Make-Your-Own Books

 

Wednesday is officially now a special theme day for Bilingual Reading Blog. The focused theme is on artful reading and includes finding and discovering crafts and art activities related to specific bilingual books. For starters, we will focus on make-your-own , printable books in a black-and-white coloring style.

A great resource for these interactive books is Reading A-Z. This website has a plethora of bilingual English/Spanish printable books that can be printed and viewed in color or in black-and-white. 

Books are leveled starting from aa, A, B, C, D ...Z, zz, zzz allowing for a vast range of learning levels. Each book has an English and a Spanish edition, with an occasional French edition. 

   Here is an example of the English edition and Spanish edition of one of the level C books from     

   Reading A-Z. This particular book is offered in color only. You can actually read a copy of both the    English and Spanish book on the Reading A-Z website. 

Image Credit: Reading A-Z

Image Credit: Reading A-Z

Reading A-Z has a yearly membership with unlimited downloads for $109.95 per year. While expensive, hundreds of books are available at various levels. Another option is the free monthly trial with a limited amount of downloads where you can take a look at several of the books and the accompanying resources. 

A similar, less expensive option is to have students create and illustrate their own stories in Spanish and English and then share them with classmates. This incorporates writing, reading and speaking all in one. Here is an example of the first page of a bilingual book I have written myself. 

Image Credit: Personal Photo

These are only a few of the options out there. If you have a website or company you are fond of that adequately covers the same scope, go ahead and share a comment about it. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

A Whole New World

Image Credit: www.fromoldbooks.org

Language is like a river, flowing from one place to another. New adventures, both sought and found, bring forth new worlds to explore.

Bilingual reading allows the mixture of both books and language. Through reading we become acquainted with new places, new cultures, and new worlds. Through language we go to these places we've never been before and become part of this world. 

Like the voyager in this picture, the reader steers the oars in the direction he will go, for the reader is the true compass of the journey.

As rivers vary from deep or shallow to narrow or wide, so does bilingual reading from bilingual books for children to side-by-side bilingual short stories and novels.

The multitude of novels, picture books and short stories that exist is immeasurable. Discovering and locating those materials, on the other hand,  is a whole other story.

A good starting place is the local library. Much like visiting towns along the shoreline,  you can check out and preview different items without actually committing to the merchandise. Furthermore, inter-library-loans allow you to check out books that your local library may not have.

Once you find items that you like, various methods for finding your own copy abound. Amazon is always an option for finding used copies at great prices. At the same time, Barnes and Noble and Scholastic are just two options for finding new copies.

No matter where you find them, bilingual books are a voyage to a whole new world.

Where do you find your bilingual books?

About Bilingual Reading Blog

Bilingual Reading Blog focuses on bilingual reading ideas and evaluating books for useful vocabulary, grammar, culture and appeal. This blog is for bilingual parents, teachers or anyone interested in bilingual reading and teaching.

As a substitute teacher for Concord Community Schools, I especially enjoy reading bilingual books in the kindergarten classrooms with such a diverse group of English and Spanish speakers. 

My first encounter with bilingual books was through Cheerios “Cheer on Reading”, formerly “Spoonfuls of Stories”.

I have read Cheerios sponsored books such as All the World (Todo el mundo) by Liz Garton Scanlon, 1-2-3 Peas (1-2-3 guisantes) by Keith Baker, Bear Says Thanks (Oso dice gracias) by Karma Wilson, and The Lost and Found Balloon (El globito perdido y encontrado) by Celeste Jenkins to these eager, excited kindergartners. 

Through teaching in such diverse kindergarten classrooms, I have become passionate about finding new ways to help teachers and parents expand multicultural, multilingual activities. 

Bilingual reading is an excellent way to incorporate cultural appreciation and curiosity among students immersed in a bilingual, multi-cultural environment. 

Multiple methods and variations of bilingual reading prevail depending on the type of resources used and the reading level proficiency of the students in both Spanish and English. 

A plethora of books already exist, but evaluating and finding what books cover each vocabulary topic or grammar category is tricky and time consuming. 

That is exactly what has inspired me to create this blog.  

Evaluations of books in Spanish and English will help decipher which books to choose from for a particular category and whether a book should be geared toward beginners or more advanced students. 

Different types of books will be explored, including bilingual books, English and Spanish versions of the same books, side-by-side reading passages and so on. 

Feel free to leave comments and suggestions for books or series to explore.

Image Credit: Simon & Schuster