Me, teaching to read the Quran?

I always have the highest regard for the teaching profession. It’s one of the most selfless of all vocations, requiring a lot of efforts and perseverance, and yet generating little material rewards.

My perception of teachers was mainly moulded by the teachers that I encountered during my formative years. Perhaps I’m one of the lucky ones, blessed with good (and some great) teachers throughout my schooling years. One particular teacher even piqued my interest to become a teacher myself. Alas, that ambition has not materialized, but I’m still hopeful …

Somehow, I’ve always ‘known’ that I can teach. Some former colleagues raised that conviction when they praised my ability to explain and clarify matters. At the university, my presentations always managed to draw praises from the lecturers. One of the toughest lecturers even gave me two thumbs up for my presentation.

So it was with confidence that I took up DH’s suggestion to teach DD to read the Quran. Afterall, how tough can it be to teach your own daughter who is always eager to impress her parents with her academic achievements? Furthermore, I had introduced her to Iqra’ some time back, so teaching Muqaddam is just an extension of that, isn’t it?

Well, I soon found out that it wasn’t as smooth-sailing as I had expected. The student was eager, but I underestimated the possibility of getting frustrated when one is learning to read in a language that one does not understand. Iqra’ lessons do help, but I can see that she is struggling. She mainly relies on memorization instead of actually reading the words.

To encourage her, I update the log at the back of the Muqaddam whenever she progresses to the next surah. That helps a bit. It keeps her motivated. Now she insists to update the log by herself. It helps me to monitor her progress as well. When she seems to be spending too long on a surah, that means that either one of us has not been paying attention.

This method can also backfire. DH takes over the task whenever I’m unable to teach her. He’s a stricter teacher, insisting that every single word is pronounced correctly before allowing her to move on to the next level. It has caused frustration once. She thought that she was already good enough, but DH refused to allow her to move on. She ended the session in tears, disappointed that she wasn’t able to update the log.

Sometimes, she would yawn incessantly throughout the recital. At other times, she would tell me that she's tired. I understand, it’s not easy for a 6 year-old to keep her momentum on a daily basis. So one day I tried to make it interesting by relating to her what the surah was about. We were reading al-Fiil at that time. Her interest was piqued when I pointed out what it means and the similar sounds between the words ‘al-fiil’ and ‘elephant’. She recalled a story book she read about the ‘elephant armies’. Soon she started asking about the other surahs.

I can see that an understanding of the surahs makes the lessons more interesting to her (and to me too). Perhaps I should arm myself with the translation during the lessons. Who says that Quranic recital has to be boring?

I am happy that I'm able to address her frustration (for the time being). I know there'll be more challenges. Her interests (and mine) might wane, but till then, I'm content to count our little achievements.

Happy Teachers’ Day to all teachers (paid and unpaid, qualified and unqualified) out there.