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In This Issue:
• Feature Article:
Parents Partnering With Teachers to Bring Up Multilingual Children
• Language Lizard Update:
New posters, maps, teaching cards.
• Product Review: Goal! Let’s Play!, Yum! Let’s Eat! and Brrmm! Let’s Go!
• Lizard Recommends: Great websites & film for parents and teachers of language learners
• *Subscriber Special Offer*: 10% Discount on Our Lives, Our World Series
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Language Lizard Update
Dear Reader:
With the start of fall and the beginning of a new school year, we are pleased to introduce some wonderful new resources for the multicultural classroom (and home).
We have beautiful new multilingual posters with many different themes: transportation, shapes, pets, celebrating senses, global warming, seaside, baking a cake, animals and much more. Each poster has words listed in English and multiple other languages. We also have added a few new English-only maps to our colorful, child-friendly Maps of the World collection.
In addition, we now offer multilingual cards showing numbers, days of the week and months of the year, with each card showing text in 8-10 different languages. There are also multilingual classroom signs showing the Reading Corner, Writing Area, Dressing Up Area, Computer Area, Toilets and more. You can use all these resources to make your classroom more welcoming to children from other cultures. To see our full set of posters, maps and cards, please search by "product type" in the red search box on our site, or simply click on the following link: http://www.languagelizard.com/Posters_Maps_s/20.htm
To kick off the new school year, our feature article focuses on how teachers and parents can partner to more effectively educate young multilingual children. Our guest author, Karen Nemeth, has worked with educators throughout the country to support the development of young dual-language learners.
We are also excited to share a review of the “Our Lives, Our World” series -- a great set of books to introduce other cultures' food, games and transportation to young children. As a Culture Connection subscriber, you can take advantage of a one-time discount on these titles (see Subscriber Discount section below for more information).
We wish you great success in your continued efforts to support language learners in the 2010-2011 school year. And remember that you can follow us on Facebook (Language Lizard) all year long!
Happy reading!
Anneke Forzani
Founder and President
Language Lizard, LLC |
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 The “Our Lives, Our World” Series
Goal! Let’s Play! - written by Joe Marriott and illustrated by Algy Craig Hall
Yum! Let’s Eat! - written by Thando Maclaren and illustrated by Jacqueline East
Brrmm! Let’s Go! - written by Julie Kingdon and illustrated by Leo Broadley
Paperback Ages 2-6
Review by Maureen Pugh
These three books comprise the "Our Lives, Our World" series, which explores the rich diversity of children's lives and develops a worldwide perspective. Although the books are written and illustrated by different people, the series does have a cohesive style.
Each book introduces eleven children from eleven different countries, and every child is given a two page spread that introduces the child, and illustrates what the child is describing. The children are introduced with “my name’s Charlie …” or “I’m Abeba…”, so the text repeats the introductory phrases that we all want our children to be familiar with.
The text goes on with simple sentences, which contain mostly commonly-used vocabulary (and some new vocabulary), such as “I’m Khaled. We eat couscous and lamb tagine when we visit Grandpa.” Another example is “My name’s James, I play tennis with my family every weekend.”
Not surprisingly, Brrmm! Let’s Go! focuses on vehicles (bicycle, helicopter, tuk-tuk) and action verbs (to ride, to fly), while Goal! Let’s Play! introduces popular sports played in the country (ie, India – cricket, and Switzerland – skiing). Yum! Let’s Eat! depicts favorite foods from around the world.
The United Kingdom , China and India are mentioned in all three books; otherwise there is a variety of countries represented, ranging from Ethiopia to Dubai to Norway. All three books contain a list of key words on the back inside cover of the book, and an appendix page with a picture of the children in the book and their country name and flag.
While each book in the series can be used independently, used together, they introduce an excellent range of basic vocabulary.
Goal! Let’s Play!, Yum! Let’s Eat! and Brrmm! Let’s Go! are available in English with translations in Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu
If you’re interested in purchasing these books please visit the webpages at:
Goal! Let’s Play! http://www.languagelizard.com/Goal_Let_s_Play_p/goal.htm
Yum! Let’s Eat! http://www.languagelizard.com/Yum_Let_s_Eat_p/yum.htm
Brrmm! Let’s Go! http://www.languagelizard.com/Brrmm_Let_s_Go_p/brm.htm
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Special Subscriber Offer: 10% Discount on “Our Lives, Our World”
Through October 15th, we are offering a 10% Discount on Goal! Let’s Play!, Yum! Let’s Eat! and Brrmm! Let’s Go! (see Book Review above for more information on these titles). Simply apply Coupon Code CCS-Culture upon checkout to receive the discount.
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Feature Article:
Parents Partnering With Teachers to Bring Up Multilingual Children
By Karen Nemeth
I work with preschools, Head Starts and child care programs all over the United States to help them be more effective in teaching young children who come from different language backgrounds.
Everywhere I go, teachers ask me how they can work more effectively with parents to support their child’s education. I believe that one of the best ways to build parent-teacher partnerships is to share information. To help that along, I’d like to share with you some of the key points from my workshops for teachers about teaching young children who come from different home language backgrounds.
The most important thing early childhood teachers learn is that young children need a rich, engaging, interesting, stimulating language environment. Recent research has made it clear that this is the foundation that makes literacy and school success possible.
