When I was doing Iqra’ with Inas way back in May 2007, I had to make associations with the new sounds or letters of the Quran as my attempts to make learning more appealing and effective for her. But now Alhamdulillah, Inas managed to pull through and able to recite kalimah-s of the Quran… without having to make associations like she used to. Read here- Iqra’-A Sore /Sod/
And now, I continue to use associations with Umar especiallly when I started teaching him Iqra’ Book 1 last year.
I told him /Haa/ sounds like the sound after we ate something hot and spicy.. /Haa/, that the sound of the /h/ in the beginning comes from the inside.. that is the middle part of the throat (Al-Halq).
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Alhamdulillah after many practices, Umar managed to make the correct /Haa/ sound.
He said this many many times: Mummy, haa ni dia pedas.. dia makan cili kan mummy?
While pointing at the letter /Jim/, Umar said: Mummy yang ni Jim/Jaa.. dia tak pedas.. pasal dia bukam cili kan mummy? Dia (huruf Jim) tomato?
Haha! 
.
He continued..
Mummy.. yang ni Dho.. macam tu kan mummy.. Dho macam pintu.. door? (pointing to the door to my room)
That was when he was in Iqra’ 1 last year. After that, he didn’t make associations anymore. I guess mainly because he could already identify all the letters, Alahmdulillah..
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Until recently..
Mummy, Yaa is bebek ya?
—- Abang, Yaa is not bebek.
Iye mummy.. Yaa is bebek!!!!!
—- Ok.. Yaa looks like bebek.. but it is not bebek.
Mummy.. yaa tu bebek!!!
…. MrA and me were trying very hard to keep a straight face in the car.. trying not to laugh.
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For info.. Umar goes to the Indonesian Islamic and Quran lessons.
For those who do not know, bebek is an Indonesian word for ITIK or DUCK.. So it is very true that the shape of the letter Yaa looks like a duck.. and that’s why Ya is Bebek..
I believe that’s what his ustazah mentioned when trying to make him remember the huruf Yaa.. 
Well, in teaching and learning, making associations really help us to remember many things InsyaAllah.
