Languages can be one’s best friend when the techniques of learning it are taught in the right and fun manner since childhood. Having strong communication skills, half the battle is won and any given task can be achieved. When a child learns English or any other foreign language or even a local language of Dubai or the Middle East, the key to master it, would be to have control over the words that make up the grammar and the meaning and eventually which forms the sentences to be able to write and speak. Bringing several letters together and the formation of words is the main crux of a language and for that it is very important that the spellings of these words are accurate. When children are made to learn in an enjoyable way, they will never forget the spelling of a word however tricky it may be. There are creative methods to teach kids how to spell words. We have listed few below.

Break Down Words

The simplest way to learn spellings would be to break down the main word into two or more parts or syllables. The broken-down parts of the word separately may or may not make any sense in meaning on their own but when the syllables are joined bit by bit, sounded and pronounced together, that is when the entire spelling comes together with the formation of the whole word. It gets easier for kids to remember syllables rather than memorizing a whole word at once. The next time they may forget what was probably mugged up but, the different syllables which are broken down, they will always find ways to connect them and remember their words and never make a spelling mistake.

Jot down tricky words

Usually it is always said, first start with the difficult task and then progress to the easy one. When your child is reading any text, you may often come across certain words that you know they find it tricky to spell and pronounce. They always get stuck with that particular word or similar kind of tough words. The best thing to do would be to jot down those list of words, constructively work on them to learn them and the next time the kids find those words in their text they will read them like a pro, the spelling will be remembered and the pronunciation will too come together correctly. They can jot or note it down in their books, on colourful pieces of paper, on a slate or on their palms. The association of these elements with the written down words will help children to memorize spellings easily.

Pictures Speak a Thousand Words

We have easily heard this phrase and it is indeed a well-known factor that pictures have lasting impressions on one’s mind. To help kids memorize spellings and remember the word, it would be apt to associate certain words with their relevant picture. While reading the text, they may forget the word initially, and would take some time to remember the spelling but while learning, if that same word was connected with a prominent picture, they would easily recollect the word associated with that image and not forget the spelling too. Using pictures, flip cards can also be made. The kids can be made to play a guessing game. Just the first letter of the word could be revealed with the picture and the child has to guess the full correct word present behind the picture of the flip card.

Play Games

Learning is always fun when combined with play. Much as outdoor games are crucial for physical activity, indoor board games prove to be a great stimulator for the minds of the children. Scrabble and Boggle are amazing word games to play with them from a very small age to help increase their vocabulary and polish their spellings at the same time. Apart from board games, parents and teachers can also make the children play word search. They may give them a grid of letters and ask them to search for words hidden in the grid. In that manner, they are going to learn the spellings of the words and remember those better next time. You can also give them newspapers or magazines and have a time-based activity to find certain words inside the text. This way they will again learn words and memorize spellings creatively.

Use of Audio-Video

You have played around with just text, pictures, and board games with your children. Another way to help them memorize their spellings is through videos since it has sound and visuals. You can make videos of your children learning spellings with those same picture cards and textbooks, reciting the spelling of the words loudly. They have to call each word out or mainly the difficult words and you will record it. They will watch their own videos shot by you and will never forget the spellings of words learnt through this activity. Even if you have poems in video format, play them on the screen, the words and sentences of the poem running on the screen like a ticker along with the song playing together, kids retain such learning for a long time and spelling words will never be a worry.

“Reading Eggs” is an online reading programme for kids aged two to 13. Their team consists of highly experienced educators, animators, and web developers. The programme has been used by over 20 million children in 169 countries including the UAE and the GCC region. Their mission is to create better ways for children to learn. The online games and activities motivate children to keep exploring and learning. It is self-paced and highly engaging. By incorporating “Reading Eggs” into your child’s daily routine, you will be helping to prepare them for the same structured learning they will need to succeed and feel confident at school.

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Mobile Apps are evolving by the day and becoming more sophisticated and user-friendly. There is an App for almost everything that we do like; gaming apps, educational apps, smart home apps, social media apps, banking apps, shopping apps, news apps, and many more. Every business wants to move ahead with time and therefore building an app is a part of their marketing strategy. Through this Blog, let us get you acquainted with some interesting app-related trivia that you wouldn’t have heard of.

What is a Mobile App?

An app is the brand’s individual identity to reach out and stay connected with its customers. Smartphone apps are coded by software developers and are suitable for devices that are handy and pocket-friendly; such as; mobiles and tablets. iOS and Android users are entitled to download apps through The Apple Store (iOS devices) and Google Play (Android devices) onto their phones and tabs. Some apps are free, while others have a subscription plan to pay for. There are different categories of apps based on technology.

