Hello! It’s the start of a new school year here in Brunei! Fellow mommies at school have asked me for some Jawi revision tips since our children will be having their first Jawi spelling test this week! I remembered I had already made some worksheets so I’m sharing them here. I just reprinted some today for my daughter’s revision.
I know how challenging it can be for foreign parents to help their children with Jawi because my family had the same experience back when I was a young student in Brunei. That was in 1985, and my dad had just brought us here where he worked as a teacher at the Jefri Bolkiah College of Engineering in Kuala Belait. We were fortunate that one of his students, Kak Zainah (I can’t remember her full name, sorry), kindly and so generously shared her knowledge and time to teach me and my parents how to read and write Jawi! Eventually, I got the hang of it, and I now intend to help those who are in the same situation as my family was in many, many years ago.
First tip: Jawi is simply sound symbols. In the Brunei education system, Jawi translates into Malay words. So, to become very good at Jawi, one must also strive to build one’s Malay vocabulary. Learn as many Malay words as you can! Second tip: Read and write in Jawi. Since Jawi consists of symbols that represent sounds (consonants & vowels), it may also be used to spell words of many, if not most, other languages – especially those that have similar-sounding words like Malay. I could actually use Jawi to write Filipino words! You could also use Jawi to write your name. How about that?
Here in Brunei, it’s amazing to see that every business establishment or product has a Jawi spelling equivalent – even international brand names like KFC, Jollibee, Skechers, etc! It can be fun deciphering the Jawi writing on shop signs, schools, street signs, and buildings, then double-checking your answers on the spot! For a start on writing, maybe try Coca-Cola in Jawi? ( I don’t know why Coca-Cola popped into my head, I guess because it’s easy to spell haha!) 😆
As with any other skill, to become good, just practise, practise, practise… Since Jawi is found everywhere in Brunei, one can only get better. Start with words and short phrases. Soon, you’ll be reading and writing full sentences!
Most common question:Is Jawi the same as Arabic? The answer is, no, it isn’t the same. They do have similarities because Jawi is based on the Arabic alphabet. It’s amazing to know that Arabic has fewer letters in its alphabet than Jawi because there are apparently more sounds in the Malay language than in Arabic – but that should be a topic for another post.😇
For a quick review and some tips on how to answer the worksheets, check out my post on Jawi 101 Lessons here.
Do feel free to download the FREE Jawi worksheets below for your own personal use only. And if you know anyone who may benefit from them, please share the link to this post. If you have any questions or need any help, drop me a line! Happy Jawi learning! 😀
