Here at Holistic Language Acquisition, our partners are proud to offer a range of language learning books to help people of all ages excel in their linguistic studies. Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information about our language acquisition books.
A Caterpillar Who Wanted to Become a Dragon is a book in progress. The text is complete, and the author continues to work on the illustrations. The story contains a touch of envy, a whole lot of awe, a good deal of mentorship for children, and the inevitable metamorphosis.
The idea for this book was born from a playful, dramatic improvisation between a mother and daughter. The book tangentially covers important subjects—including nutrition, healthy eating, and exercise—using a humorous and non-didactic approach that is open to dramatic interpretation by adult readers. Throughout the story, much attention is paid to multidimensional character development and lively dialogue.
The story was read to the author’s neighbor, a six-year-old boy who exclaimed, “I eat green leaves too, like spinach, and they are crunchy!”
Polyglots, our newest book, is based on a series of in-depth interviews with speakers of five or more languages. The author is a polyglot herself with professional experience in simultaneous interpreting. The book intended for a general readership, including individuals interested in learning foreign languages, teachers, linguists, publishers and educational software designers. The overarching theme is the motivation to learn other languages. During their interviews, polyglots discuss their experiences in language learning, traveling, and adapting to new cultures. In addition, they describe their own language acquisition techniques, which others can emulate.
The 22 polyglots interviewed for the book range in age from 17 to 94 and come from diverse geographic areas: Europe, North and Central America, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Polyglots tend to be very enterprising and creative people. They often have their own methods for studying languages, which they are happy to share with the readers. These are just a few of the topics, covered this book:
As one would expect, some polyglots have professional backgrounds in education and linguistics. However, one may not expect that the others have completely unrelated professional backgrounds, like visual arts, software engineering, psychology or business. All polyglots do share certain personality traits: resilience, creativity and a good sense of humor.
Polyglots comprise less than two percent of the general population, so most of them have never met a fellow polyglot. Interviewing for this book has provided them with the novel experience of speaking to someone who can relate to their feelings about language. This enabled a substantive and open discussion, yielding material, rich in texture and nuance that is not only attractive for a general reader, but may also provide interesting ideas for both academic and market research.
Polyglot’s interview excerpts are interspersed with topical advice chapters, accumulating to create a multi-faceted, entertaining and informative reader experience. Information intended for specialists: educators, software designers and linguists, is contained in the chapters at the back of the book.
Elena Sadov began her professional life as a translator and interpreter. Later, in collaboration with the school principal and several leading teachers, she assisted in establishing a successful nonprofit school, where she subsequently served as the chair of the board of directors for three years. Currently, she writes and illustrates books for children, as well as writes nonfiction books for adults on language-related topics. She speaks multiple languages; she sings in many of them, as well. In addition, she studies calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting. She holds a software patent for an educational game to teach writing Chinese characters. Elena Sadov lives on Long Island, New York.
Annemarie Waugh is an artist, writer, poet, illustrator, and community activist. She was born in Great Britain and currently resides in the United States.
The idea for her book Across the Pond was inspired by an art show in which she participated, called “Remembering Things Past.” This international show featured artists from all over the world. For her installation, Annemarie painted an entire wall to resemble a chalkboard filled with 144 numbered British expressions. On the adjacent wall, she wrote definitions for the expressions, allowing viewers to guess their meaning and check whether or not they were correct. The shape of the definitions on the second wall resembled the map of the United States, and the other two walls featured her framed paintings based on her favorite British expressions.
In Across the Pond, Annemarie uses humorous, vivid, and lively images to illustrate uniquely British words and phrases. The book is intended for a wide readership and is of particular interest to anglophiles living in the United States, nostalgic British expats, and millions of English speakers traveling to Great Britain looking to familiarize themselves with British English.
Full of vigor and artistic ideas, the images in this book speak to the viewer—a stark contrast to the dry and detailed tomes intended for language specialists. Inquisitive readers can even find more detailed information in the index at the back. Across the Pond is published in two formats, with the full-size edition being a more comprehensive collection of the artist’s work. The travel edition is a smaller, lighter version that’s easy to take on a journey or bring home.
Annemarie is the founder of the Sidewalks For Safety initiative and actively promotes projects to improve the environment and address issues of sustainable community development and public health, emphasizing the well-being of children.
Hong Li Snyder—born in Yunnan, China—is a writer, language teacher, and uniquely gifted cultural interpreter. She has translated and published more than a dozen children’s books. She also studies Chinese painting and promotes the teaching of traditional Chinese art and calligraphy.
Her series of books titled Hello, Chinese Festival covers Chinese holidays. It includes Chinese text in characters and pinyin, as well as English, to facilitate reading for Chinese language students. These holiday storybooks help readers to learn, play, and prepare traditional holiday food. The series is published by Shandong Friendship Publishing House, a major Chinese publishing house. The books are available at the Capital
Library of China.
The Hello, Chinese Festival series contains seven volumes covering seven major traditional Chinese festivals: Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Chongyang Festival. Wawa, the festival elf, and a little boy named Tiantian guide the readers on a wonderful Chinese holiday journey.
