Reading, writing, and communicating effortlessly are life-nurturing skills. Your child will develop these skills if they get into the habit of reading in their growing years. It has countless advantages, mainly that uplifts their grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling, thereby making them super confident. This entire learning process of reading and mastering spelling goes hand in hand. When children get a grip on spellings, they will be motivated to read even more fluently and hence we say this is correlated. We have mentioned a few activities below that will help your children memorize spellings the fun way.

Break Down Words and Sound Them

This is a simple yet the most constructive exercise. Every time there is a new word, big or small, make sure you break it down for your child and while the word is broken into syllables, do sound them out, thus making it easier for them to remember the spelling and then they will be able to pronounce the entire word correctly in one go.

Use Pictures

Visual representations always work well with children. Where in certain cases it may be difficult to memorize text straight away but they will definitely remember the picture associated with the word. So, whenever your child gets confused with certain spellings, make sure you explain with some reference image.

Sing Rhymes

Melodies have lasting memories. Teach your children spellings through music. It may be rhymes or poems or action songs. Rhythms are effective, even if they forget the spelling, they will recall the letters and the word as per the tune

Emphasize Difficult Words

You may have time and again come across words that your children frequently struggle with. Once they have been identified, you must highlight such words and make your child write them down and make them understand the meaning of it. You can associate an example to remember with that word and then memorizing its spelling will become easier and the next time they read any text and come upon that word they will not stumble anymore.

Scramble Up Words

Jumbled-up words are great to teach spelling to children. Kids derive immense joy in solving the scrambled word and declaring the right spelling. Imagine jumbling up DUBAI to BAIDU, this way they will memorize spellings and learn words creatively. You can start with small words and proceed to bigger words and use common or proper nouns.

Conduct Word Search

Children and adults alike love solving word search puzzles. The letters grid is given and usually, there are about 10 to 15 words present in that grid to be found. The only difference is that the words are not scrambled like in the previous activity. The alphabets of the words are present in the correct order but words are either placed vertically, horizontally, or diagonally in the grid. The list of the words to be searched in the grid is given and every puzzle is based on a genre. So, in this way children are introduced to numerous words and are memorizing their spellings with a lot of thrill.

Play Scrabble

This is an all-time favorite family game not just in the Middle East but loved across generations around the world. Play scrabble with children while they are young. This board game is so exciting, that they would want to play a game anytime. The dictionary often comes to the rescue in this game when the players debate the spelling of certain words or even when they funnily argue whether a particular word exists in the dictionary or not. Calculation of the word formed to attain points is the high point of this game. Your child is learning fabulous words, knowing their spellings, and polishing Math too. It’s one game with tremendous benefits.

Quiz with Abbreviations

This is another fun task to undertake with your children. There are plenty of abbreviations to learn. Basically, your kids are learning the short form of a word or a phrase and simultaneously memorizing its spellings.

E.g. For Country – United Arab Emirates is abbreviated to UAE.

E.g. For Organisation – Gulf Co-operation Council is abbreviated to GCC

Reading Eggs makes the learning-to-read journey fun, interactive, and highly rewarding for ages 2-13, based on solid scientific research. They provide an educationally sound and highly enjoyable program that is effective and easy to integrate into your daily routine. Fast Phonics is an online synthetic program that helps children become strong readers. It includes 20 fun filled levels where children learn key phonics skills including letter sound recognition, blending, and spelling. Each level is a mountain peak covering one set of letters with several exciting activities.

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Do you need to be a proficient programmer to be able to get your children excited about coding? Well, the answer is no! Even though you might not be from an IT background or have any computer literacy knowledge, the need of the hour demands children to be capable of performing basic coding. Most organizations prefer hiring professionals who have some coding knowledge, versus those who have none at all.

This Blog is dedicated to all those parents who wish to be a guiding lamp to their children by steering them on the right path and encouraging kids to pursue coding as a hobby to start with, rather than burdening them with the pressure of having to study one more subject. Holding conversations can be powerful, so let us show you how to talk to your preschooler and middle-school goers to develop a liking for coding.

#1 Talk About the Benefits of Learning To Code

Children should be introduced to coding at an early age, as it is becoming one of the most important skills that one needs to have to make a successful career and understand the world around them better. The 21st century STEAM curriculum, which is used extensively across the globe & also in Dubai, gives parents all the more reason for encouraging children to practice coding.

