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READ Another Language!

 June 15 - June 20

 

Words. We use them to share ideas (What would happen if…), history (When I was 5, I…), stories (I heard something under my bed and my dad…), and hopes (I think we should have pizza for dinner!). Words are pretty important because the things we want to share are pretty important.  Early civilizations carved their stories in pictures on rock walls. They were leaving directions (turn at this rock), bragging (I caught an animal that was this big. It was epic!), and telling others what mattered most to them.

We have a lot of ways to use words these days and a lot of words available to use. We have over 7,000 languages on Earth.  Some folks use their hands to speak, some use computers. Some have cool iPads with pictures to help them share their ideas. 

This week is a great time to try learning some new words in another language. There are so many really fun ways to learn. The library has books, CDs, and Mango to help you out. Learn as a family. If you want a real challenge, create a new language.  Have fun!  Veel plezier!  Que te diviertas! Viel Spass!  Amusez-vous!  Het pret!  Uwe na furaha!  Le’ale’a!  வேடிக்கை!  Divertir-se!  Ha det sa kul!

 

RESEARCH Read a few books. Talk to people.

EXPLORE - What language would you like to learn? Can you roll your Rs? Look up different alphabets. Learn some new words. Make some new words.

ACTIVITIES – Try a new way to communicate. Make thank-you cards. Play some games. Try speaking with an accent or using pictures to tell a story. Change the accent on Siri.

DISCOVERY – How many people do you know who speak or communicate in more than one language? Is it easy to learn new words? Is it fun? (Yes, it is!)

 

mango

Mango is a fun way to learn languages. This free online program prepares you for realistic conversations and strengthens everyday communication skills in over 70 world languages. You can find Mango here.

 

Games

A lot of games help with the development of native and new languages.

 A few good board games include: Scrabble, Pictionary, Funglish, Bananagrams and Telestrations.

 

In the car you can play:

The Alphabet Game. Using license plates and signs along the road to write out the alphabet.

Opposites. Pick a word, name its opposite. (e.g., hot/cold, rough/smooth, bellicose/peaceable)

I Spy. I spy with my little eye… something green. Everyone else asks yes/no questions until you figure it out. Then pick a new object to spy.

Twenty Questions. Ask only yes/no questions until you figure out what the person is thinking of. Try variations of Twenty Questions, such as What am I Thinking? or I remember when We…

 

At home you can play:

The Dictionary Game. Form 2 teams. Team 1 looks up a word. One team member gets to use the real definition, the other team members make one up. Team 2 guesses who has the right definition. Change it up by using your Smart phone and looking up words in another language. Have your phone pronounce the words for you. 

Play Word of the Day. Introduce it at breakfast and see who can use it the most throughout the day.

Label items in your home with sticky notes in both English and your new language.  

Pick out a word and see how many other words you can form from the letters.

Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in lots of languages.

Try playing Charades. Use your body to act out book and movie titles, common objects, or famous sayings. Have the others guess. No spoken or mouthed words, just actions.

Guess What I Am. Use actions to show which animal or insect you are while others guess.

Can you go an hour or a whole day without speaking? What tools would you use to get through the day? How could you get people to understand what you need? Or that you could help them?

 

Beyond the Alphabet

Many languages use an alphabet that is different than ours.  Letters can be stiff and full of angles, or round shapes running around circles. They are beautiful. The Ancient Egyptians created an alphabet from pictures that we call hieroglyphics.  For a long time, we had no idea what their words meant. When a group of Napoleon’s soldiers found a large black granite stone with writing all over it, they put us one step closer to figuring it out. The stone, called the Rosetta Stone, had writing in three different languages, hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek. A man named Jean-Francois Champollion discovered that all three languages told the same thing on the stone. By reading the Greek he figured out the hieroglyphics.

rosetta stone

"British Museum: Rosetta Stone close up" by moorina is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

Hieroglyphics are not a type of picture writing. Most hieroglyphs stand for sounds that line up really well with English sounds. Other hieroglyphs represent whole words. Special names are encircled in an oval shape called a cartouche. That means an owl = M. A lower leg = B. A dish = K. It’s amazing. Check out a book and learn more!

 

Japanese Kanji is another written language that doesn’t use our alphabet. A wide variety of marks create the words. Words joined together create more words.

kanji 

What words would you put together to form a new word? What new words would come in handy?

 

Animal Languages

We humans are pretty smart. We have thousands of words, Wi-Fi, special thumbs, and pizza delivery. However, we are not the only clever species on the planet. Lots of animals have developed ways to communicate not only with each other but also with other species. Wolves howl. Frogs croak. Some croak so loudly that you can hear them a mile away! Elephants use low-frequency sound waves that we can’t hear but they can to get news around the herd. Male whales sing in rhyme, and monkeys and prairie dogs have sounds for different predators, including humans. And then there is Koko the gorilla. Most gorillas have a language of about 20 sounds. These sounds range from a soft whisper to a split- your- eardrums scream. Koko had more. She learned a simplified sign language that gave her 1,000 words to share her thoughts. She loved her kitten and Mr. Rogers. Look up Koko the gorilla. She’ll make you smile.

 

Bubble Thank-You Note Cards

Cover your work station with a plastic tablecloth, shower curtain or thick newspaper. For each color you will need:

An aluminum pie pan

1 cup store-bought bubble solution or mix together 3 cups water, 1 cup dish soap, ¼ cup corn syrup

½ cup tempera paint

Light colored copy paper or construction paper

Plastic drinking straws

Mix the bubble solution with the paint. Pour into the pie pan. With the straws, dip one end into the bubble mixture and blow, making a huge mound of bubbles. Carefully set the paper on top of the bubbles, check to see the print, and repeat until you have the coverage you like. As the bubbles pop they leave paint on the paper. You can blow more bubbles. Try using multiple colors. Each paper will be unique and beautiful. Dry. Use to write thank-you notes.

