I chose the book Snow by Uri Shulevitz. This book although does not have many words is full of visual adjectives, verbs and adverbs and well illustrated drawings. (1)A student who has not been in Colorado very long may have never seen snow. (2)They may not understand what happens to the climate before a snow. (3)They may not be able to appreciate how snow floats, circles, swirls. (4) They also may not understand the boy's excitement. The thought of snow may be frightful to someone who has never experienced it. To offer a hands on illustration of snow it may be possible to bring in shaved ice or ice build up from a freezer for the children to touch.
The second book I chose to review is titled Los Amiguitos' Fiesta by Jean Thor Cook. It is a story with a southwestern flare and contains some spanish words. (1)The students may be comfortable and familiar the the style and story line of the book. (2)They will also see how I will struggle with the spanish words to help them feel not so inadiquate as students of english. The story is based in a small village where the children live in pink adobes with chili peppers hung by the front doors. The children were preparing their pets and farm animals to be paraded into town to be blessed by the padre. (3)This book may actually be more easier to comprehend since the setting, although a rural area, will allow the ELL student to conentrate less on new terms and more on the english translation of the terms. (4) I am hoping that this book would build confidence in them and their learning skills.
And as we know, as teachers, if we can bring confidence to the learner MORE learning will take place. Discussion to discover the background knowledge of each student is also crucial.
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