Diet Urdu

One of my favorite characters of all time is Mirza Ghalib. He is the greatest poet of Urdu language but I like him more because of the amazing sense of humor that he possessed, as evident from his letters. If you read his letters you will realize, we don't speak or write the same language any more. We have replaced and given up so many of the beautiful and wonderful words that used to represent respect, politeness and love. When you read the words in Mirza Ghalib's letters you get a strange buzz; I get the same buzz when I drink a "chilled coke in a glass bottle". I am sure some of you know what I am talking about :-).

Going by the same analogy, what most of us speak and write these days is “Diet Urdu”. Like “Diet Coke” there is no taste or flavor to it (Sorry diet coke lovers, but that is true). So many of the beautiful words in Urdu language have been replaced, while a lot more have simply been kicked out of our day to day conversation in the name of changing times.

By taking out the gems from Urdu language, we have also become some what less polite and respectful towards others. After all, we show our respect and politeness with words and if you take out the words which best represent those feelings, it does affects your level of intimacy with others. Some might even argue
that It has even affected the fabric of our society in general especially our relationships with our elders including our parents and Grand parents.


Maybe I am being nostalgic, but some of us do remember different choice of words used by our parents when speaking to their parents and grandparents and vice versa. Some people might say that the times have changed, but I'd say to them, its not the time but the words that have changed. Bring back those words and we will get our time back.


Respects,

Syed H. Abbas

Teaching Urdu with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)

Few weeks back, I had a very long conversation with a good friend of mine who teaches Urdu in a school in UK. He is extremely passionate about teaching the Urdu language and we always end up having long discussions about its future in different parts of the world.


I had asked him to gather feedback about our website from different schools in UK where Urdu is currently taught as a regular class. Based on his feedback, an overwhelming majority of the Urdu teachers and parents liked the quality of our program, our teaching methodology and the topics that we have covered on our website. They were also very happy to see Urdu being finally taught using ICT. However, we were surprised to find out that a number of teachers are still not comfortable with the idea of using technology to teach Urdu language.


We all know that there is a dearth of good quality Urdu teaching resources and the overall standards have fallen to their lowest level. Copyright violations is an acceptable norm even among some of the leading schools. Absolutely no investment is made to modernize the language and it is usefulness is often debated. Ask any Urdu teacher about the Urdu literacy standards and he/she will tell you that things have gone so bad that most 5th graders are not able to to read few sentences of Urdu correctly. Those of us who are seriously attempting to improve the system by introducing technology receive no support from the schools, government and in some cases even concerned parents. In addition, the publishing houses see us as a threat to their current monopoly over the education system. But it is not too late! For starters, any effort to modernize Urdu teaching methods should be encouraged, appreciated and financially supported. As Urdu teachers and parents, we should at the very least try the new technologies that are coming out to teach Urdu language.



It's about time, schools across Pakistan, India and UK should analyze the reasons behind students' lack of interest in Urdu and why the failure rate has increased alarmingly. The answer is simple! It's all due to the decades old methods of teaching Urdu as well as our inability to embrace technology. Our current generation of students want their learning experience to be interesting and interactive.



Based on the customer reviews and the appreciation we have received, we can confidently say that after enrolling in our program no Urdu teacher will again complain about not having access to modern Urdu resources. Our program is based on the MFL (Modern Foreign Language) standards established in UK and is very easy to use. It is the only online Urdu program which fully supports and implements ICT model. Our program is ideal for private schools, public schools and those parents who are teaching their kids Urdu at home. Some of the leading schools in Pakistan and UK are currently using our program. Our intention is not to replace the Urdu books taught that are taught in schools (although we really need to look into it's overall content). We really want to help and support the Urdu teachers who are increasingly finding it difficult to connect with their students by using technology.



We offer a complete Urdu teaching program that follows a step by step teaching methodology. Our program has two parts; The first part incorporates interactive lessons and exercises for different levels with animations. The second part includes a large number of pre - designed worksheets starting from Pre - K to higher classes. Our program is well defined and carefully planned with the sole focus on building and improving all major Urdu concepts and skills. There is no religious or political content that is not related to Urdu in our program.



So our message to Urdu teachers and parents all over the world is this: “Our Online Program is ideal for your students and children.” There are hundred's of resources on our website (www.Urduathome.com) that will make your teaching life so much easier and will also help improve children's / students productivity and retention. Our lesson planners are adding new content regularly. We deeply care about our members and always welcome their feedback. Last count, we have members from over 10 countries and still counting.