Native apps

These are designed for a particular mobile platform like iOS or Android and need to be downloaded from the respective stores. Examples of native apps are; Spotify, WhatsApp, SoundCloud, Facebook, and Wix.

Web-Based apps

These don’t need to be specially installed on mobile devices. Simply use the URL through the mobile or tablet and browse through the content. Most websites have a mobile version that is specially designed and coded to ease the viewing access of visitors. Web-based apps can be accessed via the browser itself. Customers can browse through numerous pages of the website and even fill out forms via their phones, just as they would do from their laptops/desktops. Examples of web apps are Netflix, Google Docs, and Microsoft Office, among others.

Hybrid apps

As the name suggests, a combination of web and native apps manifests the Hybrid type. This system follows a mid-way approach by sharing a few properties of both types of apps. It is essentially a web app but gives the users some features that native apps comply with. For example; you can access push notifications, use the calendar function, and link the device camera. Examples of hybrid apps are; Amazon app, Instagram, Twitter, Uber, Gmail, and other similar ones.

Spending More Time on Apps

According to a recent article, users spend about 4 to 5 hours per day on mobile apps and are even getting addicted to gaming and entertainment apps. In comparison to that, on websites, the audiences may spend only about 45 seconds, before switching off the window. People in the UAE are hooked to smartphones rather than desktops and computers. Even some modern schools in Dubai allow children to access Tablets to undertake assignments and engage in interactive content with the help of smart EdTech tools such as apps and whiteboards.

Mobile Shopping is the Future

Especially if you are in the retail space, it is beneficial to have an app such that consumers feel more comfortable shopping via the app. Post the pandemic phase, online shopping has picked up pace and now it’s become a habit. According to a survey, 64.5% of shoppers felt safer using apps rather than indulging in in-store shopping. And why not? When food, clothes, jewelry, and home essentials are delivered to your doorstep at the click of a button, it is just so convenient. The millennial population in the Middle East wants to stay up-to-date with the latest fashion trends and as soon as they hear the launch of a ‘new collection’ they start to add items to their app’s shopping cart and buy them before their friends do.

InApp Advertising

You must have noticed advertisements popping up while you are busy navigating through your apps. Little do you know, that in-app advertising is the largest source of income generation! In 2022 alone businesses were able to reach 81.3 $ billion worth of revenue, just by promoting their brands via in-app advertising. App ads are cheaper than shooting a full-blown commercial and the chances of conversion rate are higher because the Ads are linked to a landing page from where your customers can make an immediate purchase.

New Apps being released

Coding has become very common and everyone who has a passion for the tech space is entering the domain of app development and making good money. Plenty of self-study and DIY tutorials on app making are available online and even kids as young as 10 years of age participate in competitions and display their innovative apps. The Google Play Store has more than 5 million apps and several new ones are added daily. In conclusion, the app revolution is here to stay and evolve extensively. Schools in GCC are going ‘all out’ to include coding in the student’s curriculum, such that they are ready to face the outside world and be on par with the latest technologies. Robotify is used by tutors to teach kids computer science and coding by adopting Python and Blockly. The module allows learners to code virtual robots by building interactive APIs and even testing bugs to resolve errors. Who knows one day our little genius children will make it big in life by introducing life-changing apps.

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Probability in simple words means possibility. The mathematical definition is that Probability is a measure of the likelihood of an event to occur. It can be expressed with a value from zero to one where zero indicates an impossibility to occur and one means the event has a very high chance of occurring. This is useful in probability distribution, where you will also need to know the total number of possible outcomes. Probability is not to be confused with the actual occurrence of the event. You can only predict the chances of the occurrence. It is a topic that is widely covered in the tenth grade in all schools in the UAE.

Probability Formula:

The possibility of an event happening is equal to the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes and the total number of outcomes. Also written as 

Probability of event to happen P(E) = Number of favorable outcomes/Total Number of outcomes

What are Equally Likely Events?

Equally likely events are those that have the same theoretical chances of happening within a sample space. For example, if you throw a die, then the probability of any of the numbers falling is 1/6 as all numbers have an equal chance. Complementary Events are those that have only two possible outcomes of either occurring or not. For example, it would either rain or not rain today. There can be no other possibility for this.

Types of Probability

Let us briefly discuss the 4 types of Probability commonly taught in the schools of Dubai.

