What Is Your Language?

by Debra Leventhal

Other authorsMonica Wellington (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Publication

Dutton Juvenile (1994), Edition: 1st, 32 pages

Description

Emphasizes that many different languages are spoken in different parts of the world, giving examples from French and German to Arabic and Spanish.

User reviews

LibraryThing member teddiemitchell
What is Your Language? is a book about a young boy who enjoys traveling around the world. He goes to many different countries and asks each country what their language is. Each of the countries tell the young boy and tell him how it sounds.

This is a cute book to introduce different languages to
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young children. I enjoyed this book because when I was in elementary school we learned about saying hi, bye, yes, and no in different languages. This book reminded me of those times.

As a classroom extension, I would have the students all sing the little song at the back of the book. Another idea is that we would learn about each of the languages and learn a few words from each language.
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LibraryThing member anita.west
What Is Your Language is a neat multicultural picture book. This book is about a little boy who sets out to travel the world to meet new friends. During his journey he visits ten countries. As he meets new friends during his travels, each friend says a small phrase so that he can hear the way their
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language sounds. The Languages mentioned in the book are: Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, Arabic, Japanese, Inuktitut, Russian, French, German, and English.

This book is colorful and somewhat a simple read. It had a neat world map in the front and back and interesting facts about languages noted on the last page. This would be a fun book for introducing a child to new languages. I liked it because it was easy to understand and I could use it in the classroom.

As classroom extension ideas I would do the following: In this book the author has included a song titled, What Is Your Language? I would incorporate music (learning the song) in with reading the book. The children could also dance if they would like to. Next, I would have the children work in groups to perform small skits from an assigned page in the book. I would give each group a country/language and they could act out the scene that corresponds with their country.
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LibraryThing member ckelly16
In my opinion this book is a great multicultural picture book. I like it for a few reasons, the first being the language of the book. The book is written as a song, each page exhibiting a different language from around the world. The little boy in the story is traveling the world and learns how to
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say "yes" in many different languages along with the pattern "What is your language? Please tell me now." Another reason I like the book was for its colorful illustrations. Each cultural group is elaborately drawn with characters wearing their culture's traditional clothing and exhibiting traditions. At the end of the book the author includes the "What's Your Language?" song and an brief description of each language mentioned. The "big idea" of the book is that we should all learn about our world and the languages and cultures that exist in it.
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LibraryThing member kbrash1
I really enjoyed this book and I was pleasantly surprised how much I got out of it. For example, the language aspect of the text is fascinating and interactive. The book is actually a song that teaches the reader the words “yes” and “no” in several different languages, including: English,
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Spanish, German, French, Russian, Inuktitut, Japanese, and Chinese. The illustrations were perhaps the most appealing part of this informational text in my opinion, because pictures were detailed, bright, and colorful. Each illustration uses colors and themes that represent the culture behind each language. For example, on the page that teaches Russian, the illustration shows snow, ice skating, a train, and onion domes. On the page with Eskimos, there are igloos and sled dogs pulling a man through the snow. The big idea of this book is to teach readers to say “yes” and “no” in multiple languages, and to provide a brief introduction to the cultures through the illustrations.
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LibraryThing member abenne6
What is your language is a neat little book that is about a little boy that takes a trip around the world and stops at different places. While he is at these different places he meets a friend that teaches him the word "hello" in their native language. This book is a great multicultural book that
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teaches children different ways to say hello. It is simple enough but yet encouraging by have the different ways to say hello, in a song. There were a variety of languages that were explored during the little boys trip such as Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, Arabic, Japanese, Inuktitut, Russian, French, German, and English. Not only was the text of substance but the pictures corresponded greatly to the text. Each of the children that he met were wearing their traditional clothing which was also a lesson for children. For example, on the page that is about Eskimos there is snow, igloos, snow dogs, and a man on a sled.This text is a very resourceful one because a child never knows who they will meet and this book teaches them them a basic word that they can use to speak to someone from a different culture. Not only did this book teach the word yes, it also taught the word "no" as well. And at the end of the book they listed the lyrics for a song that children can learn to help them with saying hello in different languages. This book is important because it helps to create a since of diversity. I completely like this book and would recommend it in a classroom and would like to have it in my classroom for a quick teaching on different cultures.
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LibraryThing member wichitafriendsschool
Music and language notes turn a multicultural picture book into a song, as a young traveler meets children in other countries and learns to say ""yes"" and ""no"" at every stop.
LibraryThing member gakers16
This is an informational book that takes the readers throughout the world and introduces them to many different cultures through cultural illustrations and through simple language.

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

10.56 inches

ISBN

0525451331 / 9780525451334

UPC

050553012999
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