Job Discussion Forums

[macroidtoe]

I've been wanting to send some books to the last school I worked at for their library, but the shipping cost from the US is prohibitive. But I'm headed back to China for a short trip in July, so I thought I'd take it as an opportunity to bring the books with me and ship them from within the country.

The students are 10 years old. Their English ability varies quite a bit, with the lower level classes having little to no English experience, and the upper level classes having the occasional student who is very, very good. I'm trying to find something that would hit more towards the middle/lower end since those are the students who would benefit the most.

The first thing that came to mind was the old Mr. Men/Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves. I read these myself when I was about 5 or 6 years old, so I feel like the level of the vocabulary is about right for kids who are still at a beginner level.

My only worry is that 10-year-olds (the boys in particular) might be "too cool" for such cutesy stuff and prefer to stick with Anime Cyborg Ninja Death Squad or whatever the current popular thing is. However, the simple fact that the books are from me might be a big enough deal to get them to overlook this.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[7969]

Dr Seuss?

[voltaire]

Yes. Dr. Seuss would be excellent, there are even 'simpler' Dr. Seuss books like 'One Fish, Two Fish' that would suit students of the English language.

I am not sure of the vocab level, but you could impress the coolest Anime Cyborg Ninja Death Squad devotees with Where The Wild Things Are, by the recently deceased Maurice Sendak and stuff of its ilk. There's no end to 'monster' as well as the beauty and the beast genre books available for children. I wouldn't worry so much about the language, and let the artwork entertain them.

[kev7161]

Most of my students (4th grade primary, ages 10-12) that deigned to pick up an English book this year were drawn to books that were NON-FICTION if you can believe it. Lots and lots of pictures certainly helped but they liked the little factoid boxes and blurbs that would accompany the pictures. Also, I put out some Marvel Adventures comic book collections (comic books that are written especially for this age group) and the kids just flocked to those. How much they were actually reading, I couldn't tell you but I did spy some kids actually SEEM to be reading them as well as looking at the cool graphics.

Check out this webpage for a ton of ideas:

http://us.dk.com/

Their DK Readers are probably what you'd want to look at the most. Small, paperback (lightweight!) and not too expensive. Generally around $3.99. They have different levels (Level One being the easiest I believe) so you can get a variety to target your students' different reading skills.

Example:

http://us.dk.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780756693862,00.html?DK_Readers:_Boys%27_Life_Series:_Ghost_Stories_Michele_R._Wells

Dinosaurs are top readers along with most any wild animal. Technology books for the boys (and a couple of girls maybe). Some girls will be fond of Disney style books, but not necessarily all.

Not to be argumentative, but the books that we were fond of when we were young, may not be what kids of today would like to read. Dr. Seuss for 10 year olds? Probably not so much. Iron Man and Batman and Pokemon? Those will grab their attention much quicker, I'd guess.

[The Edge]

'American Psycho' by Brett Easton Ellis is a tried and tested favourite of many.
Give it a go.

[Beyond1984]

"'American Psycho' by Brett Easton Ellis is a tried and tested favourite of many." The Edge

Um, the op is looking for books suitable for 10 year-olds. The blurb on the back of my AP edition notes that the protagonist "expresses his true self by torture and murder..."

Maybe this volume is more suitable for an American Culture class rather than a pre-teen class?

-HDT

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Animal Farm
1984

[The Edge]

[LongShiKong]

[colonel]

I bought some books (abridged) whilst recently in Xi'an of the classics, which are in English and Chinese, from the foreign language teaching and research press in Beijing www.fltrp.com

You might also like to consider the Oxford bookworm series which are graded readers.

[Brian Hugh]

I have used comic strips in the past. I mean most native kids read them at that age. You can cut them out and have kids sequence them. You can also erase the words and let them put their own words. Last week I downloaded comics that were drawn by kids. My favorite book is the Little Prince. You can get it in Chinese also.

[macroidtoe]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I hadn't considered going the non-fiction route even though I always loved Zoobooks and the like when I was a kid... Picked up a set of DK Readers on eBay, and I'm going to check the local used bookstores later today to see if they have any.

I was trying to find a few biographical readers that would appeal to the girls, but the choices seem to be limited to Princess Diana, Amelia Earhart, Anne Frank, Joan of Arc... tragic deaths, ahoy!

[macroidtoe]

[Mr. English]

Wish I could be more specific, but I don't have a copy of any of them here in my apartment: There is a series of 23 books, written in English with a Chinese translation on each page, a glossary at the end, lots of pictures, English is mostly good but imperfect. They are published jointly by one of the university presses in U.K. and a propaganda Chinese government outfit (did you know that MANY Nobel prizes have been won by Chinese?). The books are about various important historical figures, mostly western, Newton, Columbus, Galileo, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Lincoln, Ford, Edison, Nobel, 23 altogether, 33 pages of text in each book plus some nonsense after. They are sold at Guangzhou Book Center, close to Tiyu Xilu metro station, about 24 yuan a crack if you pass through here; this bookstore has a good selection for kids that is slowly but surely getting better.