September has arrived—month nine of the calendar year and a time of beginnings: the start of autumn, the beginning of the school year, the return to work after a hopefully long vacation, and our intention for the month: returning to our roots.

In this edition, we cover:

• Grandma's questions at family gatherings.
• Arabic language and identity.
• Compassion from our teachers.

General Thoughts

When the question "كيف كان يومك بالمدرسة؟" is met with a response of "Yeah, it was nice..." it somehow stirs our hearts. It's not a disdain for other languages or an undue bias for our own—it’s not even the dread of the inevitable follow-up question from a listening grandmother: "Why don’t you teach your kids Arabic?" Rather, it’s a deep-seated desire within us that our children remain rooted in their Arabic language and culture, fully aware of their identity’s value.

How Does Arabic Define Our Identity?

In a short YouTube video titled "What is the significance of language in shaping our identity?" based on an interview with Dr. Bandar Al Ghamiz on the Finjan podcast, we explore how Arabic is not just a means of communication but an integral part of the identity of the individuals and communities that speak it. Language is the vessel that carries culture, history, and values, serving as a tool to faithfully transmit these elements across generations.

Watch the video here.

Watch the full interview here.

Compassion from our teachers

This week in the Akwan Teachers Group—or as we prefer to call it, the group of Akwan teachers—we chose compassion as our focus. Our discussions revolved around making it a central goal in our classrooms in the coming days.

Join the Akwan Teachers here.

 This newsletter is the first of four editions centered around the theme of 'returning to our roots.' We lay out the issues, share our feelings about them, and discuss our approaches to dealing with them. Thus, we are eager to hear your voices—opinions, problems, perspectives, and suggestions from our extended family, whether on our WhatsApp group or in response to this newsletter.