Tips for teaching

1. When kids enter the class, have them say Salam and make Musafahah with teacher using both hands. (This is crucial for teaching Adab) 2. First ask a student to review the previous lesson while the whole class repeats along. (This revision can be done with more than one student if time permits) it will help refresh the memory and help retain that lesson longer. 3. Ask the kids how many reviewed that lesson at home, and how many practiced upon it. Show a positive response to those who practiced as well as give them the task of teaching it to someone. Also encourage those that didn't to practice it tomorrow. (Students will respond if they see the teacher giving importance) 4. Give the new lesson for the day, for , Mashq is very important and effective in improving and fluency, recite a few Ayats from the Quran multiple times focusing on Tajwid, Makhraj and other mistakes. Have the students repeat. If any mistake is made, mention it so that they slowly get better. See below for details. 5. Mention the virtues of practicing what was just learned and encourage them to try it at home. 6. Finally ask them, will you practice? They might say "yesss!" We will teach them to say "inshaAllah" 7. Then we move on to the next subject.

Remember to:

1. Make the lessons interesting. Audio, visual and kinesthetic. 2. Make a list of students and communicate with parents of absent students daily as well as make Dua for them by name identifying their weaknesses so helps them. 3. Conduct Imani Amal daily for 15 minutes to 45 minutes. 4. Post a Tajweed Poster in front of each class and work on one rule per week. Revise it 5 minutes daily.

In the collective method of teaching Quran recitation with 'Mashq':

1. The teacher first recites the lesson, with correct Makharij and Tajwid, to the students, while the students then repeat in unison after the teacher. The teacher can take three words at a time and repeat it ten times until the students grasp the tajweed, and as fluency improves the teacher can increase. 2. Then each student group of 3-5 recites that same lesson together for 10-20 times. When the teacher returns to test them, if /she makes a mistake, the teacher will call on various students to politely identify the mistake, so the reciting student can correct it. 3. Also, a key to make this successful is how attentive the teacher is to the students' or the ,ك as ق or ,ء as ع makharij and tajwid mistakes. So mistakes such as pronouncing must not be allowed to pass, otherwise the student will (ع as ء and ق as ك) converse never improve or rectify these mistakes. Teacher’s initial recitation should be 8-10 times so the students understand the standard he wants them to recite in. 4. In the initial recitation, the Teacher knowing the weaknesses of his students should emphasize on the corrections. Then when they individually make those mistakes, have other students try to correct. • It will be difficult to be so strict in the beginning, and to catch all the various mistakes, but the improvement will be rapid and pronounced ending in a much more solid result by the end of the year. • It's the process of repetition and emphasis on the weaknesses on a regular basis that will help them improve quickly. • For Qaidah Mashq should be done using the board, and different students should be made to come forward and teach the class. Tips for teaching tajwid

1. Give them three lines where they repeat after you. Stop at every three words.

(Read each three-word part at least 10 times to them in the beginning while having them repeat. Once they start showing improvements, you can decrease to three times from ten and increase their sabaq. Lastly, make it mandatory for them to stop at three words in the beginning, and then adjust it once they master it).

2. If they make three mistakes they have to learn that sabaq again. 3. Focus on one Tajweed rule a week or until they can grasp it with examples, have them underline that rule in the Quran for that week. This will ensure they can recognize the rule practically. 4. Make them underline their mistakes. Making sure they understand what they are marking, so they don't make the same mistakes again. 5. New Sabaq should be flawless from tajwid mistakes, also hang a large tajwid poster on the wall and have them review once a day for five minutes. 6. Record the lesson and send it to parents if we want their support with tajwid.

Some tips for quality control

The easiest way to control quality is to have an external examiner come in once a month for an assessment. He can then have a meeting with teachers and outline areas they can work upon till the next month.

Meanwhile the Teachers can meet parents and involve them in the efforts to overcome shortcomings. There should be monthly assessments for each class. Otherwise a weakness in a child or a class, if noticed after 6 months will be a great loss indeed. After each assessment, a short meeting should be conducted with Teachers to discuss improvement strategies.

The reason why students usually fall back in the collective teaching approach is due to not being punctual in class. And that is usually because parents aren't on the same frequency as we would like them to be. To overcome this, a good strategy is, after each monthly assessment, meet the parent and discuss that month’s progress. Show them the pages and lines covered in each subject the past month, discuss weaknesses of the student and ways parents can help improve. This PTC should be done in a few minutes as it will be a monthly routine and parents need not be bored out.

The semester exams twice or thrice a year should be done thoroughly on the entire amount of syllabus covered till date followed by PTC (parent teacher conference) where the children should present their knowledge in a Jalsah type setup followed by a lecture on Tarbiyah of children, home environment, healthy diet etc.