Millie books - Los cuentos de Millie

Reading in two languages - Leyendo en dos idiomas

animal books

5 books to read during National Reconciliation Week

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Hi everyone!

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post, so I didn’t want to miss this opportunity!

In Australia, we celebrate National Reconciliation Week.  Every year, on this week, we acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples culture and history.

This is why, I wanted to share with you a few books written and illustrated by Australian Indigenous authors.  I think books are a great way to get us closer to different cultures and views of the world and are a great tool to spark interesting conversations with our children.

So here they are the books I will share today.

Welcome to country, Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy

In Australia, or at least in Victoria, we have a welcome or an acknowledgment to country on many events.  This means that everyone there, recognises the fact that we are standing on Aboriginal land and pay our respects to Aboriginal peoples.  A long time ago, visitors from different Aboriginal communities needed to ask permission to enter their land.  It’s like going to someone’s house and asking for permission to come in.  If people were allowed in, they would be welcomed to the country by an Elder of that particular Nation.  In Melbourne, we are the home of the Wurundjeri people and there are over 200 Aboriginal nations in all of Australia!  I like this book because it puts a Welcome to Country in the form of a picture book.  The illustrations are exquisite and have lots of texture.  What I loved about this book is that it recognises ancestors, the richness of the land and the importance of looking after it.  This book can lead to conversations about your family ancestors, about the land you live in and about caring for the environment.  Ideal for kids from 5-10 years old.

Shapes of Australia, Bronwyn Bancroft

This book is all about the amazing illustrations and the shapes we can find in nature.  Each page spread has a bright, bold and colourful image in Aboriginal style with a sentence to describe it.  However, I think the book can have your little ones raising their hand to tell you what they can see.  This was one of my kid’s favourites because they each came up with different ideas on what the illustrations were.  We also talked about the different colours and shapes.  I love books that makes your kids learn without even knowing!  Ideal for kids 2-8 years old.

Colours of Australia, Bronwyn Bancroft

Similar to the previous book, Colours of Australia shows an amazing Aboriginal illustration on each page spread.  Each illustration is inspired by a different colour.  Kids will be amazed wondering if they are the colours of the rainbow or just the colours of nature.  The artwork for this book is bold and bright and will have kids telling you their own story in each page.  Great book to discuss colour and Aboriginal art. Ideal for kids 2-8 years old.

The Emu Who Ran Through the Sky, Helen Milroy

This is a story about Emu, who really wants to win the Emu race.  Except, he is not as fast as all the other emus and that makes him really sad. Emu finds new friends who help him on his journey to be the best at the race, and who knows? They might find creative ways to help him win!

Little Bird’s Day, Sally Morgan and Johny Warrkatja Malibirr

This is a whimsical story following a little bird’s day from morning to night. The illustrations of this book have the traditional Aboriginal style and colour palettes.  This is a great resource to talk about the things we do during the morning or at night.  It’s told in first person, so I think a good think to ask kids would be, what would your day look like if you were a bird?  I think kids would come up with the craziest answers!

So there you have it, five books that will show kids about Aboriginal Australia.

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Tips to help your child learn the letters of the alphabet

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Para leer la versión en español haz click aquí.

Learning the letters of the alphabet and identifying how they sound, are the first steps to start reading.  If you want to help your kids to learn new letters, here are 7 tips so they can learn them.  It is very important to remember that toddlers can’t be still for long and that they need to have genuine interest in the activity.  The idea is that they learn while playing.

  1. The alphabet song.

You can use the usual melody or a new version, sing it together many times.  Repetition will help your child remember the letters.

  1. Spell their name.

Your child will love learning how to spell their own name.  You can start little by little by showing the first letter of their name in different books or sounds.  You can write down their name when you draw together in different colours while repeating the letter aloud.  Very soon, you will hear them say “J for John!”.  You can do the same with other words like “M for mum (mom in American English J), “D for dad”, or any other word that relates to anything that your child finds interesting, like dinosaurs or animals.

