having difficulty teaching your child. Indeed, learning or teaching a complex language like Arabic can be a daunting task for the native English speaker. Not everyone has a patient, helpful Qur’an teacher who allows you to learn at your own pace and during your own busy schedule. But the importance of knowing how to read the Book of Allah and the blessings derived from reading it are so great, that every Muslim is obligated to find a way to learn - and now they can - with Arabic Playhouse, the new multimedia CD-ROM software from the makers of The Alim.

Unlike the challenge of learning from a book alone, where you can’t listen to the pronunciation, or from an audio tape, where the only method of learning is to repeat after the tape, Arabic Playhouse combines the best of audio, visual and interactive formats to teach you or your child how to read the Qur’an in Arabic.

The genius of Arabic Playhouse is its flexible, user-friendly format, making it suitable for adults and children. Through the use of learning games, Arabic Playhouse interests children in challenging themselves to move to higher levels, unlike less interesting teaching methods which require parental pressure to move up in difficulty. When you enter Arabic Playhouse, you have the following seven rooms to choose from:

Letters - You meet the letters, in order and mixed. Play the quiz with an interactive voice and see how quickly you can learn.
Sounds - What are the Arabic vowel sounds and how do they change the sound of a letter? Find out here.
Shapes - Arabic letters can be tricky. Here you can learn the different forms and shapes of a letter in the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Connect Sounds - By the time you leave this room, you should be able to connect consonant letters, connect sounds, and vowels to read simple sentances.
Connect Letters - Starting with two letter words, here you can learn combinations and sentances that get progressively difficult through its four levels, each of which has about a dozen different exercises.
Qur’an - Praise be to Allah, you can finally read and begin to understand the Qur’an. Not only does Arabic Playhouse teach proper recitation of thirteen Suras, it also includes translations of words and ayah meanings.
Remembering Allah - In this special bonus room, you can listen to and learn simple duas (supplications) to say throughout the day.

Arabic Playhouse features three ways to learn. ‘Explore’ lets you click anywhere to learn interactively. ‘Learn’ allows Arabic Playhouse to teach you each lesson. ‘Play’ puts you in the middle of a single-player game and even keeps score! You can use any of these formats at different levels, from beginner to advanced, in any room you visit. With over 68 lessons which have thousands of variations, Arabic Playhouse will keep children and adults busy learning Arabic for hours!