Thursday, May 16, 2013

Lenore and her path to speaking English

I recently had the pleasure of hearing the author, Lenore Look, speak to a group of second graders and their parents. Lenore held up one of her early report cards and asked the kids what marks they thought she got in conduct. They  gave her higher marks than she actually got. The reason her marks were low was because she didn't understand English when she started school. She was born in the U.S. but her family only spoke Chinese at home. By the seventh grade she finally felt comfortable in English.

I was impressed by her presentation and her interaction with the kids.Especially since she showed us the journal she kept for her writing projects and her use of different colored pencils to keep track of various topics.



Today I'd like to showcase her multicultural picture book, Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding.
Jenny, the narrator, is unhappy  about the wedding.
"Uncle Peter is upstairs taking his wedding bath so he'll be clean as Monday morning. Except this is Saturday, and he should be with me, getting dirty at the playground."
But Jenny gets into the swing of things, as she participates in this traditional Chinese wedding.