3
Sheen
Arabic A1 · Unit 3
GoalRead and write ش (sheen) and tell it apart from seen and thaa.
New words
شَ (sha) · syllable shaشَاي (shāy) · teaشَجَر (shajar) · treesشَرَاب (sharāb) · drinkخَشَب (khashab) · woodشَدِيد (shadīd) · strongشَرِبَ (shariba) · he drankشَبَاب (shabāb) · young people, youth
Explanation
Sheen (ش) is the “sh” of “ship”. It has the same three teeth as seen, with three dots above them. So seen has no dots and sheen has three. Thaa (ث) also has three dots above, but its body is a bowl, not teeth. Sheen joins on both sides. You can now read the words for tea, drink and wood.
شalone
شـstart
ـشـmiddle
ـشend
Worked examples
س
ش
Two nature words: trees and wood.
Read these and press Listen: strong, and he drank.
Class activity
Sound sort. Say these English words and decide if you hear s or sh: sun, ship, sit, shop, fish, bus. Make two lists on paper. Write س above the list with s and ش above the list with sh.
Practice
1
How many dots does ش have, and where?
Three dots, above the three teeth.
2
Press Listen. In the middle of the word, do you hear s or sh?
sh. The word is نَاشِر (nāshir), “publisher”.
3
Read the word aloud and say what it means: شَرَاب.
sharāb, drink.
4
Both ث and ش have three dots above. How do you tell them apart?
ث
ش
Thaa has a bowl; sheen has three teeth.
5
Look at the picture. Which Arabic word is it: شَجَر or شَرَاب?
شَجَر (shajar), trees.