Respects,

Syed Abbas

A TCF Fund Raiser with Ethan Casey (Author and Journalist)

Dear Friends,


Last week, I attended the TCF (The Citizen's Foundation) Fund raiser that was held in Silicon Valley where "Urdu at Home" was one of the sponsors. The event was very well organized by TCF staff. They were very well supported by the volunteer's from PACC (Pakistani American Culture Center) led by Mr. Farrukh Shah Khan (President PACC). I was lucky enough to share the table with Mr. Ethan Casey who has covered different parts of the world as a journalist for leading publications and has also written two amazing books on Pakistan "Alive and well in Pakistan" and "A Pakistan Road Trip". I would recommend every one to to buy both copies - ideally via TCF USA website as 20% of the proceeds would go to TCF schools.

Before I elaborate, I would like to add that if there is one NGO who you can think of giving your donation , Zakat or any other means of support to, it should be TCF. They have over 650 schools in Pakistan, most in remote areas. They have 92000 students enrolled in their schools of which 50% are girls. Moreover, 100% of their staff are women. So this year instead of giving your hard earned money to other institutions consider donating it to an NGO that is actually changing people's lives, one student at a time.

Now, back to the event. The event started with a key note speech from Ethan Casey who passionately described his journey through several cities across Pakistan. He encouraged all of us Pakistanis living abroad to continue to believe in the spirit of Pakistan and work towards rebuilding its image.

The speech was followed by a short documentary on TCF's goal of improving education and literacy in Pakistan. The documentary touched everyone's heart and most people in the crowed donated generously. The documentary was followed by an introduction of the sponsors. Urdu at Home's message of "Spreading Literacy via Technology" was very well received and applauded. Our table was visited by a lot of people and they were greatly impressed by our program.

As mentioned earlier, I shared a table with Mr. Ethan Casey and we hit it off immediately. To my surprise, he is currently enrolled in an Urdu language learning class and was extremely happy to hear about our website. He was very impressed by our efforts to improve Literacy in Pakistan using technology without any government or private sector support.

There were several entertaining performances which were very refreshing. The event ended around midnight. I came back with a renewed commitment to the cause of improving literacy in Pakistan. In these times of doom and gloom when we feel the mere existence of Pakistan is at stake, TCF showed that there is still light at the end of the tunnel for hundred of thousands' of deserving students. If each one of us decide to help just ONE student, we can still make Pakistan a promised land for our next generation.

Respects
Syed H. Abbas

A Treasure Trove of “Urdu Lesson Plans”

Our Urdu language program is growing at a good pace and we are looking forward to higher growth rate for the rest of the year as more people become aware of http://www.urduathome.com/. The superior quality of our “E-Shagird” interactive application and a treasure trove of “Urdu Lesson Plans” for different age groups is making our program a household name.

We absolutely love to have a conversation with our audience as it helps us in developing key educational services that our members need. We are also very flexible and make adjustments to our program based on the feedback that we receive. Our approach of carefully aligning ourselves with the needs and requirements of our current and potential members is helping us evolve into an e-learning company that is recognized for its high quality educational content and customer service.
So far, we have got members from 8 countries and more are expected to come as the word spread around. Our members have also been amazingly helpful in supporting us. One of our members writes a monthly blog called “Moms for Urdu” which is followed by quite a few people. Another one took time to capture a video of her 2 year old son learning Urdu on a laptop and shared that with her friends and family. Yet another member sent our flyer to all her friends on face book. There are plenty of examples like these and we really appreciate it.

The actions of our members are not random acts but a part of a much bigger trend. Parents are now demanding Urdu like any other language should be taught in a way that meets the standards of this century. For almost two decades Urdu as a subject has been considered a symbol of backwardness (I have discussed the reasons in my earlier blogs). The results and grades of the students in the last twenty years are a testament to that mistake. But there are tangible signs that a large number of schools are now recognizing the urgency of the situation and have started to inject funds and resources to teach Urdu language that it so much deserves.

