Sixth Graders and Staff Create the First American Arabic Mural
Posted on 02/08/2017
By: Nashua Khalil, Sixth Grade Special Educator
Sixth grade students began asking questions about politics and wondering why some of our students' families couldn't go back home or come to America. My favorite line by far - "why can't Trump go visit those countries that he's banned people to come from and actually live there for three days and experience their lives first?" This conversation then got them asking questions about the cultures and religion of the people from these "forbidden" countries. While I am not from any of these countries, I can surely connect with the religion. Language was the first thing that came to mind. Arabic - the language of our beautiful Quran. They were all fascinated by the Arabic language and started experimenting with writing their names (with some help). All I could hear was, "This writing is so cool!"
More and more students kept asking to write their names in Arabic. And so the idea to create the first ever American Arabic names mural was born. Each student was given the opportunity to write their name in Arabic and contribute to our Arabic mural (as desired). Our collection of Arabic names came together in the shape of the United States and hangs on our very wall at our beautiful school.
(Above the mural reads:)
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere." - Dr. Martin Luther King"