English as a Global Language


Book Description

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.




The Way of the Linguist


Book Description

The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.







Fluent in 3 Months


Book Description

Benny Lewis, who speaks over ten languages—all self-taught—runs the largest language-learning blog in the world, Fluent In 3 Months. Lewis is a full-time "language hacker," someone who devotes all of his time to finding better, faster, and more efficient ways to learn languages. Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World is a new blueprint for fast language learning. Lewis argues that you don't need a great memory or "the language gene" to learn a language quickly, and debunks a number of long-held beliefs, such as adults not being as good of language learners as children.




Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1


Book Description

At long last the approach that has helped thousands of learners memorize Japanese kanji has been adapted to help students with Chinese characters. Book 1 of Remembering Simplified Hanzi covers the writing and meaning of the 1,000 most commonly used characters in the simplified Chinese writing system, plus another 500 that are best learned at an early stage. (Book 2 adds another 1,500 characters for a total of 3,000.) Of critical importance to the approach found in these pages is the systematic arranging of characters in an order best suited to memorization. In the Chinese writing system, strokes and simple components are nested within relatively simple characters, which can, in turn, serve as parts of more complicated characters and so on. Taking advantage of this allows a logical ordering, making it possible for students to approach most new characters with prior knowledge that can greatly facilitate the learning process. Guidance and detailed instructions are provided along the way. Students are taught to employ "imaginative memory" to associate each character’s component parts, or "primitive elements," with one another and with a key word that has been carefully selected to represent an important meaning of the character. This is accomplished through the creation of a "story" that engagingly ties the primitive elements and key word together. In this way, the collections of dots, strokes, and components that make up the characters are associated in memorable fashion, dramatically shortening the time required for learning and helping to prevent characters from slipping out of memory.




Educating Immigrant Students in the 21st Century


Book Description

"A comprehensive and important examination of the education of immigrant students in the U.S. Rong and Preissle′s focus on cultural and linguistic transformation across four generations is truly unique." —Stacey J. Lee, Professor of Educational Policy Studies University of Wisconsin-Madison "Rong and Preissle′s first edition has become a standard reference for the education of immigrant students. The evolution and expansion of their research to encompass transnational and transcultural theoretical frameworks is cutting edge and absolutely timely given the changing, almost discursive nature of immigration within an increasingly complicated and shifting world context." —A. Lin Goodwin, Associate Dean and Professor of Education Teachers College, Columbia University Clear guidelines for making informed instructional decisions for immigrant students. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of immigrants and their children in the United States reached more than 70 million, or more than 20% of the nation′s population. Today, educators face significant shifts in the educational landscape. This revised sourcebook supplies educational policy makers and administrators with the information they need to address new challenges in providing children of diverse backgrounds with a quality education. This new edition of Educating Immigrant Children gives educators contemporary perspectives on immigration by clarifying the current demographic data and its significance for schools. The authors present updated information on the unique needs of immigrant students, including children from the Middle East and students of white non-Hispanic backgrounds, and help educators explore evidence-based practices and policies for adapting and improving the learning environment. The second edition examines: Factors that influence linguistic transition and educational achievement Strategies for working with immigrant families Equitable assessment approaches and accountability measures Data-based management methods for informed decision making Wide-ranging and illuminating, this book should be on the shelf of every educator and anyone who plays an active role in the education of immigrant children.




An Introduction to Language and Linguistics


Book Description

This accessible textbook offers balanced and uniformly excellent coverage of modern linguistics.




Reading, Writing and Learning in ESL


Book Description

Note: This is the bound book only and does not include access to the Enhanced Pearson eText. To order the Enhanced Pearson eText packaged with a bound book, use ISBN 0134403398. This book is the ideal source for teaching oral language, reading, writing, and the content areas in English to K-12 English learners. In an approach unlike most other books in the field, "Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL" looks at contemporary language acquisition theory as it relates to instruction and provides detailed suggestions and methods for motivating, involving, and teaching English language learners. Praised for its strong research base, engaging style, and inclusion of specific teaching ideas, the book offers thorough coverage of oral language, reading, writing, and academic content area instruction in English for K-12 English learners. Thoroughly updated throughout, the new edition includes a new chapter on using the Internet and other digital technologies to engage students and promote learning, many new teaching strategies, new and revised activities, and new writing samples. The Enhanced Pearson eText features embedded videos and assessments. Improve mastery and retention with the Enhanced Pearson eText* The Enhanced Pearson eText provides a rich, interactive learning environment designed to improve student mastery of content. The Enhanced Pearson eText is: Engaging. The new interactive, multimedia learning features were developed by the authors and other subject-matter experts to deepen and enrich the learning experience. Convenient. Enjoy instant online access from your computer or download the Pearson eText App to read on or offline on your iPad(r) and Android(r) tablet.* Affordable.The Enhanced Pearson eText may be purchased stand-alone for 50-60% less than a print bound book. * "The Enhanced eText features are only available in the Pearson eText format. They are not available in third-party eTexts or downloads." "*The Pearson eText App is available on Google Play and in the App Store. It requires Android OS 3.1-4, a 7 or 10 tablet, or iPad iOS 5.0 or later." "




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.