Book a Free Trial Lesson
A trial lesson is fifteen to thirty minutes with a tutor on a video call, at a time you pick. Nobody is sold to. The tutor finds out where the student actually is, answers whatever you want to ask, and tells you plainly what a sensible starting point would be. If you decide it is not for you, that is the end of it.
You can also email [email protected] or use the form on our contact page if that suits you better.
Why the trial exists
Most parents who write to us open with a version of the same sentence. My son is nine, he did two years at weekend school, and I could not honestly tell you what he can read on his own.
That is not inattention. If nobody in the house reads Arabic, there is no reliable way to tell fluent reading from confident guessing. A child who has heard Surah Al-Fatihah a thousand times can appear to be reading it off the page while actually reciting from memory, and the gap only shows up on a surah nobody has drilled. The trial lesson exists to settle that question out loud, in front of someone who can hear the difference.
Adults arrive with the mirror image of it. They can follow along in the mushaf, they have never had anyone correct a single letter, and they want to know whether starting again from the alphabet at thirty-four is embarrassing or sensible. It is sensible, and it is the most common request we get from adults.
What happens, step by step
- You tell us who the student isAge, and roughly what they have done before. Nothing is a completely normal answer, and it is a faster starting point than a half-remembered year of lessons.
- We match a tutor and send timesSay your time zone and which evenings or weekend mornings work. Our tutors teach families across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, so the awkward hours are already covered.
- The lesson itself, fifteen to thirty minutesMostly the tutor listens. A beginner works through letters and a few joined words. Someone already reading is asked to recite a short passage aloud, then a passage they have not seen before, which is the part that shows what is really going on. An adult starting from zero spends it on the sounds Arabic has that English does not.
- The tutor tells you what they heardWhat is solid, what is shaky, and which one thing to fix first. This is the part parents say they had never been given before.
- You get a suggested plan, and then you decideLesson length, how often, and what the first month would realistically cover. There is no follow-up call and no pressure. If you want to think about it, think about it.
What we will ask you before the lesson
The honest part
One to one tutoring is not the right answer for everybody, and it costs more per session than the alternatives.
If the goal is ten minutes a day of letter recognition and you want to spend nothing, a good app will do that better than we will, because it never gets tired and it is always available at 7am. If your child is bored and lonely and needs other children in the room, a masjid weekend class gives them something a screen cannot.
Where one to one earns its cost is the moment the skill becomes oral. Recitation errors are invisible on paper and inaudible to a parent who does not read Arabic. A tutor listening to one student, live, catches a heavy letter being said lightly in the first minute. That is the whole case for it, and it is the reason we ask the student to read aloud in a trial rather than talk about reading.
What it costs if you continue
Rates start at 9.50 USD per hour and fall towards 7.00 USD as monthly hours rise. Monthly plans run from 34 to 84 USD depending on lesson length and frequency, and there is a 10% discount for siblings. Payment is in advance, and unused lessons are refundable. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.
Lesson lengths that actually hold up
| Age | What tends to work |
|---|---|
| 4 to 6 | 30 minutes, twice a week |
| 7 to 10 | 30 to 45 minutes, two or three times a week |
| 11 and up | 45 to 60 minutes |
| Adults | 30 to 60 minutes, whatever survives your actual week |
Two shorter lessons beat one long one at almost every age below eleven. A tired child at minute forty is not learning, and the parent watching the clock is the one who quietly cancels in week six.
Questions parents ask before booking
Is the trial really free, or is there a catch?
It is free and there are no conditions attached. Nothing to pay, nothing to sign up to, and no obligation to book lessons afterwards. If you decide not to continue, we do not follow up. The one thing worth knowing is that a second trial, if you wanted one, is paid.
Do we have to take the trial at all?
No. If you would rather skip it and start lessons straight away, say so and we will schedule the first lesson instead.
How long is the trial lesson?
Fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the student’s age and how much there is to hear.
Does the student need to know any Arabic already?
No. We teach from the alphabet upwards, and we take students from age four to adult. Beginning at zero is the most common starting point on this site.
What if nobody at home reads Arabic?
That is who this academy is built for. Most of our families are in that position, so the tutors are used to explaining progress to a parent who cannot check it themselves, and we publish free printable trackers so you can follow along. Our guide on checking your child’s Quran progress without reading Arabic is the short version.
Can I sit in on the lesson?
Yes, on the trial and on every lesson after it, without arranging it first. With younger children we would encourage it. What we do and do not take responsibility for is set out on our child safeguarding page.
What if we need to move a lesson?
Two hours’ notice is enough. We know what school runs and time zones do to a schedule.
Who does the teaching?
Egyptian tutors, qualified, many of them trained at Al-Azhar. You can read about the faculty on our about page.
What can we study?
Quran reading and Tajweed, memorization, Arabic for children and adults, and Islamic studies, along with school subjects for the same families. The full course list has everything.
What happens after the trial?
If you want to go ahead we agree a schedule and start. If you do not, nothing else happens. Our page on how lessons work week to week describes what the first month looks like.