• Theoretical Probability is largely based on the logical sequence of events. It is founded on the possible chances of something happening. For example, if you toss a coin into the air, given that the coin has only 2 sides, the probability of either face will be 50:50.
• Experimental Probability is solely based on the observations of the experiment that is being conducted. It can depend upon the possible outcomes of the total number of trials conducted. For example, if a coin is tossed into the air 10 times, then all 10 results will be taken into consideration before determining the probability.
• Axiomatic Probability is derived from a set of rules called Kolmogorov’s three axioms. With this approach, the probability of the events can be quantified. Conditional Probability is the possibility of an event occurring based on an earlier event or conclusion.

Probability Theory

J. Cardan, an Italian mathematician and physician first introduced the concept of probability through The Book on Games of Chance in the 16th century. The Probability Theory deals with the likelihood of the occurrence of certain events.

Although probability can be interpreted in many ways, it is best represented through a set of axioms or hypotheses that allow us to measure it between the values of zero and one. These are probability measures that help you to understand the possible results of the sample.

Probability Density Function

The Probability Density Function (PDF) is a probability function that represents the density of a continuous random variable within a specific range of values. It helps to explain the normal distribution and the existence of mean and deviation. The standard normal distribution is commonly used in science to create a database or statistics for real-valued variables whose distribution is not known.

Applications of Probability

Probability is something we intentionally or even unintentionally use in everyday life. From playing the lottery to a game of cards, throwing the dice, or selecting fruit from the bazaar, it is all linked to probability or even what we generally refer to as chance or luck. But it is actually a very simple mathematical event. Probability also has a wide variety of applications in other spheres of life such as predicting the weather, commercial and industrial risk assessment, and within the share market to predict rising or falling stock. It even extends to the sports sector where the probability of a team winning or losing is determined by its players and their strengths and weaknesses.

Mathletics is a highly regarded online math’s platform in the GCC countries. It is an extremely useful tool for students, teachers, and parents alike as it uses engaging and gamified learning content. It provides benchmarked assessments and curriculum-aligned activities appropriate for each grade. Those using it in the Middle East will find extensive coverage of the Probability topic which uses Mathletics data and has targeted task assessments. Mathletics is a 3P learning product that saves you hours of work with its comprehensive library of ebooks, activities, and preparation capabilities.

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Some wise person said that ‘the more you use creativity, the more you have it.’ This means you can never be out of stock with creativity and as humans, all of us have different expressions of artistry within us. Adobe Photoshop has been in use for decades and never got out of fashion. Photoshop in 2023 is still the ‘go-to’ tool for Graphic Designers and digital creators. Let us see how Adobe is adding a dash of color, some positivity, and a whole lot of meaning to our lives today.

Editing Images

As the name suggests ‘Photoshop’ has the word ‘Photo’ in it and thus we can safely assume that it can be used for editing images. Not all of us understand the nitty-gritty of capturing the best shot in a frame. What then can we do once the scene is over and the next destination has arrived? Well, Photoshop comes to our rescue. We can beautify the Photos with the help of this magical tool and even crop unwanted backgrounds. Add some finishing touches to your picture by using the light correction feature or change the background entirely, with your knowledge of Photoshop. If you wish to add a different layer to the picture, it is possible to do so and adjust the opacity of it, to enhance the aesthetic appeal.

Website Designing

Website designers depend heavily on Photoshop to get the layout or design elements of the website pages ready before the content and coding bit are integrated. In order to make a difference and ‘stand out’ in the market, the brand’s most important ‘digital asset’ its website, must look smart, be eye-catching, and convey the message to the audience without them getting bored. Using Photoshop, the designer can design buttons, add elements, choose vibrant colors, and add relevant backgrounds, to web pages.

Marketing Material

Promotional marketing materials are the most important give-outs at exhibitions that audiences carry home with them. If you visited the grand Dubai Expo 2020, you would witness various branding strategies and marketing collaterals used by companies to attract visitors to their booths to boost sales. Brochures, flyers, standees, coffee-table booklets, magazines, product catalogs, and business cards, are only a few printed materials that are curated by designers to promote their organization’s services/products. Behind every pretty-looking marketing flyer is the hard work of a Graphic Designer. Even the stall branding that we see on vinyl booths is first designed in Photoshop and digitally printed to decorate the stalls. Several versions of the artwork must have been produced until the final masterpiece got approved by the management. Thanks to Photoshop, all behind-the-scene ideas can finally fructify.

