The 'Word Club for Reading in Schools' program, led by the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language in cooperation with Emirates Schools Establishment, continues its cultural and educational program for 2026. The program aims to double the number of students in Abu Dhabi schools benefiting from its activities, as part of its efforts to embed a culture of reading among students and make it a sustainable practice. This is part of the second phase of a community campaign to support sustainable reading, coinciding with the declaration of 2026 as the Year of the Family. The operational plan for the 'Word Club for Reading in Schools' targets 40 schools in the cities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, with gradual expansion to cover most schools in the emirate to achieve the desired social impact and enhance the presence of reading in both educational and family environments. During its initial launch, the program saw strong engagement from students in participating schools. Students took part in discussion sessions and in-depth interactive activities based on a selection of translated works from the 'Kalima' project. These activities focused on developing comprehension and analysis skills and broadening horizons, presenting an educational model that restores the book's vital role as a tool for creativity and knowledge. In developing the reading experience, the program relies on a careful selection of texts that consider the age and cognitive differences among students, ensuring the content is appropriate for their abilities. This enhances comprehension and makes reading a positive and motivating experience, supporting the campaign's goals of establishing reading as a sustainable habit within families and society. These initiatives are part of a comprehensive system led by the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language. It includes the 'Baraq' project, the Balanced Arabic Readability Corpus, which is the first Arab initiative to determine the readability levels of Arabic texts according to the age categories of readers. The project is based on a linguistic corpus of over 10 million words, covering a wide range of literary genres, topics, and source countries, and is supported by artificial intelligence tools capable of automatically measuring text complexity. The project aims to support targeted reading for children and youth by enabling authors and publishers, particularly in children's writing, to accurately determine text readability levels, and by helping teachers and families select suitable materials for each age group, in addition to supporting scientific research in Arabic language computing.
