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Thouria Benferhat, M.A.

Author & Online Language Teacher
English, Arabic, French, Spanish

Thouria Benferhat

I was born in Morocco and grew up in Algeria and the United States. I have been teaching Arabic, French, English and Spanish to learners of all ages. For 36 years, I taught Arabic at the United Nations Language Program at Headquarters in New York.

I thoroughly enjoy the privilege of teaching people from all corners of the world and learning from my amazing learners. I retired in 2017. After raising three multilingual children, I now enjoy writing and teaching languages online.

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All products available in any language or dialect upon request.




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Podcasts

Things You need to know about Arabic Bilingual Arabic/English

Love is the bridge between you and everything.

Rumi

Check out my books!

Reflections may be shared at the following link.

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In Arabic… I Love You: بالعربية... أحبك

Signed by the author!

An introduction to Arabic letters and sounds through love expressions, in all 22 Arabic dialects, to either gender, with teacher’s notes. Imagine being able to say "I Love You" in Arabic, no matter to whom you're speaking, or in which part of the world.

More details on Amazon.

Unit price: $14.99 +tax Shipping: free in the contiguous United States


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En arabe... je t'aime: Brève introduction aux lettres et sons arabes (French Edition)

Une brève introduction aux lettres et aux sons arabes à travers des expressions d'amour, dans les 22 dialectes arabes , aux deux sexes, avec les notes de l'enseignant. Imaginez pouvoir dire "Je t'aime" en arabe, peu importe à qui vous parlez, ou dans quelle partie du monde.

C'est aussi plus qu'un guide de conversation; c’est une fenêtre sur les cultures et les coutumes du monde arabe. Que vous soyez un locuteur natif, un étudiant ou même simplement un fan d'histoires d'amour qui n’a jamais parlé un mot d'arabe, vous trouverez l'inspiration dans ces pages: termes d'affection utilisés des villes animées aux déserts magiques aux sommets verdoyants des montagnes et au-delà; le tout dans un seul guide. Le langage qui a illuminé l'imagination à travers les siècles avec des personnages comme Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs peut offrir un «Sésame, ouvre-toi!» à votre véritable amour. Prenez-le pour vous-même ou comme cadeau pour quelqu'un qui s'intéresse à l'arabe, aux langues, au monde arabe, à l'amour, aux relations, aux dialectes, aux sentiments et / ou aux relations humaines internationales en général.

More details on Amazon.

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Western Desert to West: Scattered Memories: An Autobiography - Part 1

A North African (Arab, Berber, moslem) woman’s autobiography, starting in the western desert of the Arab world and ending up in the West; scattered memories, in 12 chapters. This is the first collection of life memories that have marked my life.

Childhood experiences build our psyche. Teenage experiences build our personality. Adult experiences complement the latter and cement everything together to make the person that we end up being. This is a glimpse into the life of an Arab woman, a glimpse into the Arab World, love, relationships, feelings and human relations in general. You are sure to relate to, or even find yourself or someone you know in at least one of these scattered memories. The perfect gift for anyone interested in the life of an Arab woman.

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic… I Want to Write!: بالعربية ... أريد أن أكتب

A place to Write.

Whether youare working directly with your child or with the support of a tutor, this workbook will help him/her put what they have learned into their life context. Your child will own previously studied vocabulary and grammar by writing about personal experiences.

More details on Amazon.

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En arabe… Je veux écrire!: Un espace pour écrire. (French Edition)

Espace organisé pour l'écriture.

Que vous travailliez directement avec votre enfant ou avec le soutien d'un tuteur, ce cahier d'exercices l'aidera à mettre ce qu'il a appris dans son contexte de vie. Votre enfant possédera un vocabulaire et une grammaire déjà étudiés en écrivant sur ses expériences personnelles.

SORTIR DES SENTIERS BATTUS:
En essayant de remplir chacune des 20 lignes, votre enfant se penchera sur différentes facettes du sujet en question, stimulant ainsi son imagination et son processus de réflexion.

More details on Amazon.

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En árabe... ¡Quiero escribir!: Un lugar para escribir (Spanish Edition)

Ya sea que esté trabajando directamente con su hijo o con el apoyo de un tutor, este libro de trabajo lo ayudará a poner lo que han aprendido en su contexto de vida. Su hijo será dueño de vocabulario y gramática estudiados previamente al escribir sobre experiencias personales.

PENSAR FUERA DE LA CAJA:Tratar de completar cada una de las 20 líneas llevará a su hijo a mirar diferentes facetas del tema en cuestión, lo que provocará su imaginación y su proceso de pensamiento.

Cada capítulo se concentra en una faceta de la vida y/o los intereses de su hijo. Después de discutir las diferentes ideas posibles relacionadas con cada tema, puede (dependiendo de su propia situación y/o necesidades) se puede proceder a una (o una combinación) de diferentes actividades propuestas en el libro.

