Using and Researching Dual Language Books for Children

References and websites

Publishers and suppliers of dual language books and multilingual resources for children

• NEW:

• The Chinese Bookshop provides Chinese languages books as well as books about learning Chinese and English books about Chinese culture. The site offers a large range of books for both native and non-native speakers. The Chinese language site is at www.shudian.co.uk
• The American series of Toon Books is available bilingually in English and French from the French publisher Casterman.

• Je decouvre les metiers collection for young children in French and Arabic from Editions du Jasmin.

• Alternating chapters in French and in English from Talents Hauts Editions , similar to the format of Radio Franglais (see review) but aimed at younger children.

• Tour de terre en poesie by Henry & Vautier, 1998. Poems in a very wide range of languages with a translation into French.

• Mother Tongue Books has a wide range of dual language books and a mission to encourage families to keep the languages of the home alive.

• Ablekids established in 2005 to encourage language learning, stocks books in 40 languages and has an especially interesting collection of books and resources for children in Scottish Gaelic.

• Another small publisher with a passion for language learning. Bilingual books for children in French and Spanish with English from http://www.bsmall.co.uk/

 

• www.mantralingua.com - The site of the leading publisher of dual language books for children. Mantra publishes books in 42 languages as well as interactive CD-ROMs, audio-CDs, posters, friezes and some toys, games and secondary curriculum related teaching resources. Books include non-fiction and dictionaries. Publishers of the talking pen. Mantra Lingua, Global House, Ballards Lane, London N12 8NP 020 8445 5123

• Learning Design Ltd, 020 7093 4051 www.learningdesign.biz
• RDS Books 020 8521 6969 www.rdsbooks.com
• Roy Yates Books, Smallfields Cottage, Cox Green, Rudgewick, Horsham, W. Sussex, RH12 3DE - 01403 822299 roy@royyatesbooks.fsnet.co.uk
• Refugee Council Publications Unit, 240-250 Ferndale Road, London SW9 8BB -  020 7346 6738 or 020 7346 6732 www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/practice/eshop/folktales.htm (Regrettably these publications may now be difficult to obtain as the Refugee Council’s education project had to cease due to lack of funding.)
• Milet Publishing www.milet.com www.milet.com publish children’s dual language books in 20 languages. These include board books for young children, dictionaries and some audio-books. They are based in Chicago, but their books can be ordered from: Turnaround Publisher Services, Unit 3, Olympia Trading Estate, Coburg Road, London N22 6TZ - 020 8829 3000 Email orders@turnaround-uk.com, Website www.turnaround-uk.com
• The Turkish company Heyamola publish some beautiful bilingual books for children in Turkish and English. These include a set of 10 books featuring many of the popular Nasreddin Hoca stories. They also publish three sets of 5 books non-fiction books each, aimed at readers aged 8+, 7+ and a larger format set for children aged 6+, commissioned from prominent Turkish authors on a range of topics of interest to children. Books cost from £1.25 each for the Nasreddin Hoca stories to £3.00 each for some of the other stories. Sets are sold at a discount. They are available from the Heyamola representative in England, Ms Kathryn Hinton, 1 Church Mill Close, Standlake, Witney, Oxfordshire OX29 7SU hintonke@yahoo.co.uk.
• Alien Languages supply a range of dual language books in 48 languages as well as multilingual educational aids and cultural artefacts, music and dolls, to educational and community organisations. Website www.alien-languages.com
• L’Harmattan, 5-7 Rue de l’école polytechnique, 75 005 Paris. Sales : 00 33 1 40 46 79 20 www.editions-harmattan.fr
• www.thai-bookshop.com Thai Books.This is not a dual language book site, but it does have a wonderful selection of books for children aged 0 to 9, and, as they say “other great stuff”.
• www.chadpur-press.com dual language book and CD in Gujerati and English.
• www.earlystart.co.uk publishes dual language books in French, Spanish and German with English and Big Book CD ROMs for use with whiteboards.
• www.eastwestdiscovery.com  is a U.S. publisher and distributor of dual language texts for children with an extensive catalogue.
• macaronicpress@yahoo.com California based publisher of parallel texts in English, French, Spanish and German for language teaching.
• www.bramhallbooks.co.uk a small new family run publishing house. Books for young children in French and English with lesson plans freely downloadable from the website.
• www.badger-publishing.co.uk have translated into Polish a selection of their popular titles for children aged 9 to 14. These are available in dual language format. www.franceslincoln.com publishes an Urdu/English version of Mary Hoffman’s Amazing Grace.
• www.jubileebooks.co.uk A major supplier to schools has an extensive range of dual language books from different publishers. Showroom in Eltham, South London. www.letterboxlibrary.com Letterbox Library has a selection of dual language books for young children in a range of languages, most of them published by Mantralingua. www.positive-identity.com/htm/books/dual_language_bks/duallangbks.htm Also supplies a range of dual language books published by Mantralingua. www.grantandcutler.com  Grant and Cutler have a bookshop in central London. They have a good selection of children’s fiction in European languages, including some in dual language format, and some children’s books in other world languages

Sites for stories from different cultures in a range of languages or in dual-text and multi-lingual activities and games:

• www.newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk - The site of Newbury Park Primary School in Redbridge. Go to the language of the Month section. This demonstrates how the project operates in a multilingual school and offers all the school’s resources as downloads, including audio files and resource packs in 15 languages.
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/drilldown/stories/2/6/1/ Around the World at CBeebies : Stories in other languages from countries around the world. Available online in Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Danish, Gaelic, Hindi, Jamaican, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Turkish, Welsh and Yoruba. See review.
• www.bgfl.org/bgfl/ - On the Birmingham Grid for Learning site. A range of activities in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, Somali and Urdu (body parts, fruit, tour of a virtual house, etc.)
• www.bluemountainmedia.com - This is the site of a publisher of Caribbean folk tales (such as Anancy stories), proverbs and talking books for children. There are free examples on the website.
• www.motherlandnigeria.com - This is an excellent site for language and cultural resources and children’s literature. Go to kidzone. You will find about 50 full text traditional Nigerian (and other African) stories, games, dozens of proverbs, a wonderful collection of pictures and language resources in Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa.
• http://a4esl.org/ - A site with multilingual quizzes for learners of English as an additional language. The bilingual vocabulary quizzes are fun and a welcome resource for language awareness activities. They are available in 36 languages.
• www.ukindia.com - learn Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali or Arabic.
• www.bromley.org/diversity - a truly impressive resources site: “This is the first LEA website of its kind in the UK, which not only catalogues hundreds of items available for loan, but also links each item with one or more relevant websites with teaching resources or interactive sites for students.”
• CILT - The National Centre for Languages has links to websites with all kinds of information and activities in community languages. Information about the ongoing survey of Community Language classes across the UK, focusing on provision aimed at children of school age.
• and the Common European Framework, which is part of the National Languages Strategy. This would give people credit for their language skills and form a ladder of recognition from beginner level to a standard which sits alongside GCSE, A Level and NVQs.
• www.cilt.org.uk/promoting/resources/#tafal “TAFAL is an acronym for ‘Teach a Friend a Language’. The competition was started at Woodbridge High School in in Essex in 2001, from an original idea by Lindsey Kind a drama teacher at the school. The competition was taken over by the Modern Languages Department in 2002 and has continued to develop from there”. A report on the project, which won a European Award for Languages, is available on the site.

Update: October 2011

---

© 20011