How I'm using LEGO to teach Arabic

I come from Egypt,

which is also called Um al-Dunya,
the Mother of the World.

It's a rich country filled
with stories of rebellion,

stories of civilizational
triumph and downfall,

and the rich, religious,

ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity.

Growing up in such an an environment,

I became a strong believer
in the power of storytelling.

As I searched for the medium
with which to tell my story,

I stumbled upon graphic design.

I would like to share with you a project

of how graphic design can bring
the Arabic language to life,

but first, let me tell you why
I want to do this.

I believe that graphic design
can change the world.

At least in my very own city of Cairo,

it helped overthrow
two separate dictators.

As you can see from those photos,

the power and potential of graphic design
as a tool for positive change

is undeniably strong.

Egypt's 2011 revolution was also
a grassroots-designed revolution.

Everyone became a creator.

People were the real designers,

and, just overnight,

Cairo was flooded with posters,

signage, graffiti.

Visual communication

was the medium that spoke
far louder than words

when the population of over
90 million voices were suppressed

for almost 30 years.

It was precisely this political
and social suppression,

coupled with decades of colonialism

and miseducation

that slowly eroded the significance
of the Arabic script in the region.

All of these countries
once used Arabic.

Now it's just the green and the blue.

To put it simply,

the Arabic script is dying.

In postcolonial Arab countries functioning
in an increasingly globalized world,

it is with growing alarm

that less and less people are using
the Arabic script to communicate.

As I was studying my Masters in Italy,
I noticed myself missing Arabic.

I missed looking at the letters,

digesting their meaning.

So one day, I walked into
one of the biggest libraries in Italy

in search of an Arabic book.

I was surprised to find
that this is what they had

under the category of
"Arabic/Middle Eastern books."

(Laughter)

Fear, terrorism, and destruction.

One word: ISIS.

My heart ached

that this is how we are
portrayed to the world,

even from a literary perspective.

I asked myself, whatever happened
to the world-renowned writers

like Naguib Mahfouz, Kahlil Gibran,

iconic poets like [??],
Nizar Qabbani?

Think about this.

The cultural products
of an entire region of the world

as rich, as diverse,

have been deemed redundant,

if not ignored altogether.

The cultural products
of an entire region of the world

have been barred from imparting
any kind of real impact

on global media productions
and contemporary social discourse.

And then I reminded myself
of my number one belief:

design can change the world.

All you need is for someone
to catch a glimpse of your work,

feel, connect.

And so I started.

I thought about how can I stop the world
from seeing us as evil,

as terrorists of this planet,

and start perceiving us as equals,

fellow humans?

How can I save an honor the Arabic script

and share it with
other people, other cultures?

And then it hit me:

what if I combined the two
most significant symbols

of innocence and Arab identity?

Maybe then people could resonate.

What's more pure, innocent,
and fun than Lego?

It's a universal child's toy.

You play with them, you build with them,

and with them, you imagine
endless possibilities.

My eureka moment was to find
a bilingual solution for Arabic education,

because effective
communication and education

is the route to more tolerant communities.

However, the Arabic and Latin scripts
do not only represent different worlds

but also create technical difficulties
for both Eastern Western communities

on a daily basis.

There are so many reasons
why Arabic and Latin are different,

but here are some of the main ones.