Here’s what you can say to them;

• You will make many friends in coding class
• You will get to play games while learning to code
• On completion of the course, you will get a certificate
• Just as you learn English & Arabic languages, coding is another language
• One day you will be able to design & create your favorite App

2 Give Students Examples of What is Possible With Coding

Just as children get excited about learning to play soccer and taking-up classes to learn a new musical instrument, they need to feel excited about learning to code. How will you do this? Children naturally love to watch videos on YouTube, so explain to them in simple words, ‘you know, this platform was made by 3 former PayPal employees who were software developers namely; Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim’. Another fact; to target the tastes and preferences of local audiences, you can even change the language preference of your YouTube platform, from English – Arabic (for those who reside in the Middle East) just by clicking on the settings button!

Also add that, Java Script was the language used as a base for constructing the YouTube platform and 98% of websites that we use today, have JavaScript language. This will get children intrigued about the different coding languages & enthuse them to know more. Who doesn’t like to play Candy Crush? But Candy Crush wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for some genius programmers right! Collecting candies is a rewarding experience, so level-up your coding game and pursue it as a passion, because, who knows one day you could become a famous Game App developer.

#3 Make Coding Tangible

Anything that one can see & touch, is easily believable! Rather than treating coding as an abstract concept, you must try to tangibilize it. So, introduce children to coding toys that have certain modules that give instructions to teach the player to ‘construct’ & build ‘robots’. It is advisable to purchase a set before enrolling your preschooler into any coding program, so as to give them a sneak-peek and a kind of induction into what they are going to experience when they attend coding class.

CodeMonkey is an award-winning online platform, that teaches teenagers & children real-life coding skills. You can learn block-based and text-based programming through a game-like environment. Millions of students have enrolled to the CodeMonkey course not only in US & UK, but also the UAE and found multifold benefits. The best part is, no prior experience is needed to be a CodeMonkey student, and one can rely on the fully guided lesson plans that come along with the set. These lessons keep advancing as the child becomes more proficient with his coding skills.

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The UAE’s largest online math competition is here! Students can finally start honing those math skills and put them to good competitive use from 13-30th November 2022. All grade 1-6 students in the UAE are invited to participate in their favourite Online Math Competition, hosted by The Knowledge Hub, by making sure their school registers with us by 7th November 2022.

The competition is aligned to students’ curriculum and will be a great way to prepare for the upcoming end of term exams. Data collected during the competition will be shared with the participating schools so that they can assess their students’ performance when completing tasks during the competition.

Competition winners can expect to receive prizes, such as certificates, trophies, and Mathletics licenses. Winners will be announced in December 2022 and prizes will be distributed by January 2023. Moreover, lucky winners will enter the Hall of Fame for all to see and be inspired. A link to the Hall of Fame can be found in the Student Console. Participants can earn points by completing activities and challenges based on their knowledge of different math topics. Each week, players can earn a maximum of 300 points on any individual activity and 600 points on each test, including a real-time 60-second race testing the speed and accuracy of their mathematics skills.

For Math teachers, the teacher console will show them the points gained by their students on each individual activity. Live Mathletics scores can also be found on the same page. Staying on top of students’ progress will allow teachers to understand the topics students may be finding challenge, prompting revision lessons in the lead up to their term 1 examinations. Teachers should be aware that scores are reset to zero every Sunday, but all points are safely recorded in the student console.

School need to register their Mathletes by 7th November 2022. UAE schools, inclusive of grades 1-6, with a valid Emirates ID (for verification) can participate in this competition. So, hurry and join us for a fun-filled, exciting math journey!

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We’ve heard the term Ethical Hacker a number of times as a passing reference, but do you know what an ethical hacker does? You will find ethical hackers employed across different industries such as; technology, military, and even law services. As of today, there is a lot of demand for them, and considered as one of the highest-paying jobs across countries, including Dubai in the Middle East.

Who is an Ethical Hacker?

A ‘white hat hacker’ basically breaks into computers and networks for security reasons. They are asked to access unauthorized computer systems, applications, and data to carry out certain operations. This method is used to duplicate the strategies and actions of malicious attackers. It helps to identify certain loopholes within the system and fix them so that no outsider can take undue advantage of it. This is in no way illegal and even big MNCs put hackers to good use.