We are increasingly noticing Urdu teachers playing an active role in demanding access to quality resources for their students. They are at the forefront of this fight for teaching Urdu using latest technology and are convincing their schools to start investing in specialized Urdu resources such as ours. As we are giving free demos of our program to schools, we see a huge sigh of relief from everyone in Urdu teaching community. They are finally seeing some help in an area which has been neglected for so long. With our resources they are now armed with the 21st century learning content and the time of spending endless number of hours preparing worksheets and lesson plans is now finally over.

In the first four months of this year, we have signed up quite a few schools around the world and last week we signed our first private school in Karachi, Pakistan. When our representative went to give the demo of our Urdu resources, all the Urdu teachers were unanimous in their praise of our program. Each one of them recounted the countless number of hours and nights they had to spent thinking, designing and creating lessons plans and worksheets using valuable time and resources and now everything was ready for them to print with a simple click of a button.



Apart from teachers, we continue to hear from a large number of parents regarding how working on our Urdu language interactive application “e-Shagird” has cut the TV and Video Game time of their children. Not only it has vastly improved their vocabulary but has also instilled in them the love of Urdu language. It is available to them 24/7 from the comfort of their homes and provides a great fun and learning experience as well. The application acts a home tutor for the students minus the heavy load on wallet for parents. Not only it helps the children to learn what is there in their grade level but also allows them to jump ahead and learn advance level topics as well.

We haven’t forgotten our social responsibility as well. The core reason for Pakistan’s lack of substantial progress is the lack of literacy among the general population. Education should never be a privilege but a right for boy and girl in Pakistan. Lack of literacy is the prime reason why so many of our innocent young children fall prey to less productive activities in life. In order to tackle this menace, we have been collaborating with TCF (The Citizen’s Foundation) in finding ways to implement e-learning initiative in TCF schools across Pakistan. We are also sponsoring their May 28th Fund raising event in Silicon Valley, California USA.

It has been both a humbling and satisfying experience for us so far. With the support of our friends, concerned parents and teachers, we hope to one day improve the literacy rate in Pakistan as well as instill the same love for Urdu that we once had. It is also our hope that parents and teachers will continue to act proactively and demand access to the cutting edge Urdu resources to further improve and develop children’s language skills. This much, we owe it to our next generation!



Respects

Syed Abbas



CEO- Urdu at Home

Your children have the RIGHT to learn Urdu!

Do you think its time to scratch the old tag of “ABCD” for children born and raised in USA? What does it mean to be an American Born Desi these days anyway? Can we now say that our kids are no longer CONFUSED any more? There was a time when children born in USA having Pakistani or Indian parents were automatically tagged as ABCD. But my experience in living here for more than a decade tells me that it was not the kids but the parents who got a little confused along the way. Back than, the cultural and community support system was not as developed (as we see now) and following the ethnic, cultural and social values was a much bigger challenge.

For most parents, it was a big challange to teach their young children Urdu and the good quality resources were also not easily available. But, there were some parents who accepted the challenge; they tried very hard and made sure that their children understand and appreciate their roots and cultural. They took their children to Independence Day celebrations, EID celebrations, weekly Urdu classes etc. They also established rules that when at home speak and answer only in Urdu. It was really tough but they stick with it because they understood the value of what was at stake. Their hard work paid off and when the children grew up they appreciated the sacrifices made by their parents.

The same challenges that parents faced a decade earlier are still there but so are the opportunities to deal with them. With the advent of technology, we have the resources on our finger tips and the old excuses don’t hold any more weight. If we do not provide our children access to the resources that they need to stay connected with their roots we as parents are the ones who will be held responsible. When our children grow up without good understanding of their language and culture they will (rest assured of that) blame their parents and we have seen this happening already. When that time comes, you will not be in no position to tell your children why they couldn’t make an extra effort because it will be too late by than.

We have to constantly remind ourselves, when we loose our culture, we loose our identity. You can never change the color of your skin or your heritage, accept it! So be proud of your roots and make sure you children are well aware of it as well. Don’t treat Urdu language as something they will pick up here and there. It doesn’t work like that and in your heart you know it as well. Give them access to the professional resources and spend time with them. Trust me it’s worth it!

Happy Learning!

I’ll order the Pizza, if you ask me in Urdu!

“Baba can we have a Pizza tonight please, please, please, today is Friday,” pleaded my 8 year old daughter Sofia. Ufff! Here we go again; why Friday doesn’t come only once a month, I thought to myself. “But we had Pizza 3 weeks back, plus it’s not good for your health” I feebly tried to play the health card, but both of knew it’s not going to fly. She knew quite well, I like Pizzas too.