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic... and English... I Want to Color!: Bilingual Coloring Book: Zoo Animals

This is a bilingual (English-Arabic) zoo animals coloring book for children ages 4-6. It is the first of a series of bilingual coloring books (Arabic, English, French and Spanish).
•The back page of each drawing is blank to avoid colors bleeding into the next picture.
•Besides coloring the animals, the child may color each English and Arabic animal name.
•Before your child starts coloring, you may enjoy discussing colors with your child by consulting a color wheel online.
•The fact that some zoo animals are not very colorful is an opportunity for you to discuss different hues of the same color.
•Besides researching each animal together online, you may want to extend your discussion into other topics related to color, such as your child’s favorite color/s or unusual sand or bodies of water color around the world, or even such topics as color blindness, etc.

More details on Amazon.

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In French… and English…I want to Color!: My Bilingual Coloring Book

This is a bilingual (English-French) zoo animals coloring book for children ages 4-6. It is part of a series of books includinf the French language.
•The back page of each drawing is blank to avoid colors bleeding into the next picture.
•Besides coloring the animals, the child may color each English and French animal name.
•Before your child starts coloring, you may enjoy discussing colors with your child by consulting a color wheel online.
•The fact that some zoo animals are not very colorful is an opportunity for you to discuss different hues of the same color.
•Besides researching each animal together online, you may want to extend your discussion into other topics related to color, such as your child’s favorite color/s or unusual sand or bodies of water color around the world, or even such topics as color blindness, etc.

More details on Amazon.

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Aryssa and the Cats: A Multilingual Kids' Book (Arabic/English) (Multilingual Books for Arabic Speakers)

Aryssa is a multilingual little girl. She meets four cats who speak four different languages. Besides introducing your child to English, French and Spanish, this book also contains simple math and a lesson about sharing.

More details on Amazon.

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In English, French, and Spanish…I want to Color!: Trilingual Coloring Activity Book (Multilingual Books)

This is a coloring and activity book:
•The back page of each drawing is blank to avoid colors bleeding into the next picture.
•Besides coloring each animal, the child may color each English, French and Spanish animal name.
•Before your child starts coloring, you may enjoy discussing colors with your child by consulting a color wheel online.
•The fact that some zoo animals are not very colorful is an opportunity for you to discuss different hues of the same color.
•Besides researching each animal together online, you may want to extend your discussion into other topics related to color, such as your child’s favorite color/s or unusual sand or bodies of water color around the world, or even such topics as color blindness, etc.
•You may encourage your child to write about your discussion and/or the animals.

More details on Amazon.

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Yomna in Language Dreamland يمنى في أرض أحلام اللغات: Multilingual Workbook, English-Arabic (Multilingual Books for Arabic Speakers)

Yomna dreams that everyone in New York City, where she lives, speaks all languages. She has a way to find out whether animals also speak all languages.

This is a workbook.

More details on Amazon.

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Yomna in Language Dreamland: Algerian Arabic Story (with English translation)

This is the story of a little girl named Yomna who lives in a city where everybody is multilingual.

Yomna wants to check whether the animals in her town also speak many languages.

Each page contains dialogue in Algerian Arabic, both in Arabic letters and transliteration, as well as the English translation.

Besides those two languages, your child will also be exposed to French and Spanish here.

The additional questions at the end of the book lead your child to explore his sense of wonder in this inspiring story of world-citizenship and inclusion.

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic… I Am Iraqi: بالعربية... أنا عراقي

Using this workbook, your child can review core Arabic vocabulary and grammar in context. They can:

  • improve their listening comprehension skills (all texts are recorded on my podcast: Things You Need to Know About Arabic),
  • practice reading by reading short passages in Arabic and check understanding against the English at the back of the book,
  • practice writing (space is provided for your child to write inside this workbook) by:
  • copying the Arabic texts and writing about themselves, in the same vein,
  • answering questions about the texts,
  • translating the Arabic texts,

More details on Amazon.

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En arabe… je suis irakien: CAHIER D'EXERCICES (French Edition)

À l'aide de ce cahier d'exercices, votre enfant peut revoir le vocabulaire et la grammaire arabes de base en contexte. Ils peut :

  • 1. améliorer ses compétences en compréhension orale (tous les textes sont enregistrés sur mon podcast (Things You Need to Know About Arabic),
  • 2. pratiquer la lecture en lisant de courts passages en arabe et vérifier la compréhension par rapport à l'anglais à la fin du livre,
  • 3. pratiquer l'écriture (un espace est prévu pour que votre enfant puisse écrire dans ce cahier)
  • 4. s’entrainer à l’oral à partir des questions sous chaque texte, et
  • 5. penser de manière critique en posant et en répondant à vos questions de suivi sur chaque texte (un espace est prévu pour que votre enfant puisse écrire à l'intérieur de ce cahier).

