Product Description
Birth - 18 months. A straight-forward and light-hearted approach to teaching infants how to communicate using simple American Sign Language (ASL) signs.
Amazon.com
Sign with Your Baby Complete Learning Kit will enable you to communicate at new levels with your baby long before she can speak. This comprehensive package of book, video, and reference guide shows how simple gestures can communicate ideas like "I'm hungry" or "help me." Caregivers grasp baby's needs immediately rather than learn through trial and error. Dr. Joseph Garcia has designed the system so it's not necessary to learn an entire new language, although it also provides a terrific start in American Sign Language for a hearing-impaired child. A fascinating introduction delves into the development of language in children and uses informative line drawings to demonstrate over 150 hand signs for all kinds of actions and nouns. The accompanying video provides practical tips for getting started, some insight into the hows and whys of this method from Dr. Burton White (director of the Center for Parent Education), and inspiring sights of young babies signing effectively with their caregivers. The laminated quick-reference guide lists some of the most common words in any parent's day: cookie, no, and up are but a few. Garcia's clear, concise methods make learning a breeze, and caregivers gain outstanding new abilities to give the best possible care for the babies entrusted to them. --Jill Lightner
Customer Reviews:
Easy to understand / user-friendly.......2007-10-11
This set has many forms of materials included - the quick-view card helpful for babysitters and grandparents, the DVD to fully explain the theory behind sign-language as well as properly demonstrate the motions of sign-language, and a book which covers many of the same points on theory of sign-language as the DVD. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and after only 1 showing we both picked up many signs to be able to use with our little one.
Signing with babies works.......2007-09-10
We bought Garcia's DVD for our grandson at about 4 months of age. Signs helped him express his needs and even feelings with a minimum of fussing. He is now almost 3 and very verbal & advanced. It may be that he's just a great kid, but we believe signing with babies really works.
Signing is cool -- don't need the video though.......2007-07-08
I like the sign language. It was pretty great when our 9 month old told me he wanted milk the first time! I don't think you need the video though. You can just start repeating certain signs on your own. Just repeat them a lot and be consistent.
The problem we had is that we couldn't get our daycare providers to use the signs. So it seemed like any progress we made got undone by them. He would use the signs with them but they wouldn't recognize it. I can only imagine how that must have been frustrating and confusing for him. So make sure everyone around him is going to use the signs before you start teaching them.
Too much marketing, Not enough vocab........2007-05-26
I started at 7 months, he picked up the first sign at about 10 months, and the rest came around 1 yr. The video/book combination is good because the video shows you the signs and the book is handy for a quick reference.
Drawbacks:
1. I felt like much of the video was still trying to sell me on the idea of doing sign with my baby. It could focus less on marketing and present the information more efficiently.
2. The sign vocabulary is limited to the first stage of sign language learning only. It could be improved by including more vocabulary.
Best Baby Sign Language program.......2007-05-14
I have compared this program with other sign language programs, and it seems to be the best one I have come across so far. At one point, I taught another baby sign language course, whose name I will not mention. The program's signs did not always come close to actual sign language, which I found was offensive to the deaf community. Joseph Garcia's program follows actual signs from ASL, and the program is easy enough to learn if you are willing to put the time and effort into it. I would definitely recommend this baby sign language program for other mothers - the resources are varied - book, DVD, quick reference guide - it's the best out there!!
Product Description
Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Amazon.com
Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading.
Customer Reviews:
smooth, easy to read, and... not so good.......2007-10-13
POSITIVE SIDES;
1. I finished the book at the back of the car, when I was stuck in traffic. That said, with the writer's fluent writing and sincere style, it is really easy to follow the book's ideas.
2. For ex., you'll have a better understanding of not only the process of publishing and its difficulties, but also that of plotting, taking notes, eliminating stress. However, the chapter she talks about getting rid of jelousy isn't helpful at all. In fact, she sometimes makes all those points, quoting films or her experiences with his son, Sam, which don't lead to anywhere.
NEGATIVE SIDES;
1. With all respect to the writer and her career, I must say that I got pretty angry at her when I read that she described bad writing as a Turkish assasin's writing. I think here she has tried to refer to Ottoman Empire which was captured as the ' assasins, murderers' by the other countries in the very old days. Still, it is offensive and not necessary.
2. She keeps mentioning how she has felt like she was going to get cancer or some other diseases throughout those difficult times. This style of her disgusted me. I don't think she is wise enough to give advice on life.
