Ms Lubna brings her three children every week to the Urdu language school in Preston (New South Wales) to help them learn and communicate in Urdu.
“I want my kids to learn Urdu as it is our language," she says.
"I have tried myself too to teach them by making them memorise Urdu poems, but having the school with a curriculum really helps. For children living in Australia, their thought process to communicate is in English. So when they try to talk in Urdu, initially they hesitate, but they do talk in Urdu.
"It is a slow process but it is working well.”
It is has been eight years since the weekly Urdu school in Preston started to promote the Urdu language for local communities in Western Sydney by teaching the fundamentals of the language.
The children learn to write, read and speak Urdu.
Dr Hafeez Jan, who runs the classes every Saturday at Amity College, says it is very important to teach the language to children so they can speak to their relatives, family members and even grandparents if they are back home.
"Our school aims to bridge the ‘communication’ gap between children, parents and their grandparents. "
Mother of two girls Ms Ayesha says that although her kids have an understanding of Urdu, the school is very helpful in improving their speaking confidence.
“Before moving to Australia, we used to live in Dubai. My daughters used to speak in Urdu with their grandmother and relatives. But since they joined school here, they started to communicate less and less in Urdu.
So, for me, this Urdu school provides a great platform for my daughters as they are starting to read and write Urdu too.
Taking out time for kids to learn a language could be difficult for some parents but Mr Kashif, who wants his two children to learn Urdu, says it is difficult to bring children to the language school every week but it is rewarding.
Students and teachers in Urdu class. Source: SBS
“It becomes difficult for children to go there and not able to communicate. But by studying here they are able to understand what others are saying [back in Pakistan] and what they want to say to them.”
“The biggest thing that they will have is the connection with Pakistan.”
Students at Urdu language class in Western Sydney. Source: SBS
Hailing from Hyderabad, India Mr Khizer says there are not many people around where the children can communicate and learn language.
“I bring my four kids to the school every week. Not many talk in Urdu where we live in Sydney.
“I want my children to write, read and speak Urdu.”
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