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic... I Love You in All Dialects: A Peninsular Arabic Paper Love Poem

A gift to someone you love. This is part of a series of four notebooks featuring the four major Arabic Dialect groups: Egyptian, Levantine, Peninsular and Maghrebi (alphabetical order).

Here, besides how to say "I love you" in Fus7a/MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), you find Peninsular/Gulf Arabic love expressions. Each page heading expresses "I Love You" in an Arabic dialect, phonetic spellings and English translations included.

Perfect for Valentine's Day and a great gift to anyone interested in Arabic or languages in general!

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic... I Love You in All Dialects: A Maghrebi Arabic Paper Love Poem

A gift to someone you love. This is part of a series of four notebooks featuring the four major Arabic Dialect groups: Egyptian, Levantine, Peninsular and Maghrebi (alphabetical order).

Here, besides how to say "I love you" in Fus7a/MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), you find Maghrebi Arabic love expressions. Each page heading expresses "I Love You" in an Arabic dialect, phonetic spellings and English translations included.

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic... I Love You in All Dialects (1/4): A Masri/Egyptian Arabic Paper Love Poem

A gift to someone you love.

This is part of a series of four notebooks featuring the four major Arabic dialect groups: Egyptian, Levantine, Maghrebi and Peninsular (alphabetical order).

Here, you find Masri/Egyptian Arabic love expressions. Each page heading expresses “I love you” in the Masri/Egyptian Arabic dialect, phonetics spelling and English translations included.

More details on Amazon.

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Elyas and Sufyan: Polyglots (Multilingual Books)

When reading this book with your child, keep the following in mind:

In this story, Elyas and Sufyan speak five languages and are reliving their childhood adventures around the world. Your child can pretend to be them and guess what they are recognizing or rediscovering in the pictures.

This short story encourages your child to:

  • practice and/or explore different languages,
  • use his or her imagination,
  • think critically by asking and answering questions about the story.

This is also a writing workbook, which means that space is provided so that your child may practice writing by copying every line of text or answering the questions in the blank column (in one language, or each answer in a different language).

Encourage your child to come up with as many answers as possible. You may prompt her by asking leading questions. If you are reading with more than one child, they can compete!

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic (Levantine)… I Want to Get to Know You!

This book is divided into 7 main chapters, each of which contains different questions that you can ask, depending on who you are talking to – children, adults, and more!

The questions in each chapter are organized into tables, providing:

The English, the Fusha (formal Arabic), the Levantine (Shaami) dialect, and the respective Arabic transliterations, for each question listed.

The book also includes a transliteration table for the Arabic alphabet (in the beginning of the book).

More details on Amazon.

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Arabic in Flags: Workbook

If you want to:
stop wondering what the Arabic script on country flags says,
or
explore different calligraphy styles, in context,
or
practice writing Arabic words related to real-life,
... this is the book for you!

More details on Amazon.

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Lettres arabes: Cahier de révision

Vivre à l’étranger rend difficile l’enseignement de notre langue maternelle à nos enfants.

Nous entendons souvent les parents se plaindre que, même s’ils ont enseigné l’arabe à leurs enfants, ils ne savent pas quoi faire ensuite, ou ne savent pas comment vérifier ce qu’ils savent déjà avant de continuer.

Ce livre aborde ce problème spécifique.

Il s’agit d’un point de contrôle, avant de se lancer dans la formation de phrases, etc., pour s’assurer que votre enfant a une compréh

More details on Amazon.

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In Arabic... Teach me the Alphabet!: With Companion Videos

This book includes QR codes linking to video tutorials.

The book is intended for learners of all ages who need to learn the Arabic writing system before moving on to writing sentences and paragraphs, though this is how it started:

Living abroad makes it hard to teach our children our mother tongue.

We often hear parents complain that, even though they taught their kids Arabic, they don’t know what to do next. For example, they might not know how to check what they already know before continuing.

This book tackles that specific problem.

This is a checkpoint. Before embarking on sentence formation, it’s important to make sure your child has a clear understanding of Arabic letters. This way, you are sure that they are ready to move on without getting confused.

A paperback workbook version will be available one week after this book is published.

The next book in this series will focus on paragraph development, in context.

More details on Amazon.

My Timeline

Education and Experience

01.01.2018 - Present
Author and Online Language Teacher
01.04.1982 - 12.31.2017
Language teacher at the United Nations Language Programme, New York Headquarters
1979 - 1981
Georgetown University, M.A. in TESOL and Bilingual Education

I was born in Morocco and grew up in Algeria and the United States. I have been teaching Arabic, French, English and Spanish to learners of all ages. For 36 years, I taught Arabic to staff and diplomats at the United Nations Language Program at Headquarters in New York. I retired in 2017.

After raising three multilingual children, I now enjoy writing and teaching languages online. I thoroughly enjoy the privilege of teaching people from all corners of the world and learning from my amazing learners.

Thouria Benferhat, M.A.