3. When I really began disliking the writer however was when she mentioned animal sacrifice and how she put the newspaper article about the legalisation of small animal sacrifise on the wall, where her cat's bowl stands in the front. Why would a person do that and why would a person write about that and why would a person call that advice?
ON WRITING
... there are much better books. For ex. Story by Robert McKee (It is mainly on screenwriting but it gives great advice on writing in general as well.)
Best of the Bunch.......2007-09-22
Unassuming and astonishing. Of all the books on writing I have read, and I have read a truckload, this one delivers more good advice than any other.
Here's the odd thing, though: when I first tried to read this a few years ago, I didn't get very far. I thought the writer was far too full of herself for her or my good. Then I picked the book up again recently and it blew me away. Maybe a lot of books are like that--you just have to be ready for them.
just what I was looking for.......2007-08-16
This book puts in a nutshell all the answers I as a budding writer was looking for. Take notes as you read and laugh!
A Writer's World.......2007-08-06
What type of book is "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life" by Anne Lamott? It's one of those rare books that makes you want to start reading it all over again just as soon as you finish. In a word, wonderful. Better than that, "Bird by Bird" has something to teach, or at least some helpful advice about writing, writers, and getting published. It's all there: the anxiety, the yearning, the misplaced thought, the jealously, the longing, the joy. The words here don't really do it justice. However favorable an impression you may have at this moment in time, at this point in the review, know this: The book is so much better than what I can describe, and when you actually sit down and read this book (and you should), you will say to yourself, "I didn't know it would be this good!"
Lamott is the published author of eight books, including her most famous novel "Traveling Mercies." If you've never read any Anne Lamott, join the club, but don't let it stop you from getting this book. "Bird by Bird" is a series of discussions about writing and the writing life that reflect some of what Lamott teaches in her UC-Davis writing classes. And yet, there is so much more. She has infused her lessons with charm and grace, with stories of her family and her teaching, and above all, with her own day-to-day writing life. If you've ever wondered how a real author, a published author, goes about creating the magic, Lamott is ready to let you peak in. She talks about real writing tricks that work. She starts with the basics. She confronts her own inner demons and all those internal voices that tell every author his or her work just isn't good enough, and tells you how to get past them and write anyway.
A little bit about the title, which I know must be making you wonder at this point. "Bird by Bird" refers to a story she tells about her brother and her father (another writer). Her brother was then a 10-year old who hadn't done his report on birds the night before it was due at school (although he'd had 3 months to complete it...sound familiar?). He had worked himself up into a panic, wondering how he could possibly accomplish his monumental task. Finally, Lamott's father sits down beside her brother, puts an arm around his shoulder, and says, "Bird by bird, buddy, just take it bird by bird."
This gem of a book is filled with so many wonderful stories, so much humor and pathos, so many identifiable writer crises that you will be astonished at how effortlessly Lamott has accomplished her goal--helping us become better writers. I've never read a book about writing that was so practical, so humane, so lovingly created. This is the most practical guide to writing I've ever read, yet it's never (no, not once) boring. She never gets bogged down in detail. Her writing never wavers. It's an amazing book on those counts alone. That it has so much to teach as well truly makes it a treaure, a golden egg.
Interesting and Informative.......2007-07-21
I expected this book to be informative and was not disappointed. The fact it was also entertaining was a bonus. The author's empathy for other writers was refreshing, as well. I appreciated the many tips sprinkled throughout and would recommend this book to anyone who likes to write.
Average customer rating:
- The Five Love Languages
- Great book / Great Seller
- Every Child Should Be Born w/ a Copy of This Attached!
- So good!
- Save your Child
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The Five Love Languages of Children
Gary Chapman , and
Ross Campbell
Manufacturer: Northfield Publishing
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The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
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The Five Love Languages of Teenagers
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Five Signs of a Loving Family
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The Five Love Languages for Singles (Chapman, Gary)
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The Five Languages of Apology: How to Experience Healing in All Your Relationships
ASIN: 1881273652 |
Book Description
Does your child speak a different language? Sometimes they wager for your attention, and other times they ignore you completely. Sometimes they are filled with gratitude and affection, and other times they seem totally indifferent. Attitude. Behavior. Development. Everything depends on the love relationship between you and your child. When children feel loved, they do their best. But how can you make sure your child feels loved? Since 1992, Dr. Gary Chapman's best-selling book The Five Love Languages has helped more than 300,000 couples develop stronger, more fulfilling relationships by teaching them to speak each others love language. Each child, too, expresses and receives love through one of five different communication styles. And your love language may be totally different from that of your child. While you are doing all you can to show your child love, he may be hearing it as something completely opposite.Discover your child's primary language and learn what you can do to effectively convey unconditional feelings of respect, affection, and commitment that will resonate in your child's emotions and behavior.
