Noorani Qaida Classes for Kids
Live Noorani Qaida classes for children from age four, one child and one teacher on a video call. Your child learns the Arabic letters, their sounds and how they join, until they can read any word of the Quran on their own. Most of our families have nobody at home who reads Arabic, so each lesson works without a parent correcting practice. Plans start at $34 a month and the first lesson is free. The Qaida is the first stage of our online Quran classes; after it, children move on to reading the Quran with Tajweed.
Book a free class on WhatsApp How the free class works
Format
Live and one to one, with the same teacher each week
Ages
From four; older children and adults welcome too
Lesson length
30 minutes for young children, longer as they grow
Price
$9.50 an hour, down to $7.00. Plans from $34 a month
Parents
May sit in on any lesson, without asking first
Female teacher
Available on request, at no extra cost
Lesson length and time to finish, by age
Attention span decides the lesson more than ability does. These are the usual figures at the schedule shown, and the free first lesson places your child by what they can already do, not by their birthday.
| Age | Lesson | How often | Usual time to finish the Qaida |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 to 6 | 30 minutes | Twice a week | 6 to 12 months |
| 7 to 8 | 30 to 45 minutes | Two or three times a week | 6 to 12 months |
| 9 to 14 | 30 to 60 minutes | Two or three times a week | 4 to 8 months |
| Adults | 30 to 60 minutes | Two or three times a week | 3 to 6 months |
Younger children move slowly through the letters but rarely have anything to unlearn. Finishing fast is not the goal: a child who reads the last page hesitantly after three months has gained less than one who reads it smoothly after eight. For whether your child is ready at all, see what age to start Quran.
What a Noorani Qaida class looks like
A Qaida lesson is short, spoken and repetitive. Your child opens the book at the line they reached last time, reads it aloud, and the teacher corrects whatever came out wrong. Then they read it again. The letters become automatic through that repetition rather than through explanation.
- Read back. Your child reads the previous line or page aloud. Nothing new starts until that is secure.
- Something new. The teacher says the new letters, marks or joins first, and your child copies the sound.
- One difficulty at a time. Sounds are corrected one by one, and most of the time goes on whatever is hardest this week.
- Practice to take away. A few lines to read aloud for ten minutes a day before the next lesson.
Children usually read single letters well within a few weeks, then stumble the moment two letters join and the shapes change. That join is where most of the repetition goes. A recorded course or an app plays the same way whether your child says a letter right or wrong. A teacher who is listening catches the mistake in the first week, before it has been practised for months.
What your child learns, and what you can check
The Qaida is ordered, so progress is easy to see even if you cannot read Arabic yourself. Most editions have seventeen lessons; the table groups them the way the teaching does, with a check any parent can do at the end of each part.
| Lessons | What your child learns | What you can check at home |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | The 28 letters on their own, each said from the right place in the mouth | Point at any letter on the page they have finished. They should say its sound at once, without guessing |
| 3 to 4 | How letters change shape when they join, and joined pairs | Ask them to show you where one letter ends and the next begins in a joined word |
| 5 to 7 | The short vowel marks and the doubled end marks (tanween) | Ask what the small mark above or below a letter does. They should say its sound, not just its name |
| 8 to 10 | Reading two and three letters together as one sound | Listen for smooth reading rather than letter-by-letter spelling |
| 11 to 13 | The long vowels, held for two counts | Ask them to read a line and listen for some sounds held longer than others |
| 14 to 15 | The silent mark (sukoon) and the doubled letter (shaddah) | Ask them to find a doubled letter on the page and read the word it is in |
| 16 to 17 | Whole words and short verses from the Quran | Ask them to read a page from three lessons ago. If it comes out fluently without prompting, the pace is right |
The same seventeen lessons, with the mistake that usually holds a child at each part and a free printable progress sheet, are in our guide to the Noorani Qaida. Once your child can say the letters, the Arabic alphabet chart is a useful thing to keep by the screen.
