BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS
LESSON PLANS ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
FUNDRAISING PROGRAM TO SUPPORT YOUR SCHOOL
BOOK SUGGESTIONS - BY LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AMONG TEACHERS
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP SECTION
Read sample reviews and testimonials of our products and company

BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS

Instill excitement about diverse cultures and other parts of the world!

As teachers, we have a responsibility to develop both an awareness of and a tolerance for other cultures among the next generation. Our stories celebrate diversity. Students will have fun learning about and ‘seeing’ other cultures and traditions.

Inspire your students to learn other languages!

All of our books are bilingual, meaning you can read them in English or in any one of up to 40 languages.

These books have been used in thousands of schools across Europe and North America. Many of the books have accompanying CDs so the stories can be heard in many languages. This can provide a great opportunity for kids to hear less commonly taught languages as well.

Connect with an ethnically diverse student base!

Watch your students connect with the stories as they “see themselves” in the multicultural characters in our books. Over 20% of the US population under age 25 is either foreign born or a first-generation American. We must ensure that our learning materials represent the entire community and not one dominant culture.

Introduce HIGH-QUALITY supplemental products to your classroom!

We guarantee the quality of our products. The dual-language products…

• Are consistently well reviewed with respected review publications (see sample reviews)
• Have won prestigious awards for both the stories and illustrations
• Are professionally translated in up to 40 languages
• Have appealing, multi-ethnic characters
• Are creative, clever and FUN for students
• Develop tolerance, respect for others, and self esteem
• Have strong, community settings

LESSON PLANS ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Celebrate diversity and expose your students to foreign languages and cultures

back to top

LANGUAGE LIZARD FUNDRAISING PROGRAM

Raise money for your organization while supporting early language and culture learning

The Language Lizard Fundraising program was established as a way to support schools and other organizations that promote cultural and diversity awareness among young children.  Your school or organization can earn money through the sale of cultural and language-related products (as opposed to many fundraisers focused on selling candy or chocolate).  

The program is extremely easy to manage - there are no forms you need to collect and no inventory to manage or distribute.  The school/organization just needs to identify one volunteer to disseminate information to parents, requiring no more than a few hours of time.

back to top

BOOK SUGGESTIONS - BY LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY

The following documents will help you choose books or CDs that are right for your children.

• All Languages - Book Suggestions
• Spanish-English Books only - Book Suggestions
• Italian-English Books highlighted - Book Suggestions

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AMONG TEACHERS:

Why would I want to have a "dual language" text as opposed to a "foreign-language only" text in my classroom?
I’d like to expose my students to languages that I cannot speak. How can I do this?
In what languages are your products available?
What is the target age for the products?
Do your books come with teacher’s guides?
Do you offer presentations or readings?
Where can I get beautiful bilingual posters to use in discussions and to decorate my classroom?
How can I stay up to date with issues related to childhood language learning and what your company is offering?

Why would I want to have a "dual language" text as opposed to a "foreign-language only" text in my classroom?

Your options are greater with a dual-language text. The stories and illustrations are so fantastic that you may choose to use them for multiple purposes.

• Read them to students only in the foreign language. They will learn while being entertained with great stories and illustrations.
• Read the foreign-language text to students several times and discuss the stories; let the students hear the English version to 'catch' the words they missed; then read it again in the foreign language.
• Use the books as study materials with LEP students.
• Given the diversity of the languages offered in the books and on the CDs, FLEX (exploratory foreign language programs) can use them to help students gain an exposure to many languages and cultures, including those that are less commonly taught. This frequently develops an interest in future language study among children.
• Let students take the books home to read both the English and the foreign-language versions of the stories with their parents.

I’d like to expose my students to languages that I cannot speak.
How can I do this?

Many of our books come with accompanying CDs, so students can hear the stories in a multitude of languages, including many less commonly taught languages. Once our online shopping cart is available (soon!), you will be able to find out which products have accompanying CDs by looking at the “related products” section in the description of an individual title.

In what languages are your products available?

Dual-language books are available in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepali, Panjabi, Patois, Pinyin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbo-Croatian, Shona, Slovakian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Twi, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh and Yoruba.

What is the target age for the products?

Generally ages 1-12. Specific age ranges will be included in the descriptions of each product.

back to top

Do your books come with teacher’s guides?

Some of our books have discussion questions at the end of the book. In addition, we will be creating teacher and activity guides for some of the most popular books. To be informed when these guides are available, please sign up for our free newsletter, which will also provide helpful tips and information related to language and culture learning.

Do you offer presentations or readings?

We are currently developing presentations for children ages 2-12 intended to expose them to other languages and cultures and get them interested in learning foreign languages. These will initially be offered only in limited parts of the country. If you are interested in having such presentations at your school, please send us an email using the form in the Contact Us section of this website. Also, please consider subscribing to our free newsletter so we can keep you informed of these developments.

Where can I obtain bilingual posters to use in discussions and to decorate my classroom?

We offer colorful, creative dual-language posters with varying themes that can be used to discuss both cultural as well as “every-day” topics. They are extremely affordable and will add to the ambience in any classroom. Multi-language and French-English posters are currently available. Spanish will be added soon.

How can I stay up to date with issues related to childhood language learning and what your company is offering?

Please subscribe to our monthly newsletter (see below).

back to top

NEWSLETTER SIGN UP SECTION

Our FREE monthly electronic newsletter, Culture Connection, offers helpful tips, fun suggestions and valuable information to keep you connected with the world of childhood language learning. New subscribers will also receive exclusive DISCOUNT offers and will be notified of new products and special promotions that may be of interest.

Subscribe now by clicking here.

Please Note: We do not sell or rent our electronic mailing list to anyone for any reason, nor do we send unsolicited email. You may remove yourself from the list anytime you choose with the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every e-newsletter.

back to top