Customer Reviews:
The Five Love Languages.......2007-09-21
The Five Love Languages of children is a inspiration book that will ultimately unlock your understand of how to love your children that way they can understand.
This book will undoubtedly empower every reader. I, too, recommend "365 Prophetic Promises & Blessings for Your Children" for all parents who desire the best for their children.
Great book / Great Seller.......2007-09-12
This book, like the original, is awesome. A must-read for any parent. Great seller/price. Fast shipping and condition exactly as described.
Every Child Should Be Born w/ a Copy of This Attached!.......2007-09-11
This Audiobook ranks at the top with my favorites. It makes perfect sense! Gary doesn't just explain his topics, but also gives practical ways to apply them! AND THEY WORK!! This is a must have for anyone with kids in their life!
So good!.......2007-09-10
This is very helpful and informative. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. I lent it to my neighbor and have yet to get it back!
Save your Child.......2007-07-30
Oh my goodness!! Every parent should have this book. I am seeing the principles in this book work with our son. And as I share the principles with other parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. They are seeing their relationships with the children in their life change. I only wish that my parents would have had this book, while I was growing up. It would have answered so many of my behavior issues as a child. Thank God for this book.
Average customer rating:
- Clear as water
- Agile Web Development
- Beyond great: best book, best reference, best index (and funny)
- Great new edition of a fine book
- Excellent, Thorough and Easy
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Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition
Dave Thomas ,
David Hansson ,
Leon Breedt ,
Mike Clark ,
James Duncan Davidson ,
Justin Gehtland , and
Andreas Schwarz
Manufacturer: Pragmatic Bookshelf
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Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition
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Rails Recipes (Pragmatic Programmers)
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Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers
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Ruby Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))
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Ajax on Rails
ASIN: 0977616630 |
Book Description
The definitive, Jolt-award winning guide to learning and using Rails is now in its Second Edition. Rails is a new approach to web-based application development that enables developers to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications using less code and less effort. Now programmers can get the job done right and still leave work on time.
NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION: The book has been updated to take advantage of all the new Rails 1.2 features. The sample application uses migrations, Ajax, features a REST interface, and illustrates new Rails features. There are new chapters on migrations, active support, active record, and action controller (including the new resources-based routing). The Web 2.0 and Deployment chapters have been completely rewritten to reflect the latest thinking. Now you can learn which environments are best for your style application, and see how Capistrano makes managing your site simple. All the remaining chapters have been extensively updated. Finally, hundreds of comments from readers of the first edition have been incorporated, making this book simply the best available.
Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications with a twist...you can create a full Rails application using less code than the setup XML you'd need just to configure some other frameworks.
With this book, you'll learn how to use Rails Active Record to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, talk to web services, and interact dynamically with JavaScript applications running in the browser (the "Ajax" architecture).
You'll see how easy it is to deploy Rails. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all.
Customer Reviews:
Clear as water.......2007-09-27
This book is a really good inversion if you plan to start you "RoR" experience, the way the book is written is very clear and in a good order, so you can understand better what's going on as you go along.
Great book!
Agile Web Development.......2007-09-27
Great book to start off with. Has a good tutorial on building a shopping cart application. Then one can learn from that to develop a application that is unique for their business.
Beyond great: best book, best reference, best index (and funny).......2007-09-19
I am an oldster (you know, 40+) and have learned many a language. Kernigan and Ritchie wrote their "K & R" C-language book in some written language a little higher level than English. After 40 or 50 reads through, I got it. I read C++ books, SmallTalk, Delphi, Visual Basic, and many Java books, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Awk, Emacs, REXX (!!), and just about everything O'Reily has ever published.
Now, I come to Ruby, and Ruby on Rails. Thank goodness for this book. What a relief to read a book that is 1) comprehensive, 2) practical, 3) accurate, 4) funny at times, and 5) above all, has a good index! Perhaps programming languages are (finally) getting easier to write about, but Dave Thomas is an outstanding technical writer: he knows his audience and writes for us. Look, I know a million programming languages, but I am not the kind of person who zips through a book and suddenly gets it. Most books are written by people who are experts in the nuances, but have forgotten the many steps that lead up to those nuances.