If nobody at home reads Arabic
That is most of the families we teach, and the classes are built for it. You do not need to correct your child’s practice or know whether a sound is right. Your part is to keep the ten minutes a day happening, and to use the checks above now and then. The teacher tells you after each part of the Qaida what your child can now do and what comes next, in plain English. You may sit in on any lesson, and lessons are never recorded unless that has been agreed with you first.
Booking around school
We teach families in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and lessons are set in your own time zone. Our teachers keep late hours for North American evenings, so an after-school or weekend slot is almost always available. Tell us the window that works around school and homework, and we fit the teacher to it. A lesson can be moved with two hours notice.
What the classes cost
The hourly rate falls as you book more hours in a month. Every plan is four weeks of lessons, paid in advance, and unused lessons are refundable.
| Schedule | Hours a month | Rate | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 lessons a week, 30 minutes | 4 | $8.50 an hour | $34 |
| 3 lessons a week, 30 minutes | 6 | $8.00 an hour | $48 |
| 2 lessons a week, 60 minutes | 8 | $7.50 an hour | $60 |
| 3 lessons a week, 60 minutes | 12 | $7.00 an hour | $84 |
Brothers and sisters take 10% off the family bill, each with their own teacher and timetable. Every plan is on the pricing page.
Who teaches your child
A child copies the sound their teacher makes, so a letter mispronounced at five is hard to correct at fifteen. Our teachers are qualified, many trained at Al-Azhar, and your child keeps the same one each week. These three teach the Qaida to children; the rest of the faculty is on the about page.
Sister Nouran
Hifz, Tajweed, Qaida
Has memorised the whole Quran, with Ijazah in the Hafs and Shu’bah narrations. More than ten years teaching children, teenagers and adults.
Mohamed Nayel
Taught in English
Teaches entirely in English, which suits a child who does not speak Arabic. Four years teaching Quran to English speakers.
Ahmed Abdullah
Quran, Tajweed, Arabic
Ijazah in the Quran in the Hafs narration, with a connected chain. A graduate of Al-Azhar University, teaching Quran for more than ten years.
Families who would rather have a female Quran teacher for their daughter can ask when booking, at the same price.
Book a free class on WhatsApp Use the contact form
Starting age, how long the Qaida takes, and Tajweed after
What age should my child start Noorani Qaida?
Most children start between four and six. A four-year-old who can sit for a short lesson and copy sounds is usually ready. The free first lesson tells you whether to start now or wait a few months.
How long does it take a child to finish Noorani Qaida?
At two or three lessons a week, children of four to eight usually finish in 6 to 12 months, and children of nine to fourteen in 4 to 8 months. Reading smoothly matters more than finishing fast. What follows the Qaida, and how long Tajweed takes after it, is set out stage by stage.
How many lessons are in the Noorani Qaida?
Most editions have seventeen lessons, from the single letters to short verses of the Quran. The numbering varies a little between prints, but the order is always the same.
Should my child learn Tajweed or Noorani Qaida first?
The Qaida first. It already builds in the basic pronunciation rules, and formal Tajweed makes sense once your child can read any page on their own.
Can my child learn Noorani Qaida without a teacher?
Apps help with revision, but the Qaida is a listen-and-repeat book. A child cannot hear their own mistakes in sounds English does not have, so someone has to listen and correct.
How much do Noorani Qaida classes cost?
From $34 a month for two 30-minute lessons a week, which is $8.50 an hour. The rate falls to $7.00 an hour as monthly hours rise, and the first lesson is free.
Can my child have a female teacher?
Yes. Female teachers are available on request at the same price. Give two or three possible times, since availability depends on the hour.
After the Qaida
Once your child reads any page on their own, they move on to reading the Quran itself with Tajweed added as they go, in our online Quran classes for kids. Many also start the short surahs to memorise alongside. Anyone ready to book can start with a free trial lesson.