Before the Workshop:

• Prepare materials in advance: print or create triangle game boards, laminate if possible; prepare letter tiles (cardboard, paper, or wood); ensure a dictionary is available (print or digital).
• Optionally create a vocabulary reference sheet with common 3-letter roots.
• For younger or beginner students, consider pre-selecting a few starter roots for practice.

During the Workshop:

• • Create the game board together: allow students to help construct the board (drawing triangles with a compass or ruler), decorate tiles, and personalize them. This increases ownership and engagement.
  • Demonstrate one full round of the game on the board before starting.
  • Pair or group students by proficiency to encourage peer learning.
  • Use game variants (e.g., Poker-style or 2-player swap) to suit different group sizes and goals.
  • Encourage oral use of new roots: ask students to say the root aloud, give an example word, or translate into the heritage/majority language.

Encourage Vocabulary Building

• Help your child keep a small notebook to write down new roots or words they discover while playing.
• Ask them to explain or translate each root after their turn to reinforce learning.

Use the Dictionary Together

• Look up roots with your child to explore how words are formed.
• Show them how a single root leads to multiple meanings and forms.

Balance Learning and Fun

• Remind them it’s okay not to know every word.
• Praise creative attempts and curiosity—even when they make mistakes.

Create a Quiet, Comfortable Game Space

• Set up a calm area with good lighting and space for the board.
• Make it inviting by including colored pens, stickers, or decorations for personalized tiles.

Set Time Limits

• To keep the game engaging, use a timer (e.g., 3 minutes per turn) to maintain focus and pace.

Involve Kids in Crafting the Game

• Let your child help decorate the tiles and design the layout.
• It adds ownership and excitement about the game.

Integrate Art and Language

• • Encourage your child to write beautifully or decorate roots with calligraphy-style lettering.
  • This connects the artistic heritage of Arabic with language learning.

Adaptations for other languages

Adapting Thuluth to other languages can be both fun and pedagogically valuable! Here are practical tips and strategiesfor adapting the game’s structure and logic to different languages while preserving its educational goals and visual appeal:

1. Understand the Linguistic Logic of the Target Language

• Arabic: Built on triliteral roots → ideal for triangle-based logic.
• Romance & Germanic languages (e.g., French, Spanish, English): Use prefix-root-suffix structures or compound word logic.
• Turkish / Finnish / Hungarian: Use agglutinative structures – start with a root and add suffixes logically.
• Chinese / Japanese: Use radicals or syllables as building blocks (e.g., in Chinese, combine two radicals to form a meaningful character).

2. Redesign the Gameplay Grid

• Instead of 3-letter triangle roots, you can:
  • Use a hexagonal grid to form compound words or phrases.
  • Use squares or strips for building words with prefixes and suffixes.
  • Keep the triangle format but focus on syllables, word stems, or letter clusters that build meaning.

3. Adjust the Rules for Word Formation (example: English, French, German)

For English:

• Form valid 3-letter base words (e.g., “run”, “fit”, “dig”).
• Use tiles to add prefixes/suffixes: “re-run”, “fitting”, “digging”.
• One triangle = 1 root word + optional transformations.

For French:

• Base on verb conjugations: create groups like “mange”, “manger”, “mangera”.

Include gendered forms: “beau”, “belle”, “beaux”.

For German:

• Use compound word parts: “Haus”, “Arzt”, “Hausarzt” (house + doctor).
• Allow word splitting across multiple triangles.

4. Keep the Artistic and Cultural Element

• Encourage learners to decorate the game using motifs relevant to the language’s culture: (ex. Celtic knots for Irish, ink brush strokes for Chinese, Art Nouveau script for French)

5. Educational Goals Should Stay Central – Always design the rules around:

• • Vocabulary expansion
  • Word formation logic
  • Grammar awareness
  • Storytelling or translation challenges

6. Example Adaptation: French “Triluth”

• • Board: triangle grid
  • Each triangle = 3 connected syllables or word roots
  • Valid combos: “pré” + “par” + “er” → “préparer”
  • Points:
    • 1 point per real word formed
    • Bonus if it’s a verb, adjective, or a compound form
    • Use of rare forms (subjunctive, passé simple) gives bonus points!

General Guidelines:

• Identify learners’ language level (A1 to C2) and adapt the game rules accordingly, based on the PDF version.
• Prepare your materials:Use the online version for group work on a screen. Use the printed version for more tactile, interactive work.
• Plan an introduction to the vocabulary or expressions featured on the cards to support comprehension.

Pedagogical Tips:

• Start as a group: Explore the expressions or vocabulary together and ensure everyone understands them.
• Encourage speaking: Each player should explain their choices, ask questions, and describe images. This helps develop oral fluency and active language use.
• Emphasize reformulation and detailed description (especially from level B1 onward) to strengthen expressive skills.
• Use the game variations to diversify learning:
  • Storytelling with cards
  • Memory games or syntax-based activities
  • Image-to-sound or image-to-situation associations

Tip: Link to Visual Art

Take advantage of the artistic references on the cards (“In the universe of…”) to introduce a cultural dimension. You can:

• Assign mini-research projects on the artists
• Show the original artworks in class
• Discuss their style, origin, or message

Find out more about board games to learn Arabic through art : https://apprentissagecreatifdelarabe.weebly.com/les-objets.html