 

Especially for Preschoolers!

Write out words in dots. Have your child copy over the dots with crayons.

Clapping rhythms. Clap 2 times. Have your child copy. Clap 2 fast, 2 slow. Have them copy. Find more rhythms for them to copy.

Print their initial or name. Have them glue objects, such as seeds, leaves, or beans to the letter.

Play phone conversation. Pretend you have phones and talk to each other. Make eye contact and grin at each other throughout the conversation. Listen to what you’re being told. It could be priceless.

Trace cookie cutters, lids, and blocks. Practice writing xxxxx, ooooo. Both letters are good prep for writing.

 

Submit a Picture or a Message

At the end of the week, send us a picture or a message highlighting your favorite activity. One submission per family per week. Submissions are due by 5:00 pm Saturday, June 20. With your submission, your name will be entered in a drawing for a gift card to a local business. One prize will be awarded each week. Winners will be notified on Mondays.

 

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Books to READ in Another Language, By Language

Click here to put books on hold

American Sign Language

American Sign Language by Deborah Kent J Language Sign

A Best Day in Room A: Sign Language for School Activities by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

The Big Blue Bowl: Sign Language for Food by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

Expanded Songs in Sign by S. Harold Collins PIC Language Sign

Famous Fenton Has a Farm: Sign Language for Farm Animals by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin PIC Language Sign

Holidays and Celebrations by Stanley H. Collins J Language Sign

The Kids’ Guide to Sign Language by Kathryn Clay J Language Sign

The Nest Where I Like to Rest: Sign Language for Animals by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

See the Colors: Sign Language for Colors by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

A Show of Hands: Say It in Sign by Mary Beth Sullivan J Language Sign

Sign Language by Karen Price Hossell J Language Sign

Sign Language for Kids: A Fun & Easy Guide to American Sign Language by Lora Heller J Language Sign

Sign Language: My First 100 Words by Michiyo Nelson PIC Language Sign

Signing Around Town: Sign Language for Kids by Kathryn Clay PIC Language Sign

Signing at Home: Sign Language for Kids by Kathryn Clay PIC Language Sign

Signing at School: Sign Language for Kids by Kathryn Clay PIC Language Sign

Signing in My World: Sign Language for Kids by Kathryn Clay PIC Language Sign

Silly Sue: Sign Language for Actions by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

Simple Signs by Cindy Wheeler PIC Language Sign

Watch Me Go!: Sign Language for Vehicles by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

Wear a Silly Hat: Sign Language for Clothing by Dawn Babb Prochovnic PIC Language Sign

You Can Learn Sign Language: More Than 300 Words in Pictures by Jackie Kramer J Language Sign

Arabic

My First Arabic Phases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

Mandarin Chinese

Welcome to Mandarin Chinese with Sesame Street by J.P. Press PIC Language Foreign

Usborne First Thousand Words in Chinese by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

My First Book of Mandarin Chinese Words by Katy R. Kudela PIC Language Foreign

My First Mandarin Chinese Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

French

First French Dictionary by Piette Vasanti J Language Foreign

My First Book of French Words by Katy R. Kudela PIC Language Foreign

My First French Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Fiction

Usborne First Thousand Words in French by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

German

The First Hundred Words in German by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

My First Book of German Words by Katy R. Kudela PIC Language Foreign

My First German Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

Usborne First Thousand Words in German by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

The Usborne Picture Dictionary in German by Felicity Brooks PIC Language Foreign

Hebrew

Usborne First Thousand Words in Hebrew by heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Hieroglyphics

Hieroglphys by Karen Price Hossell J Language Foreign

Italian

My First Italian Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

The Usborne Internet-Linked First Thousand Words in Italian: With Internet-Linked Pronunciation Guide by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Japanese

My First Japanese Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

The Usborne First Thousand Words in Japanese by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Korean

My First Book of Korean Words: An ABC Rhyming Book of Korean Language and Culture by Henry J. Amen PIC Language Foreign

Latin

The Usborne First Thousand Words in Latin by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Polish

Usborne First Thousand Words in Polish by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Russian

My First Russian Phrases by Jill Kalz J Language Foreign

The Usborne First Thousand Words in Russian by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Spanish

Count on Culebra: Go from 1 to 10 in Spanish by Ann Whitford Paul PIC Language Foreign

First Spanish Dictionary by Dorling Kindersley Inc. J. Language Foreign

More Hide & Speak Spanish by Catherine Bruzzone

My First Book of Spanish Words by Katy R. Kudela PIC Language Foreign

My First Spanish Word Book J Language Foreign

The Usborne Internet-Linked First Thousand Words in Spanish: With Internet-Linked Pronunciation Guide by Heather Amery PIC Language Foreign

Plus the whole Spanish collection! Why not trying reading a book you know in Spanish?

Picture Fiction

The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak  PIC NOV

CDB by William Steig  PIC STE

I Scream, Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordles? By Amy Krouse Rosenthal  PIC ROS

Nelly May Has Her Say by Cynthia DeFelice  PIC DEF

Websites to Explore

https://wordunscrambler.onl/solver/

https://thewordsearch.com/maker/

https://www.group-games.com/stationary-games/team-story-games.html

How to Learn Pig Latin | Easy Guide for Kids https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_VC0QiTrPk

Did you know there's a talking gorilla? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1HcU7taTbo

How to Sign 16 Animals in ASL: Sign Language for Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-f1My_8OFE

Invention of Morse Code | Best Learning Video for Kids | Preschool Learning

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lyigt