Horouf, a subsidiary of Kalimat Group, the first publishing house in the UAE dedicated solely to publishing Arabic books, recently held a two-day training session in Muscat, Oman, for teachers and heads of departments on how to help young students develop their Arabic reading skills.

At the centre of the workshop was Horouf’s Leveled Reading series, which was launched to facilitate a system that allows children to progress through various reading levels from kindergarten to primary school. The series comprises a total of 144 books split into three levels, each one comprising 12 categories tailored to the reading level of children.

The training facilitated by the Oman Ministry of Education is the latest in a series of efforts that Horouf has been making to reach out to schools and educators, to familiarise teaching staff with the innovative techniques contained within the Leveled Reading book series, demonstrating how these techniques can be seamlessly incorporated to make a more effective school curriculum.

The programme included workshops and practical sessions on how to take children on a steady journey to enhance their Arabic reading skills and extend their vocabulary throughout the stages, a unique system which encourages children not only improve their literacy, but also encourage a love of books, an essential part of their development.

Malak Obeid, Editor and Manager of Horouf, said, "With the Leveled Reading series of books, children as young as four or five years old can begin to grasp the basics of the language through the first levels of picture-led pages. They will be introduced to various Arabic letter pronunciations, punctuation and accents in a creative, fun and informative way."

"The training sessions and workshops help teachers to understand both the theory and practice of the technique, and how to apply it in the classroom in the most successful way, inspiring students to progress through structured but enjoyable stages which develop at a natural pace," she added.