A children’s book has been published in the United States, for studying the Azerbaijani language.
“Azerbaijani Turkic Alphabet and Numbers” book teaches Azerbaijani alphabet and numbers with fun illustrations to kids.
The bilingual book with its beautiful original drawings is an ideal way to teach kids Azerbaijani.
The book’s author is Darya Hodaei, PharmD, an Azerbaijani-Iranian scholar who is fluent in Azerbaijani, Turkish, English and Farsi (Persian).
Hodaei self-studied her mother tongue Azerbaijani later in life when she became the mother of two young children as Azerbaijanis are deprived from having education in her own mother language in Iran.
Hodaei began writing short stories when she was nine years old.
Her book aims to help immigrant parents teach their ethnic culture especially mother language that is a fundamental part of upbringing.
As someone who was faced with identity crisis growing up in Iran, Hodaei decided to help Azerbaijani children to connect with their ethnic roots through studying their mother tongue.
To fulfill her commitment to this end, she decided to create “EnglishAzerbaijani” platform using visual aids and Azerbaijani and English equivalents to help children in bi-lingual and multi-lingual environments with their language development.
Later, she decided to start publishing her stories for kids in English and Azerbaijani as a step towards encouraging parents and promoting the value of education in mother language.