  1. Join the dots.

You can form words by drawing dots so your little one can join them.

  1. Colouring in letters and a picture that starts with that letter.

This is a quiet activity that you can do together.  You can start with a few letters at a time, two or four, depending on how long your child can focus her attention.  I made this animal alphabet book colouring pages which you can download here.  Also, you can find many other alphabets to colour in on the web depending on what your kid is interested in.

  1. I spy.

You can play I spy, especially when you have to wait.  This has worked well for us when we are driving.  Here I give you the Spanish versión which is called “Veo, veo”.  You can see how it works with the following YouTube link.

 

Veo, veo, ¿qué ves?

Una cosita

¿Y qué cosita es?

Empieza con la “N”

 I spy

With my Little eye

Something that

begins with the letter “N”

 

  1. Find letters in signs.

When you are in the street, you can point to letters in a big sign.  For example, “F for Fatima”.

7. Reading.

Reading will always be one of the best ways to learn the letters of the alphabet and its sounds, especially when  your kids show interest in letters.  There are many styles of alphabet books either in English or Spanish.  Some haver ryhmes, some have textures, some have sofisticated illustrations.  You can pretty much find an alphabeth book for every taste.

If you are looking for alphabet books just in Spanish, this is a great list to start.

If you are after English only alphabet books, you can have a look here.

Of course, these are in addition to my book “Bilingual Zoo”. 🙂

I hope these tips have inspired you to play with letters and help your toddler to learn them in a fun way.  If you want to share a tip that I did not include here, feel free to include them in the comments below.

Happy Reading!Facebook

¿Por qué un libro del abecedario?

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If you want to read this blog post in English, click here.

Cuando mi hija cumplió 2 años, le regalaron un libro del abecedario súper bonito.  El libro es pequeño para manos pequeñas, tiene las letras troqueladas y colores muy vivos.  Yo siempre había  estado traduciendo mientras leía libros en inglés, pero no es lo mismo traducir un cuento ayudado de las imágenes que traducir una palabra sola.  Era muy difícil decir que la “G” es de garden en inglés, pero en español se dice jardín que se escribe con “J”.

alphabet-book

Busqué libros con el alfabeto en inglés y en español, pero ninguno me llamó la atención como para comprarlo.  Tenía que buscar mejor.  Así que decidí mientras tanto, hacer unas páginas para colorear con el alfabeto y relacionando animales en inglés y en español.  Y después se me ocurrió, “¿por qué no hacer un libro con estos animalitos?  Tal vez, muchas familias bilingües tendrán este mismo problema”.

alphabet-book-g

Fue así cuando convertí mis páginas de colorear en un libro.  Justo antes de enviar el archivo para imprimir, y con la ayuda de mis buenas amigas, me di cuenta de que al libro le faltaba “algo”.  Me di cuenta de que si este libro le iba a gustar a los niños, tenía que ser más divertido y no tener el animal ahí sin hacer nada.  ¡Qué chiste! Entonces, mejor decidí escribir el tercer libro de Millie y dejar el libro del alfabeto por la paz.

Pero un día, escucho a mi hija decir “P for daddy”, en lugar de “P de papá”, “P for dog” en lugar de “P de perro” y casi me da el patatús.  Si bien, yo sé que esto es ayudado porque viviendo en Australia, su idioma más fuerte es el inglés, eso fue suficiente para darme otra vez el gusanito de terminar este abecedario para niños bilingües.  Así que ¡a volver a empezar con todas las ilustraciones! Todos los días después de terminar el trabajo, de cenar y poner a nuestra hija a dormir, le dedicaba una hora a arreglar los dibujos.  Gracias a Dios, mi esposo y yo somos muy buen equipo. 🙂

zoologicobilinguehardback

Debo decir que ahora estoy contenta con el resultado.  Espero que sea un libro que le guste mucho a tus peques y que disfruten leyéndolo juntos.

¡Hasta pronto!Facebook