Interview with SuperAbla  3 min The Magic of Arabic Stories: Teaching children language & cultural pride

“Joha and his donkey “, “Kalaila wa Dimna “– these are just a few among the many famous stories that have been handed down from generation to generation by oral storytelling (Hakawtya) in countries where most people speak Arabic. Despite the challenge of storytelling in the face of the rise of artificial intelligence, Israa Saleh, CEO of the "Super Abla" project from Egypt, seeks to instill a love of language in children through storytelling. 

Where did the idea for Super Abla come from, how did you start planning for it, and how did you take the first step to begin this project?

Actually, it started by chance. I was working for a company that had tutors giving private lessons, and I was the Operations Manager with no connection to the teaching process itself. But I wanted to try the experience, and when I was given the choice of which subject I'd like to teach, I chose Arabic.
Before going to my first student, I planned to teach in the traditional way, using a timeline or something similar. However, I was surprised to find that my student had Down syndrome. She was very intelligent, and since her intelligence was visual and she understood best through visual explanation, she told me she would only understand if I drew and sang the grammar rules. I fell silent and asked her to give me five minutes. Given my experience as a storyteller, especially from my work in street theater, I was able within minutes to draw a story and color it. By the end of the year, I had adopted this approach in all the lessons I gave. Thanks to that, the girl achieved excellent grades in Arabic. Through interaction with other students, I found that most of them were not proficient in reading, and those who were, couldn't properly understand what they read. I came across a statistic from a sample of 6,000 primary school students from 150 schools in Egypt, indicating that 75% of them were illiterate, unable to read and write at a level consistent with their age. There was also another study on the Arab world level stating that over 57% of the region's children are not proficient in reading and writing. These studies caught my attention and made me realize the importance of the matter.

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, I left my job at the company and continued giving private lessons.

The idea for "Super Abla" was born when I was giving a lesson to the son of one of my friends. His mother told him that I was always "super." He asked, "Super what?" I don't know where the response came from, but I answered him spontaneously, "Super Abla" (Super Teacher). Everyone present liked the name and encouraged me to continue with my explanation method. Indeed, I started making videos under the name "Super Abla." I was surprised to find my videos being shared thousands of times, until I woke up one day to find 5,000 followers on my account. That's when I decided that I had to learn more, so I enrolled in a course prepared by Cairo University for female graduates to teach them how to create and manage projects and provide incubation training. We were 35 students out of 250 applicants. The study lasted for several months, and we were filtered down to nine, then five girls; three of them were rewarded with financial prizes, and I was one of them, winning second place. Since then, my interest in entrepreneurship has grown. I then participated in the Shark Tank program and got two deals from Ayman Abbas and Ahmed Tarek. I organized workshops and camps for children during that period, but I decided to return to content creation, and I needed to find an appealing character that children would gravitate towards. Of course, I had inspirations like Ms. Rachel and Blippi in the US, who are not only characters presenting engaging content but also standalone projects with very high commercial returns.

How did your upbringing contribute to enriching your relationship with the Arabic language?

It contributed greatly. Although I studied Law in English during university, I love Arabic and grammar, and I grew up in a family that loves and is devoted to the Arabic language. My grandfather was a professor of Jurisprudence and Sharia principles for non-native speakers at Al-Azhar University, my mother holds a Master's degree in Arabic, and my grandmother was an Arabic language supervisor. This environment made me knowledgeable about grammar from a young age, in addition to developing an appreciation for Arabic poetry.

I can say I learned Arabic through reading and debates. I was raised to use synonyms and sentences from Classical Arabic naturally, reflecting a love and passion for Arabic, like those we use when offering apologies.

For example, my mother gifted me Naguib Mahfouz's novel "The Game of Fates" on my eighth birthday and discussed the story's symbolism and its similarities to the story of Prophet Yusuf and his brothers with me.


In your opinion, what are the challenges of teaching Arabic in our time today?

