http://uniteforliteracy.com/ provides access to free ebooks in English many languages. Click on the "narration" menu on the left to narrow selections by language. Texts are geared for language learners and emerging readers.

Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, French, Somali, Karen and Karenni, Vietnamese, and more... with more being added on a regular basis. It's a resource worth checking out.

Shannon

On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 11:41 AM, Charles Dabritz <cdabritz@bsdvt.org> wrote:

I know that the International Children's Digital Library has books in many languages. Not sure of the age level of your students but check it out: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

Charles Dabritz
Hunt Middle School
Teacher-Librarian

On Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 3:18 PM, Kissel, Cheryl <KisselC@wssu.org> wrote:

In our district we have (currently) two Chinese students – one in each school, different families and age/grade levels. Purchasing books in Chinese for one reader and then having them sit around gathering dust afterward isn’t very cost-effective, but we want to help these students by giving them materials they can read in their native language while they are learning English. Here are the questions for which we hope this wise group will have answers:

·         How have you been able to find texts in ELL students’ language?

·         Are there tricks to finding foreign language texts through VALS??

·         In the absence of (print) texts in their language, do you have access to downloadable ebooks or some kind of translating app?

·         If you have books in Chinese (simplified Mandarin), may we work out some sort of borrowing arrangement?

·         Any other helpful advice is welcome!

Thank you,

Cheryl & Dorothy

Cheryl Kissel, librarian

Northfield Middle & High School

37 Cross St.
Northfield, VT 05663

(802) 485-4500

And

Dorothy Bonnette, Librarian

Northfield Elementary School

=====================================================
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy/delete all copies of the original message.

Shannon Walters
Teacher Librarian, Integrated Arts Academy
6 Archibald Street Burlington, Vermont 05401

Library: 802-864-2229

Governor's Institutes of Vermont
GIV Information Technology and Digital Media, Co-Director

shannon@giv.org

"Students need to move from being simply knowledgeable to being knowledge-able."
~Michael Wesch