Social Media Campaigns

Social media is the current obsession and if you’re not moving with the trend, consider your company to be obsolete and incompetent. There is so much competition in the market and no matter whether you’re a start-up or an established firm in the Middle East (UAE) since 1990, you are required to make an impact on social media and let your presence be felt. Social Media campaigns are paid and also organic, with the motive to showcase ‘out-of-the-box’ proposals for launching a new product, sales promotions, or announcing festive discounts. Facebook & Instagram posts and stories carry the most important visual branding instruments and this tiny 1:1 box should be designed meticulously to grab eyeballs and followers alike. Photoshop is the appropriate software to conceptualize and execute media (posts and videos) to roll out various SoMe campaigns.

As mentioned above, Photoshop is still the ‘king’ of software for designers and illustrators, though numerous other online and offline design-based platforms have been launched in the market. Photoshop is simply versatile and offers great flexibility to enhance your design language and can be used across marketing agencies, by freelancers, animation experts, and even interior designers.

Gen-Z students from K-12 schools in GCC regions and other parts of the world, are expected to learn the basics of Photoshop and are even graded for their design projects. TechnoKids is an excellent project-based platform that offers technology projects to kids in Grades 1 to 12. Through fun lesson plans, children get to learn Photoshop by illustrating stories on the TechnoPhotoshop module. At the end of the session, students are rewarded with a Certificate to testify Photoshop skills, which can be added to their future job application resumes.

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Geometry makes life better! Imagine what would the world be without shapes, measurements, angles, and sizes. Therefore, Geometry is not a subject to be afraid of, but instead, to be celebrated. The subject is also considered as one of the oldest branches of Mathematics discovered by the Greeks where the actual meaning when translated means ‘Earth Measurement’.

Here are some Fun Facts to delve deeper into Geometry that we would like to share. We are sure once students read through the Blog and figure out interesting phenomena, it will become easier for them to relate to Geometric concepts and start enjoying the subject.

The roots of Geometry were sown by Euclid, who was a great Mathematician and a teacher who earned the title of ‘Father of Geometry’. His works were discovered in 300 BC where he wrote theories and developed ‘Elements’ of his time. In total, he conceptualized 465 theorems and proofs with diagrammatic representations.

If you have ever had a close look at ancient Greek architecture, you would see the intricate Geometric illustrations on pillars that supported beautiful buildings, monuments, and places of worship. Thanks to Geometry, age-old architects learned the techniques of proper design and construction by including principles of ratio, proportion, grid formation, and symmetry.

Did you know Geometry is further subdivided into various branches? We hardly had anyone talk about it, but this is just some add-on information to expand your knowledge on the subject. The different categories thus include Euclidean Geometry, Projective, Differential, Topology, Analytic, and Non-Euclidean. We will not go into details of each of them, instead, leave it for another Blog to follow.

In today’s digital era, computer graphics is quite the point of discussion, as images are used on almost all platforms, and the quality is getting better & better, to make pictures look realistic. Action movies and illustrative novels require 2D and 3D images & videography, which is quite easily curated by the designer, applying the concepts of Geometry. Widely heard of, CAD which is the abbreviation for Computer-Aided Design, and CAM which is the short form for Computer Aided Manufacturing, brings about automation in computer processes and replicated the Engineering drawings into 3D and 2D works of models. Schools in Dubai and other Middle East regions start young and introduce Computer Graphic topics to students of higher grades. Subjects like Math are digitally integrated using platforms such as Mathletics, which is widely renowned in GCC and the UAE. Mathletics drives down difficult concepts by simplifying them and presenting them to students in an easy-to-memorize manner, through games and videos.

Geometric tools were invented by Egyptians and Mesopotamians in as early as 100 BCE which looked something like rulers and compass, when compared to today’s times. For every Geometry class, students are required to carry a ruler (measure the length of a line and distance between objects), protractor (to measure angles and has a reading of 0 to 180 degrees), divider (looks V in shape and is used to mark distance), set-square (is triangular with angles 54 degrees, 30 and 60 degrees and is used to draw perpendicular lines, parallel lines, and so on), and compass (just like the divider, the compass is V-shaped, but one of its ends allows you to insert a pencil into it so that students can draw shapes), without which it is impossible to follow the instructions of the teacher.

Therefore, if you go to see Geometry is more than just finding out what’s between point A and point B. It has a rich history to back its advantages and is hard to not ‘like’ the subject. Engineers, Architects, Mathematicians, Researchers, Archeologists, and even Interior Decorators, make use of Geometry in their everyday job. So, let’s be friends and make peace with this lovely subject.