There are four main challenges. First, we must acknowledge that the resources available to an Arabic language teacher are very poor compared to those available for other languages like English. Therefore, it's important to realize that the teacher is the foundation, and the teacher themselves must realize that in the early stages of education, they are more of an entertainer than a teacher; they must interact comfortably and possess acting, performance, and vocal skills like an actor. It's possible to raise a generation to love Arabic, while what actually happens is alienation due to following traditional teaching methods. This leads to the second point, which is avoiding the use of colloquial dialect in curricula. For instance, if we keep repeating the word "'anf" (nose, formal) to a young child who knows it as "manakhir" in colloquial Arabic, it causes what is known as linguistic alienation. Therefore, I advocate for using a "White Arabic," meaning an Arabic used in the child's daily life that simultaneously adds words and synonyms found in the lexicon.

The third point is that the Arabic content available on the internet globally is very scarce, which is extremely worrying. Also, the Arabic content that children follow is, in my opinion, inappropriate, as most of it is not educational and is merely a copy of foreign content.

Regarding Super Abla's content, you focus heavily on storytelling. How do these stories differ from other content like cartoons?

I write these stories myself because I care about the authenticity of the text and having a new creative process, far from copying. I always draw inspiration for these stories from problems I've encountered with children. For example, in the story "Me, Grandpa, and the Waffle," I met a child who went to live with his grandfather after his parents' separation and couldn't bring his dog because his grandfather didn't agree, so I drew inspiration from that.
  These types of stories (cases of parental separation) must be highlighted because they are very common, especially regarding the impact of separation on the child, who wakes up suddenly forced into a life different from what they were used to. Through this story, I wanted to sound the alarm bell. As for other stories like "I am a Cat from Gaza," I believe a child shouldn't be required to understand world events as they are through history and politics, like what is currently happening in Gaza. On the contrary, the Arab child should learn about Palestinian identity through stories.

Creativity is endless. Currently, we find Arab mothers living abroad trying individually to make videos so their children don't forget the Arabic language and identity.

You have expanded the age group you target; you now work with children up to 8 years old. Has the content changed to suit the new age group?

There hasn't been an actual change in the content, as I still target children up to 7 years old with my online content. However, through workshops and camps, I've started receiving children from 8 years old, for whom I prepare special programs tailored to those in that age group who still struggle with reading difficulties.

What are the next steps for Super Abla?

I would like to produce more than one episode per week to publish on the YouTube channel. I'm currently thinking about developing content for non-native Arabic speakers, and I also want to produce a larger number of songs. Regarding on-the-ground activities, I want to expand further into the camps and activities I offer to schools, and I'd like to convert a number of audiobooks into readable books.


Of course, you are following what's happening in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and there are opinions about its impact on fields like writing, journalism, and storytelling, which could potentially become obsolete. Are you worried about that?

The idea is that we use AI only as a tool that helps us with some things. Whoever relies on it completely will certainly disappear and won't produce anything new.


What do accolades mean to you, especially since you were honored this year among the entrepreneurs at Cairo University and were selected for the "Unstoppable Women" initiative among 100 entrepreneurs across Africa and the Middle East? Do you feel you have reaped the fruits of your labor and achieved your goals?
 

Quite the contrary. The more I am honored, the more my fear, anxiety, and doubts increase. I often feel imposter syndrome, feeling like I don't deserve all this appreciation. Sometimes I feel that others are performing better than me, and that it would be better to continue my path without being celebrated to this extent. I feel I need to study and learn many things I haven't learned yet. I haven't achieved much of my ambition yet because the limits of my ambition are the sky.


What final words do you have for those who think Arabic is a difficult and boring language to learn?

Let me use a quote from Edward Said when he said that Arabic is "one of the most extraordinary creations of the human mind." It is a renewable language possessing more than one million and sixty thousand words. It is a lyrical language with its own rhyme and music unique to it alone.


 

October 2025