So I started looking for the “buy one get one free” coupon that was supposed to be hiding under all the other coupons on our fridge. But as always, I could never find stuff when I really need it. So I went on the Pizza Hut website and ordered 1 large cheese pizza. “Can we also order bread sticks and coke; it’s cheaper when you order them together you know!” I looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and pride; Smart girl, I thought, must have taken after me. The total came to just over $ 16; add a few bucks more for tips and I had an even $ 20 for a dinner. Even though, I knew in my heart, a home cooked meal is much healthier and a lot cheaper; I still went ahead and ordered the Pizza anyway.

Why did I do that? Very simple! I did a quick calculation in my mind that went something like this; wife don’t have to cook, she is happy (check), Sofia get to eat her pizza, she won’t bother me for another 3 weeks (check) and finally, I also like to eat it (check). So a win win situation for all. It had taken me less than 30 seconds to make that decision. I am positive most of us find ourselves doing something similar in these situations.

When I ordered that Pizza, in my mind, I had seen a picture of a happy family and somehow that image for me was worth far more than $ 20. So my question to all of us today is this; why do we use different standards or even a different thought process, when we are faced with decisions that are actually beneficial to our children. Why some of us talk ourselves out of making important decisions which make perfectly logical sense to so many of us? Based on my own experience, today, two of the most common problems facing the Pakistani expatriate parents are their children’s weak Urdu language skills and lack of cultural awareness. “Why are you not answering to me in Urdu,” and “why are you not saying Asalam -o-Alakum to your Dada and Dadi on the phone” is a scene that is played in almost every other expatriate family household. These are legitimate concerns that are shared by thousands of Pakistani families across the world. But than why we don’t take any serious action to provide the right kind of resources and the tools that our children need is a million dollar question. Why suddenly saving 15 or 20 dollars becomes so important to us that we would rather spend them on buying pizzas or briyanis?

But that’s not even the biggest irony. We (parents) feel perfectly comfortable buying $ 200 game systems and pay additional $40 for each game, but than decide to become Mr/Ms frugal when we have to spend a tiny portion of that on things that actually teach something good to our children. Isn’t it hypocrisy? It’s clearly the responsibility of the parents to provide children access to the critical tools that would allow them to stay connected with their roots. So let’s stop blaming our children for lack of knowledge about their culture or language. A young tree needs strong roots to grow tall and it takes lots of hard work to provide the right kind of nourishment.

The point that I am trying to make here is quite simple; it’s perfectly fine to order Pizzas, watch movies, buy games or drink your beloved $ 4 lattes, but please don’t do it at the expense of your culture and language. When we loose our culture and language, we loose our identity. The pizzas, the briyanis and the lattes are not going to taste nearly as good when our simple question in Urdu is answered by a blank stare by your 8, 10 or 13 year old. Think about it!

 So when next time your child comes and ask you for a Pizza, ask them to tell you the name of the pizza and the various toppings they want in proper Urdu, otherwise they are getting just the cheese pizza.

Have a good one!

Syed.H.Abbas

Founder, Urdu At Home.

Saving Urdu for Urdu's Sake

Saving Urdu for Urdu’s Sake

By Syed H. Abbas (Co-Founder, Urdu At Home)

It is no secret that interest in the Urdu language in both public and private schools has been steadily eroding for the past two decades. But, has anyone lately checked the content of the Urdu books that our children study in schools these days? I am not talking about the public schools or the mom and pop private schools. I am talking about the leading private school systems that are considered to be elite and a status symbol for many across the country.

The Urdu curriculum that is taught in most schools across Pakistan is not only outdated, it borders on the indoctrination of the students towards an ideology which historically has never been a part of the language. Every Urdu course book starting from grade one has religious content injected into it. The amount of content increases with every grade and by the time the child reach fourth grade it looks like an extension of Islamic studies. Each book starts with “Hamd” and “Naat” followed by stories about the holy prophets. The issue is not what’s in the content, which to be fair (in almost all cases) teaches something good. But, the issue is with the placement of this content in a language course.