Reasons To Become An Ethical Hacker

Here are a few opportunities that will encourage you to choose ethical hacking as a full-time profession;

Increasing Demand

As the world is becoming readily digital, there is so much scope in the field of IT and computer technology. Nowadays everything is done ‘online’, which makes our lives much easier, but also puts a heavy risk in terms of sharing private information & details, without worrying about the authenticity of businesses. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when working from home became the only option, cybercrime increased manifold, risking the identity of people, as well as organizations. Thus, there is added pressure to protect safety from cyberattacks, and so ethical hacking is becoming the backbone & savior for all.

Better Pay

In the UAE, an ethical hacker makes about AED 275,000 per annum and the pay scale keeps increasing for those who have a higher experience. The demand is so much, that the existing number of skilled workforce is not able to match up and thus organizations are ready to pay a huge salary to employ one.

Continuous Learning Opportunities

To catch the thief, you need to be 10 times smarter than him! This simply means that black hat hackers (criminals) will always find new ways of looting money & causing havoc. We also know that technology changes at lightning speed and therefore more sophisticated strategies need to be adopted to prevent attacks. An ethical hacker needs continuous training to update his hacking skills with respect to newer systems & software. One also needs to be creative, as hacking is not done by referring to a checklist & going step-by-step. Finding newer ways to figure out the possible solution, requires great skill.

Cool Job Title

Proudly proclaiming that your job requires you to practice hacking legally, really intrigues people. You will always have friends & family asking you questions like- how do you write codes? What is the hardest hack you have performed? It gives you the utmost satisfaction to take up a challenge & perform a task that no one else can do.

TestOut LabSim – Ethical Hacker Pro Certification

This module tests the examinee’s ability to perform tasks commonly performed by IT security professionals. Passing the TestOut Ethical Hacker Pro Certification means you are capable of implementing layered security through group policy objects, access control lists, wireless and wired local area network security measures, and workstation and mobile device security measures. The TestOut course is famous in GCC regions and also in Dubai, so enquire now by clicking on this link https://knowledge-hub.com/testout-labsim/

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The online tutoring business has grown by leaps and bounds with the advent of the internet and the arrival of technology. Laptops, tablets, etc have made it easy to get information and disseminate it from the comfort of your home, or café, or anywhere else. Anyone with a thorough knowledge of the field can start a profitable tutoring business from home. To gain the trust of your audience, it is necessary that you create an environment of reliability and professionalism, that is conducive to the liking of students.

Besides the obvious mentioned above, there are also a few other things you need to keep in mind before you venture into the world of online tutoring effectively.

Firstly, you need to have a clear plan in your mind as to what, where, and how. Every business requires an initial investment so budgeting should also be considered. A good marketing strategy can ensure your business will be off to a flying start. Successful businesses begin with successful plans.

Having the best environment to work in is as important as the matter itself. A high-speed internet connection, a good device, and a brightly lit, quiet spot are vital to your class. You may think a simple video call will work, but to create a striking impression and raise the level of service offered, it would prove to be more beneficial to you and your students if you can use tutoring software like Google Classroom or Zoom or Scribblar which have been created for the purpose and will allow you to allocate assignments, check homework and provide reference material for later. Online coding courses now offer a more formalized and structured approach to teaching web development. These courses help enhance coding skills to create games & even build websites. Depending on what skills your child needs to learn you can opt from an array of resources available online. Code Monkey is one such platform that has award-winning courses that teach computer programming to children in a gamified manner. Many schools in Dubai, UAE use this platform to offer an engaging and enjoyable curriculum for schools and after-school clubs and camps. Considering that coding is the future, especially in places like the Middle East and GCC region, it also offers many self-paced, online courses to learn coding at home.

Code Monkey recognizes the tremendous need for coding in a child’s future and provides it in a playful and effective way. Its courses and games ensure that the child’s interest is retained and they return every day to complete their tasks and goals.

Create a social media presence where you can market your business as well as provide lessons to expand credibility. This would also include setting up an online payment gateway for yourself so that payments can be made smoothly with records. Online tutors usually demand charges based on experience, intended subject, and educational qualifications. It would be prudent to do your homework and research on coaching of similar subjects, with the same experience level. Determine an acceptable price and increase it after some time in the work.

Spreading the word through family and friends is the fastest way of marketing and that too the good word. Social media apps such as Facebook or Instagram too can advertise for you at very nominal rates.