AWDWR is better. It starts with a non-trivial and complete tutorial -- the first half of the book is an application that manages to hit most of the critical aspects of actually doing the job. It is a reasonably broad application covering many points of real webapps. (I read through thinking, yeah, we managed to deal with that in our Java webapp in a month, and here it is, built in to Rails, and better ... more than once). Maybe it is Rails, which seems to be a significant step in maturity over current generations (my last was WebWork/Struts 2, which seems to be the best you can do with Java these days, but really only one part of the larger problem).
But I have to give great respect to Dave Thomas and the other great writers who all made this second edition book a great, great book. I could follow along when reading, I actually did the whole tutorial and found myself learning almost all the way through typing the examples in by hand (mostly by learning how to debug my typos and understanding how the language and framework responded). Now that we're writing our real software, we still look back at the tutorial to get a clear view of how all the parts fit together.
The second part of the book is a solid documentation of the components and APIs available. It is not complete, but nor should it be -- if you want the API, link to the Rails site API. It does cover the important points, however, and ties them back to the tutorial where appropriate. Various important aspects are covered in enough detail to get the idea across, but not so much as to be just a lexicon.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. If this is your first programming book, it will be a struggle, but less than most, and if you're a professional software engineer with one or two languages under your belt (and reasonable proficiency at the command line), you will find this a great reference for learning, and for doing.
Great new edition of a fine book.......2007-09-06
If you have the first edition of this book, you REALLY need to get this edition, since some of the recommended ways to do things have changed. Even some of the ways to get the first sample applications up and running have changed a bit. To be sure, the changes are for the better. The first edition of this book helped me to get my first Ruby on Rails app up and running and this one makes it easier.
Excellent, Thorough and Easy.......2007-08-23
This book, for me, was fantastic! Real world examples for the win! I am still not finished with this book, only half-way through it but, I have to say I have never been as excited about a book than I am about this one.
The very beginning chapters get a functional website application up and running called Depot (an on line book store) and they do this in such a way that you don't have to know the Ruby language (no, it's not scaffolding). As long as you can understand how gears work and fit together and that one turns clockwise and another turns counter clockwise, I don't think you'll have a problem.
With that being said, without knowing Ruby, you may be able to get by on making your own application from scratch but, it will be very rough. The purpose of this book is to teach you about Rails, not Ruby.
My recommendation is, read this book first, before a Ruby book. That way, seeing the Ruby code will be much easier to take in after you see how it works in Rails and to syntax used. Do NOT skimp on learning Ruby after you read this book! You will be sorry! There are TONS more to learn just by learning the language itself. There is more than one way to skin a cat and by learning the rest of the language, you will be more empowered to figure out problems on your own.
The only problem I had with this book was that, in the middle of chapter 5, it skipped back to chapter 3 and finished out chapter 5, chapter 6 and half of chapter 7 was missing. This is the printer's fault, not Amazon's or Pragmatic Programmer's fault. If you happen to get a messed up book, don't contact Amazon, it takes forever. Instead, I contacted Pragmatic Programmer via email and let them know of the situation and to my surprise, they sent me a brand new book still in plastic, priority mail which took about 2 days to get to me! I was just expecting maybe the missing chapters in PDF format but, this shows a lot of character on the part of the company (Pragmatic Programmers). My email was responded to in less than 45 seconds after I hit the "send" button. I would like to offer much praise to the company for this!
If you are a PHP developer, there is another framework that has been modeled after Ruby on Rails called CakePHP. It is fairly new and under heavy development but, the basic principals are the same. The only reason I am plugging them here is, without having learned this framework, I don't think I would have thought about looking at Ruby on Rails. For a super quick breakdown of how MVC pattern works. Be aware that Ruby on Rails is much easier. I think this is due to the nature of PHP and not the framework itself. The devs try their hardest to make it easy for you.
I guess I don't have anything else to say about this except, if you do buy this book, you will not be disappointed.
Average customer rating:
- Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck
- Bringing Words to Life
- Valuable Vocabulary Strategies
- easy read with quick interventions for vocabulary instruction
- Fabulous, Fantastic, Superb...should I say more?
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Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction
Isabel L. Beck ,
Margaret G. McKeown , and
Linda Kucan
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Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction (4th Edition) (Words Their Way Series)
ASIN: 1572307536 |
Book Description
Exciting and engaging vocabulary instruction can set students on the path to a lifelong fascination with words. This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom. Many concrete examples, sample classroom dialogues, and exercises for teachers bring the material to life. Helpful appendices include suggestions for trade books that help children enlarge their vocabulary and/or have fun with different aspects of words.
