| The Cat, The Fish, and The Waiter |
| posted by: Garry | November 06, 2015, 05:53 PM |
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After a fitful night, Peter turns amateur detective and takes to the streets of Paris to locate the animals. His search leads him to meet new characters and visit new places, and this is particularly significant because of the thing that makes this book unique; it’s in three languages. In today’s multilingual and multicultural society, this idea has been a huge hit in classrooms across the nation, and has become a must-have for every Language Arts classroom. This story keeps students interested while introducing several valuable linguistic concepts. In the manner of foreign language textbooks, the author first introduces the foreign nouns by dedicating a separate page to each. For example, one entire page illustrates Peter the Waiter/Pedro el camarero/Pierre, le serveur. Next, the author adds on the nouns she has taught her readers with verbs and more nouns to create a simple sentence: “Peter worked as a waiter in a cozy little café.” Little by little, Marianna Bergues adds more complexity, stacking new words and phrases onto what readers have already mastered.
Many teachers find success in their classrooms by reading small sections as a class daily, giving students time to study and examine the written words on their own. This one little story has kept so many students so engaged, they don’t even notice that they are developing a rudimentary understanding of two other languages. It’s such a great head start to give them before they begin any official foreign language study, and an even better way to show them that learning another language is fun!
Are your students doing great things like this?
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