Becoming familiar with the necessary requirements as stated above is a must-do since online tutoring is a business that can turn out to be a profitable venture. Your online availability should be prioritized and that will ensure your students feel connected and will say a lot about your work commitment. A sound plan along with a sound work ethic will make you exceptional among others.

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Story time is always fun-time! Children eagerly await their turn in school or at home, when they finally get to listen to stories narrated by their teacher or grandparents. It is much like an unwinding activity after a tiresome day they had studying in school.

Research suggests that most of what we learn in classrooms is not remembered, but a ‘good story’ sticks with the child for a lifetime. Moreover, if the story has a ‘moral’, it helps us learn important lessons. In today’s fast-paced world, we agree that scheduling time to narrate a story can be a tedious task, nonetheless it won’t be a futile exercise. Here are some tips to help you prepare beforehand and make storytelling an absolute pleasurable session for kids.

#1 Create a Conducive Environment

When you walk into a movie theater there is an instant change of ambience which makes you excited about watching it in the first place. In the same way, a storytelling session should be held at a place where the environment is calming, there are no distractions, and the storyteller should stand at a spot which is visible by all children. Place some cushions on the floor to make students comfortably seated in a circle. Dimming the lights and drawing the curtains, further enhances the appeal. Spray some room freshener to enhance the mood of children naturally. Reading Eggs is a great app that makes reading fun for kids. The app captures 3,000 digital stories and is widely used in the UAE across the Middle East regions.

#2 Keep Objects and Props Ready

Using props in storytelling can really enrich the entire session, as children feel more involved in the process. Their imagination is fueled by seeing an actual prop and they further make strong connections with the scenes, thanks to a tangible puppet before them. Props can be anything like; a sock puppet, flower, maps, etc. basically anything that is related to the story. For example; in the story ‘lion & the mouse’ one can arrange props such as; a net where the lion gets trapped, minifigures of lion & mouse, a make-do paper den for the lion to sleep, a few trees to represent the jungle, and hunter clothes to indicate the hunting scene. With props, your story comes to life and children are able to better visualize the plot, rather than seeing 2D printed pictures from the story book. For vocabulary enrichment, the Reading Eggs app takes it a step further by showcasing phonics lessons in all its 120 modules. To download the Reading Eggs platform for your region in GCC or Dubai, visit our website https://knowledge-hub.com/

#3 Memorize the Story Well

This is a tough one! Remembering the whole story line-to-line may require little skill and memorization power. A simple tip here is to read the story twice or thrice and then imagine or visualize it happening in your mind scene by scene. Think of what is the most important part of the story and pay greater emphasis to it, rather than focusing on the smaller details. For example; the old man opened the door and shouted help! Help! Is a more important fact linked to the story, rather than focusing on things like; the garden was in its full bloom that day and the boy took one step at a time to get to the park. Though every little detail is important, just try to pay little more attention to the main parts. Writing down the plot scene by scene is a great exercise that most ‘theater personalities’ and ‘actors’ follow.

#4 Know when to use Voice Modulation and Expressions

Now that you know the plot and kind-of are confident with the wordings, the next step is to act it out. Kids won’t get excited by a flat narration, they like drama, action, enaction. Voice modulation makes simple words turn into articulated modules. It draws emphasis on certain ‘phrases’ such that the story doesn’t sound too dull or boring. A good storyteller does his research and knows how to imbibe the character within himself. For example; the sound of an evil witch is screechy and loud, while to enact a poor peasant you would use a soft-spoken tone. You should also focus on when to speak slowly with emphasis on every word and when to speak fast, depending on your storyline. Similarly showing the right facial expression & body gestures is a great plus point. However, don’t forget to sustain that eye contact with your children.

#5 Time the Story

All good things have to come to an end! While practicing in the mirror, time your act so that you don’t go overboard on the main day. If you are allocated a 20 minutes time-slot, add a buffer of +/- 10 minutes, but don’t exceed it. Also, remember to leave some time for questions, as children get super excited to know more about their favorite character from the story and ask questions related to him/her. Structure your story well, because it shouldn’t be that you are rushing at the time of conclusion, just because you spent too much time in narrating the introduction.

Finally, wear your most precious gift, a smile, and present yourself before your tiny audiences with confidence.

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