Hello everyone,

One of the greatest joys and challenges for those of us living outside Iran is teaching our children the beautiful Persian language. It often goes well until we get to the letters that look almost identical, differing only in the number and placement of their dots!

For some children, the letters ج (Jim), چ (Che), ح (Heh), and خ (Khe) were one of the trickiest parts, and they would always mix them up. But, don’t worry. A few visual aids can help us. The main idea is to create a memorable story or symbol for each letter.

ح (Heh) This is the easiest one to start with. It’s the “empty” letter with no dots. The idea: “ح is like a clean حوله (howleh), which means towel. A clean towel has no spots or dots on it, just like the letter ح.”

ج (Jim) This letter has one dot in the middle. The idea: “ج is for جوجه (joojeh), which means chick. The story is that the little chick is picking up a single seed from the ground.

خ (Khe) This letter has one dot on top. The idea: “خ is for خرس (khers), which means bear. The story is a friendly bear balancing a ball on its head. That ball is the dot on top of the letter خ.”

چ (Che) This letter has three dots. The idea: “چ is for چای (chaay), which means tea. The idea is a cup of tea with three little dots floating in the middle, which represent the three dots of the letter چ.”

How to use these ideas:

• Draw together: Have your kids draw these symbols next to the letters.
• Tell stories:
  • Triplets Swimmers (che)
  • Hani, the Spotless Towel (he)
  • Jilli the chick and his seed (Jim)
  • Barnaby the balancing Bear (khe)
• Use play-doh: Create the shapes of the letters and their “dots” with modeling clay.

I hope these ideas are helpful! I would genuinely love to know what methods or tricks you have used to teach these challenging letters. Please share your experiences so we can all learn from each other.

Happy teaching!