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Grammar is the core of learning any language. It sets the foundation in children to develop their linguistic skills. It simply means to have a greater command by being able to listen, speak, read, and write the language eloquently and be a confident communicator. Parts of speech is one out of the many facets of English grammar. Under parts of speech too, there are several components from which we will learn the very first one today, ‘Nouns’.

Words that define names of people, places, things, a state, or a quality are known as ‘Nouns’. The classification of nouns can be into two forms, singular and plural. Given below are types of nouns with some examples.

1. Proper Noun

A person’s name or the name of a place, institution, or a company is known as a proper noun. It is more personalised and always starts with a capital letter.

E.g., Adnan – Name of a person

E.g., United Arab Emirates (UAE) – Name of a country

E.g., Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Name of an institution

2. Common Noun

It is used as a general name of something such as a person, place, or an object.

E.g., Dr. Amjad Khan hails from the Middle East and is currently practicing in Dubai. He is an amazing doctor and is well-known in the city.

In the above sentence, the common nouns are doctor and city whereas Dr. Amjad Khan, Middle East and Dubai are proper nouns.

An easy differentiator between common and proper noun is to check, ‘What is it’ for a common noun and ‘What is the name’ for a proper noun. E.g., It is the best mall in Dubai. So, ‘what’ is the ‘mall’ which is general in nature and if you ask, ‘What is the name’, the answer will be ‘Dubai Mall’ is the best mall in Dubai. So, ‘Dubai Mall’ is the proper noun which is specific in nature.

3. Collective Noun

A noun used to describe a group of people, animals or things is called a collective noun.

E.g., New Zealand team, executive committee, achievers squad, angelic choir

In the above sentence, team, committee, squad, and choir are collective nouns. Collective nouns can be in singular or plural form.

E.g., The choir ‘is’ going to perform at 8 a.m.

E.g., The girls in the choir ‘are’ dressed beautifully.

In the above two examples, note the ‘is’ and the ‘are’ which have reference to the same word ‘choir’ but it depends on the meaning of the sentence and the words are used in singular or plural accordingly.

4. Abstract Noun

This category of nouns is used to describe an idea or a concept, a quality, or a condition of something. Abstract nouns do not have any physical entity which means you cannot see and touch them.

E.g., Love, Friendship, Happiness, Resilience, Perseverance, Forgiveness

5. Material Noun

When we use a name to mention any kind of materials or substances that is known as a material noun. It is something that is felt by our senses.

E.g., Ayesha bought gold today from the Dubai Gold Souk.

In the above sentence, gold is a material noun whereas Dubai Gold Souk is a proper noun.

6. Concrete Noun

The names that are used for tangible or material things that have a physical existence which we can see and touch are known as concrete nouns.

E.g., Chair, Bed, Music Player, Car

E.g., Electric cars are being launched across the globe in the present age.

In the above sentence, ‘cars’ is a collective noun.

8. Uncountable Noun

These are the nouns that cannot be counted and cannot have a plural form.

E.g., Water Food Music

9. Verbal Noun

These nouns are derived from verbs but in actual they do not have the properties or the action of the verb.

E.g., amazing cooking

E.g., beautiful stitching

E.g., excellent driving

The -ing words cooking, stitching, and driving are verbal nouns and not actual verbs.

10. Compound Noun

When a noun is made up of two or more than two words, it is known as a compound noun. These are usually two separate words that align together as one word with a hyphen in between or more than two words come together, connected with the hyphen. In some cases, there is no hyphen in the words joint together.

E.g., fair-skinned

E.g., father-in-law

E.g., face-off

E.g., babysitter

E.g., boyfriend

E.g., bandwagon

Certain compound nouns can be made into plural form but it is not necessary that the ‘s’ is added only at the end of the word. The ‘s’ could be added at the end of the first hyphenated word out of the three joint words. E.g., fathers-in-law. By adding the ‘s’ to the ‘father’ this compound noun becomes plural.

11. Gender Specific Noun

These are the nouns that describe whether something is male or female.

E.g., Actor / Actress

E.g., King / Queen

Please note that some people do not identify themselves as male or female. Hence, in such cases, use your words appropriately.

‘Reading Eggs’ is the multi-award-winning early learning resource that supports your child’s learn to read journey with carefully designed online reading games and activities that are easy to follow, self-paced, and highly engaging for young children. By incorporating ‘Reading Eggs’ into your child’s daily routine, you will be helping to prepare them for the same structured learning they will need to succeed and feel confident at school. The lessons use colourful animation, fun characters, songs, and rewards to keep children motivated. The programme includes over 3000 online books, each ending with a comprehension quiz that assesses your child’s understanding.

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