|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Teaching material > To my American colleagues
To my American colleagues
|
Tint
|
To my American colleagues
|
We have a 7yr old student with a confusing mix of English, very basic in some ways and understands unexpected subjects. The girl is fairly immature for her age. Her father is going to the US on business and wants to bring back books that will help her in her English. Any suggestions? I �d ask for ESL readers, but what work/student �s books would you recommend? I �d really appreciate any input on this. Thanks so much!
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
|
douglas
|
|
Dr Seuss books of all kinds!!!
Especially: "One Fish, two Fish" "Go Dog Go" and "Green Eggs and Ham" my children used to go to sleep at night listening to Dr Suess audio tapes and espaecially loved "Go Dog Go". I would really consider having here read these books, she will figure out a lot of the translationon her own.
Other great books are the: "If I ran the.." books (i.e."If I ran the Zoo"). I´m not sure who publishes "Are you my Mother", but I think it was the same publisher that does Dr Suess--there are a number of great kids books from these guys.
Dr Seuss is the best!!!
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Spagman63
|
Dr. Seuss IS good IF the kids have the ability to read them. Keep in mind these were written for native speakers not ESL kids.
The girl is fairly immature for her age.
How mature should a 7 year old be? lol What is unexpected subjects? Most 7 year olds talk about cartoons, songs, toys etc.
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
manonski (f)
|
|
Robert Munsch writes great stories and you can download audio files of him reading his stories when you visit his website.
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Tint
|
When I say �immature for her age �, I mean that she seems to lack concepts in her own language even that most 7 year olds know. Songs, for example... simple rhyming kids � songs... She �ll read the words slowly, have them explained, then just do nonsense sounds replacing the words when trying to repeat the songs. I �m talking about really simple songs, such as, "If you �re happy and you know it clap your hands". Cartoons are a no-no. She just doesn �t get them at all. She �ll watch cartoons and enjoy them, but can �t talk about them even in her mother tongue.
Douglas, I tend to worry about her understanding and use of the sentence structure (or lack thereof) in Dr Seuss books. I �ll look into the other suggestions you gave.
Thanks so much for the input!
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Tint
|
Ugh... why does this forum always duplicate my entries??
I love the one Robert Munsch story I did listen to : ) Good idea... the stories seem current and understandable. Now I wish we had sound facilities in her room.
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
douglas
|
|
Spag I understand your point, but I see it a little different. The "easier" Dr Seuss books were written for non-readers. Seuss uses a lot of "nonsense" sounds and pictures to clue the child in on the meaning of words and how they are spoken. I feel that with young children we should work almost directly on "thinking in English" instead of learning to translate to L1 first. A child at seven that, from the description sounds like she is partially processing info at about a 4-5 year old level, can use Dr Seuss �s "easier books" almost like flashcards--there is a picture and a1-4 word sentence about it.
My children were raised bilingual, but with the youngest two it was noticable that they tended to use German as their L1. Dr Seuss books really helped this and improved their reading skills in both languages.
I would be interested to hear the opinions or experiences of some other teachers (or parents) with experience in this area. |
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Tint
|
Thanks Douglas! I �m afraid I haven �t looked deeply enough into Dr Seuss books. The few I �ve seen haven �t appealed to me for use in teaching, but more for giving a young native speaker a few chuckles. I didn �t know there were readers using the format you describe. I �ll definitely look into it.
I totally agree. I �d love to hear more from other teachers on the subject. I think many are on holiday today.
|
7 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Cartuxa
|
Hi there, nice people!
I �ve been buying some books from the set �kEY words with Ladybird� for the last three months and even my son (who is also 7 years old) loves them. You can also download hundreds of printable books at Readinga-z.com, there are fictional books, non-fictional, vocabulary books... For every level or taste, I suppose! I hope you find these tips useful...
Hugs from sunny and hot Portugal
Cartuxa/Teresa
|
8 Sep 2009
|
|
|
Tint
|
|
Thanks so much, Cartuxa! Ladybird books were there through my childhood. I �ll definitely look into their titles : )
|
8 Sep 2009
|
|
|