What is even more interesting is that researchers are also finding that young children need this to happen in any or all languages they are learning. If a child is growing up simultaneously with two or more languages, that child needs to hear stories, songs and conversations in each of those languages. And, if a child started learning in one language and later begins an additional language – it is absolutely critical that they continue to receive enriching language input in their original language while learning the second.
We also know that children encode most of the concepts they learn via language. That means that all the information they learn in their first few years of life is encoded in the language or languages they speak at home.
If they go to school and receive no support for those home languages, they may lose their ability to use the information that was learned in those first few years. This puts them at a terrible disadvantage as they are growing and developing.
So, parents and teachers need plenty of strategies to help children continue learning their home languages and to help them learn the school’s language as well. Based on the research, here’s what I suggest:
- Read. Read to your child every day in your home language so they can receive the full value of the richness, expression and depth you can offer in your own language.
- Talk. Talk about the books in your home language(s). This is one of the best ways to build vocabulary and understanding. Two great questions to ask are: “What do you think will happen next?” and “Has anything like that happened to you?” Oral language forms the basis for later literacy skills. You need to expose your children to all kinds of words and what they mean – by talking about them during your everyday activities. If children don’t learn enough words in the target language when they are young, they may learn to read in that language down the road but they may not understand what they are reading.
- Sing. I’m not kidding. There’s no such thing as bad singing when you are singing with children! Songs you remember from your childhood are great. Any songs in the home language or languages provide the rhythm, interest level, and repetitions that help children build language skills. And, if you want to make a valuable contribution, teach those songs to everyone in your child’s class (and for families, teach the songs to everyone in your whole family)!
- Chat. It turns out that interesting conversations form some of the best foundations for early learning. Don’t settle for simple sentences and one-word answers. Get your child talking about what they’re doing or what they are about to do or what they see or where they are going. Conversation has so many cognitive and social/emotional benefits. Brain research tells us that babies depend on the beautiful dance of back-and-forth conversation right from the beginning. It becomes even more important as young children grow and develop language. A real conversation needs the participants to take turns going back and forth at least five times, and captures the interests of both participants.
- Participate. Yes, there are lots of toys, flashcards, videos, and software being marketed to parents making claims about teaching language and reading to young children. Research says these methods are much less effective than interacting with another person. That’s because they don’t give the child any real feedback, they’re not the natural way the brain is meant to learn, and they lack the depth and motivation that young children get from their interactions with other people – especially their parents. I always say flashcards and videos are like ice cream. You have to admit that ice cream does have a tiny bit of nutrition, but you certainly wouldn’t feel like a good parent if you gave your child nothing but ice cream three meals a day! Can a preschool child learn a few words with flashcards or videos? Sure – but why would you want your child to spend so much time with such a tiny benefit when they could use that same time in active play and interaction to learn hundreds of words and concepts?
Parents and teachers need to know that children need a solid foundation in their home language in order to have the best success in their second language. Children who have had the benefit of a rich, engaging language and literacy environment in their early years in their home language are much more likely to transfer their language and literacy skills to their new language successfully.
I hope you’ll share this information with your young child’s teachers so you can compare notes about how much of these activities are happening for your child in each of their languages. Keep in mind that you all share the goal of helping your child progress and succeed in the language of their school – but the best way to achieve this is by continuing to support their learning in their home language or languages throughout the first five years of life.
This article is reprinted with permission from July 2010, on the Multilingual Living website: www.multilingualliving.com.
Karen Nemeth has a Masters degree from Rutgers University with specialization in language development. She has been a teacher, teacher educator and college professor in the field of child development and early childhood education for more than 25 years. Karen is the author of Many Languages, One Classroom: Teaching Dual and English Language Learners . She is a writer and consulting editor for the National Association for the Education of Young Children ( NAEYC) and the Dual Language Learning Advisor for Teaching Young Children magazine. Karen provides a wealth of resources, teaching ideas, and information at her website Language Castle LLC. You can also follow her on twitter at KarenNemethEdM or sign on to her Facebook page Karen at Language Castle LLC.
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A Favorite Quote
"To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
- Charlemagne
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Lizard Recommends
For those involved in raising and teaching bilingual children, check out the website www.multilingualliving.com. It is a great place to find information about raising children in more than one language and culture. You can post comments and find inspiration and encouragement from other families raising bilingual/multicultural children.
Preschool teachers working with English Language Learners should bookmark www.languagecastle.com, where Karen Nemeth (our Feature Article author) offers great resources and teaching tips and techniques.
If you have not yet seen the film, Speaking in Tongues, we highly recommend it. The film follows four children becoming bilingual in dual language schools. While it is fascinating to learn about the educational journey these children are taking, the film raises broader issues of assimilation, globalization and national identity. It makes one think about how this country can take advantage of its great resource (our diverse population) given the attitudes and fears associated with bilingualism and immigration. You can find out when the film is screening on PBS in your area at this link.
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About Language Lizard
Language Lizard, LLC aims to enrich children's lives with language and culture. The Company believes that children will be inspired to learn languages and connect with other cultures if they are exposed to fun and creative learning materials early in their lives.
Language Lizard currently offers award-winning dual-language children's products in over 40 languages. To find out more about our company and products, or to sign up for this free e-newsletter, please visit www.LanguageLizard.com.
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