I've recently found an interesting series of children's books by Blake Education Pty. Ltd. (Australia) for my son. They are fun introductions to serious topics in science and culture, and the versions we found are bilingual English & Chinese.
The thought occurs that since this series has already been adapted to one series of bilingual versions, that it might be possible to adapt it to a variety of others, thinking here specifically of African languages. Search "Brain Waves" on the publisher's site at http://www.blake.com.au/ to see a list of titles. A more interesting description of one of the titles, "Whose Crazy Idea Was That?" (perhaps an apt example here ;-) )is at http://www.dominie.com.au/productsmain.asp?productid=XXSN-1126 : "This is a series of full colour, non-fiction, chapter books that make facts come alive. These are easy-to-read books which grab students. High interest topics and real facts that are really interesting! For reluctant readers or those not yet switched on to non-fiction, these books will bring a buzz to your classroom. Text features include: - A variety of text types in a highly visual format - Labelled diagrams, tables, graphs and maps - Index, glossary and a table of contents - Pages laid out as double-page spreads - Illustrations and photographs on every page" The bilingual versions are available in China only at a fraction of the cost of what one sees on the web for the English version (this may have to do with the quality of paper etc. used, though what we bought here in Chengdu is excellent quality). The Chinese sites listed on one of the publications (http://www.centuryoriental.com.cn/ & http://edu.sina.com.cn/ ) unfortunately do not lead to anything about the books. As an outsider it seems to me that creative thinking about developing African language materials (monolingual and bilingual) for in class and outside of class reading might look to Asia for examples and possible business relationships to build on. I'd imagine that finding resources to fund such projects will be a lot easier if there is a good project to build on. (And good translators available!) Don Osborn Bisharat.net ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Know an art & music fan? Make a donation in their honor this holiday season! http://us.click.yahoo.com/.6dcNC/.VHMAA/Zx0JAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