Some might argue that since Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, it’s appropriate to have some Islamic content in our language books. This argument, at best, is a flimsy one, and it might have had some weight, if there was no other subject where Islamic studies were being taught. But, when there is a separate subject which teaches Islamic injunctions, there is absolutely no need to include any religious text in the Urdu language books that is studied by both Muslims and non Muslim children.

I teach my daughter about Islamic values by buying books on Islam and with the same token expect to buy Urdu books which teach about the language. I am all for teaching the ethical and moral lessons to the kids in the Urdu language books, but it can easily be done outside of the religious themes. In any case, there is a separate course on Islamic Studies where the lessons on ethics and moral values are already given, using examples from our religion.

There is something inherently and fundamentally wrong when we push a particular ideology or agenda on our young kids especially when you are teaching a language. By inserting text about religious themes we are in essence giving Urdu a status of a sacred language. In my view, it’s another way of saying, Urdu is just for the Muslims and non-Muslims are not welcome to study it.

How and when did this encroachment start, and who is responsible for all this? I think most of us all are old enough to remember how, when and why this practice started. It’s not that these books are published by government-run publishing houses or that they are just being taught in public schools in under- privileged neighborhoods. These books are published by the private publishing houses like Oxford University Press and are taught in the so-called elite private schools systems across the country.

The people who are sitting on Urdu text book boards have been there for decades. They have successfully hijacked this beautiful language for their beliefs and ideologies. We need to take notice and should not allow such people to associate Urdu with a religious ideology or philosophy otherwise I fear that there will not be another Prem Chand, Upendra Nath Ashk, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Firaq Gorakhpuri. Unfortunately, it seems that the great publishing houses and the so-called private school systems have also turned a blind eye to this growing tide.

There is a growing need to fundamentally shift away from the way we teach Urdu to our kids. We have to broaden its scope and teach our kids about different cultures, people, their way of life and the similarities and differences between them. We need to use our language to teach about tolerance and understanding, and how we can become better human beings by respecting other viewpoints even when we don’t agree with them. Religious education should only be imparted in the religious courses and the motivation (however noble it might be) to insert religious themes in other subjects should always be kept in check.


The author lives in Silicon Valley, CA, USA and is the co-founder of www.urduathome.com.

Why not make "Urdu" cool again?

“If any child is caught speaking in Urdu, he will be punished”.
When I saw this sign in the middle of the play ground of a boys-branch of a leading private school system, I asked myself “Where Am I? Am I already too late?” Ironically, I had gone back after 6 years in the silicon valley to pitch my idea of improving Urdu language skills by using interactive technology.
When I raised the issue with the school’s administrator, who also happened to be my sister’s friend, she looked puzzled and asked with a gentle smirk - “Hassan, where have you been living? In Pakistan, parents spend huge amount of money to send their kids to private schools. Do you think they want their kids to build Urdu language skills? Don’t you know, it’s Not-Cool”.

She went on to give me a brief lecture on the education system in Pakistan and how the private school system industry had mushroomed in the last 25 years. Apparently, the industry owed its dramatic rise to the increasing lack of trust in the public education system.
I came to know that even the private school system industry is Multi-Tiered. The top tier or the “so called” International School Systems charge fees in excess of thousands of dollars. The middle tier includes big school systems such as City Schools, Grammar schools and Beacon House School systems. Each one of these has hundreds of branches all over Pakistan. The third tier schools are the mom and pop i.e. one or two branches schools which cater to the “Private School Education” obsession of the rest of the population.
"But why is there a sudden lack of interest in learning Urdu?" - I inquired again stubbornly, not really listening to her and thinking about all the nice time I spent growing up in 80’s reading my favorite Urdu novels.She did not have an answer, but apparently, with the sudden growth of private schools and the one dimensional emphasis on learning English, improving Urdu language skills became less of a priority among parents and schools. Schools started introducing watered down versions of Urdu text books just to teach the bare minimum.
After the initial shock of seeing my plans evaporate into thin air, I started looking at the silver lining amongst the gloom. When spoken in its true form, Urdu is one of the most beautiful languages in the world in my opinion. It is not a faith based language and is worth saving for future generations.
It’s been more than three years since I had that conversation with my sister’s friend. A month after that conversation, I left my job as a Business Analyst with a leading payroll firm in the US and embarked upon building a small and a very dedicated team, that shared my vision of making Urdu “Cool” again.


Syed Abbas,
Founder, Urdu At Home.com

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The Urdu at home team.