Kahani Se Kitab Tak Program and Its Aims

Kahani Se Kitab Tak is a program for teaching children Urdu language through stories. It is the program's aim to replace the current, failed method of teaching Urdu, and introduce children to Urdu language, its classical literature, and our folklore through engaging, age-appropriate books. This program has been developed by Musharraf Ali Farooqi who is an author, translator, editor of Urdu Thesaurus, and a Harvard University fellow where he developed the Kahani Se Kitab Tak program.

Stories for Kahani Se Kitab Tak Program

Stories are information packages put together with events and lives of characters. It is easy for children to remember the details of events and characters' lives in the form of stories. Reading stories also helps develop their cognitive abilities.

Texts and Teaching Methodology

Kahani Se Kitab Tak program has 60 (sixty) books.

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Children enrolled in the Kahani Se Kitab Tak program will read a new picture book every month suited to their age group.

Children will develop basic understanding of plot and characters through these picture books.

Children enrolled in grades 1 to 3 will learn synonyms of the words used in the stories. Children enrolled in grades 4 and 5 will learn antonyms of the words used in the stories. Their knowledge of synonyms and antonyms will be checked through two separate tests.

Reading the synonyms and antonyms of the words within the context of the story will clarify their meanings in children’s minds. Children’s ability to distinguish between synonyms and antonyms will develop their vocabulary.

Having learned the synonyms of words used in stories, children will be able to narrate stories in their own words. The practice and ability to narrate a story will make children confident and able communicators.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

In Middle School children will monthly read a classical text in the form of chapter book, which they had earlier read as a picture book. Upon reading the texts a second time in greater detail, the plots and characters of stories will be reinforced.

Children will learn the idioms associated with the words of the story, and learn proper usage. Their knowledge of idioms will be checked through tests.

HIGH SCHOOL

Students enrolled in grades 9 and 10, and Cambridge O- and A-level will monthly read the annotated original text of a story they had already read in simpler versions during the primary and middle school years. The story and the characters of these texts will have become quite familiar to the students from two earlier readings, and reading the texts in annotated editions will help them understand the idiom and expression of classical Urdu literature.

Students will learn the proverbs used in the text and related to the words of the stories. Their knowledge of proverbs will be checked through tests.

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The Kahani Se Kitab Tak program will introduce children to the masterworks of Urdu literature, even as they learn the finer points of language. The time spent listening to and reading these stories will forever keep alive their interest in literature.