“My daughters were born in the US. We are a bilingual family. My husband is from the US, and I am from China. That’s why I think it is important for my children to study Mandarin. I used to be an accountant, but when my kids were born, I began to teach them Mandarin and other children as well. Because of the changes in the world economy, many people travel to China for business, so many have become interested in learning the Chinese language. People frequently ask me how to say particular words or phrases in Chinese, so I feel there is a real demand for learning the language. I had never thought of becoming a teacher in my whole life, but when I saw how many people were interested in the language, I changed my career.”
“No, I do not find it easy. I think it is very hard. When studying a language, it is very helpful to be immersed in the culture where the language is spoken, which is not the situation we have here in the United States. Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages in the world to acquire for non-native speakers. Teaching is very challenging. Even though students are interested in learning and are prepared to work, the writing system is very different and is separate from spoken language. Everyone is very enthusiastic in the beginning. “Oh, I want to study! It is such a cool language, and the writing is beautiful like art.” But when we study a little bit, when the students learn to speak a bit and want to start to write, a lot of students want to pull back and want to quit because it is very hard. They have to double their effort to study Mandarin compared with the effort they would have to make if they studied another language. This is why I don’t think it’s easy. Especially for the American students who study Mandarin. They cannot get any support from their parents when they go home. If they studied another language, such as Spanish, they could learn to speak and write at the same time, and their parents could help them a little bit. Mandarin is really hard. Parents want to help them, but they cannot. So, it’s not easy for the students and not easy for the teacher as well. But I really want to teach Mandarin! Even when I see small progress, it makes me feel so happy!”
“I think it is very helpful. Pinyin teaches them how to pronounce words. I think that pinyin is very important for non-native speakers because without them, the students would not be able to read, and they could not guess what the words sound like. Because the Chinese characters are like pictures, the students would be totally at a loss about how to read them. In Spanish, when they see a word, they can guess how to read it, but this is not the case with Mandarin. Even when the students don’t know how to read Chinese characters, they can read what is written in pinyin and be able to pronounce what is written, even when they don’t know the meaning of what is written, which gives them some confidence. For children who are native speakers, pinyin is not necessary. They learn to read Chinese characters directly, but for non-native speakers, pinyin is very helpful. Non-native speakers learn how to read and then figure out how to write.”
“The biggest challenge is teaching to write. For example, my younger students spent the first three years mostly learning how to speak, but this year they have a new challenge of learning to write Chinese characters. It had been very hard for them; they complained every day. However, I emphasized the study of radicals; they are essential components of Chinese characters and are very important in learning how to write. After three months of complaining, my students are finally getting to the stage where they feel competent enough in their writing and are making some meaningful progress. They have been learning strokes and radicals, so it became easier for them; otherwise, it would have been very hard.”
“I think that painting is so vivid and so beautiful! I have been studying traditional Chinese painting every week for three years.”
“I have learned how to express my feelings. When I paint a flower, I can appreciate the beauty of the world, and it makes me feel very happy.”
“Yes, I think so. Studying Chinese painting can take you back in time. I especially like the fact that the beautiful paintings are connected with beautiful poems. It could be a whole poem or just a few lines. So, when you study traditional Chinese painting, you are also studying literature. After you read a poem, you form a mental picture of what the poem is about. Then, you look at the painting that the artist has produced, and you get a deeper appreciation for both the painting and the poem that accompanies it. When you study painting, you improve your knowledge of literature. That’s really true.”
“They really loved it! Everyone was happy, the students, the whole school. It was the first time the students used a brush and ink in our class. They wrote the word “ai,” which means “love,” and they also made some paintings, which were put in the front hall of our school. Even on their first try doing calligraphy and painting, they did a great job!”
“Big change. More students wanted to study Mandarin. In our school, we offer only two languages: Spanish and Mandarin from pre-K to eighth grade. Children begin studying both languages, and in 5th grade, they have to choose which language they want to continue studying for the next four years. Every year most students choose Spanish. The most important reason is that they think that learning Spanish is easier. The second reason is that a lot of public schools right now do not offer Mandarin as a foreign language. Usually, it is the parents who insist that their child should study Mandarin because it is so important now as a language of business. It is a language spoken by a great many people in the world. They think that the children should not be afraid to study something challenging. When the artist came to our school, I asked him to bring a lot of his art to show to the students. The students who study Spanish also wanted to come and look, but I didn’t have enough room for everybody in the classroom. I need to focus on my Mandarin students. After the artist’s visit, they have been writing a lot more and not complaining about it because they appreciate the beauty of the writing. By the time the students graduate, they can read pinyin, and they can write some characters. When they encounter a word that they are not familiar with, they know how to learn to write it because they know the radicals. They know how to study by themselves, even if Mandarin is not taught to them in high school. Some students who go on to private school have an opportunity to continue to study Mandarin, but even those who have to switch to studying a different language, such as Spanish or French, can continue to study Mandarin in the future because they have a solid foundation to be able to continue learning the language in college.”