Customer Reviews:
Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck.......2007-10-17
This is an excellent book on teaching vocabulary to all grade levels. It is check full of ideas you can implement immediately with just enough philosophy to make the strategies understandable. I highly recommend it!!
Bringing Words to Life.......2007-07-22
While I appreciated the premise of the research outlined in this book, and have no doubt the approach recommended would be effective, I question the practicality for application in a classroom. It seems that it would take a considerable amount of planning and cumbersome documentation particularly with younger children or multiage classes. I plan to try to implement some of the suggestions and like the idea of working to help children establish their own definitions, moving away from traditional dictionary definitions that are only confusing for young students.
Valuable Vocabulary Strategies.......2006-05-01
Bringing Words to Life is an essential book for any classroom. It offers valuable insights and strategies for teaching vocabulary in all classrooms, elementary through high school. It's written so that it's easy to understand and each chapter ends with activities for the reader to better understand the content of the chapter. There is also an easy reference appendix for books to use with vocabulary instruction. If you're looking to enhance the vocabulary of your students, this book has everything you need!
easy read with quick interventions for vocabulary instruction.......2006-03-26
I read this for a graduate class and found it to be a quick, easy read. The authors give you simple ways to enhance your vocabulary instruction. I would recommend this book to teachers at all levels but especially those working 3rd grade and above.
Fabulous, Fantastic, Superb...should I say more?.......2006-02-25
A great easy to ready and easier to use tool to enhance everyday classroom teaching to support vocabulary in students! A must for all teachers!
Book Description
Ways with Words is a classic study of children learning to use language at home and at school in two communities only a few miles apart in the south-eastern United States. ‘Roadville’ is a white working-class community of families steeped for generations in the life of textile mills; ‘Trackton’ is a black working-class community whose older generations grew up farming the land but whose current members work in the mills. In tracing the children’s language development the author shows the deep cultural differences between the two communities, whose ways with words differ as strikingly from each other as either does from the pattern of the townspeople, the ‘mainstream’ blacks and whites who hold power in the schools and workplaces of the region. Employing the combined skills of ethnographer, social historian, and teacher, the author raises fundamental questions about the nature of language development, the effects of literacy on oral language habits, and the sources of communication problems in schools and workplaces.
Customer Reviews:
important piece of work.......2007-05-04
As a graduate student in English, I am not one who wanted to take any courses on rhetoric and composition. I signed up for one class this semester that focused on literacy and race. This book was a required reading. I was actually one of the only students who liked this book. Heath immerses herself in the communities of Trackton and Roadville. As an instructor of some of the local teachers, she decided to look into the literacy learning of these two communities. Trackton, an all black community, consists of people reading to learn. In Roadville, the all-white community is struggling with desegregation and parents wanting their children to learn the "right" things. The study of the Piedmont Carolinas--the area where the two communities are located--is important because it specifies that culture has everything to do with the way language and literacy is learned. I give it four stars because in the course of a ten year study, it did not seem as if she gathered a lot of research. She seemed to focus only on their lifestyles.
Shirley Brice Heath Has a "Way With Words".......2000-08-23
Language is power. Heath, a reflective practitioner of both human nature and schooling, provides an in-depth view of communities which epitomize the struggle for such power. In her ethnographic study of Trackton and Roadville, Heath lays bare the socializing process of children through words. The discontinuity between home and school is disturbing; a realization that students who do not fit the traditional way of schooling are left behind. Clearly illustrated is the need for teachers and students to bridge the gap which exists in relation to both language and culture, for without this effort some students will never acquire the power needed to take control of their education or pursue opportunities from which they have previously been excluded. This is must reading for student ethnographers, doctoral students, and those dedicated to school reform, particularly those in the areas of diversity in public schools, and language. This extraordinary book compares favorably to "Growing Up Literate: Learning From Inner-City Families" by Denny Taylor & Catherine Dorsey-Gaines.
A Teacher's View.......2000-04-03
Teaching in a high school with a large number of minority children can be challenging. After reading this book, recommended by the debate teacher, I feel that I am better prepared. This book is an excellent resource for those wanting to understand the student from a background different form their own. If you plan to work in public school, this book is a must-read. I borrowed a friend's book, and then decided I had to have a copy of my own.
Product Description
This book offers practical suggestions and advice for how to teach and learn those subtle messages that most people seem to pick up almost automatically but that have to be directly taught to individuals with social-cognitive challenges. Given the serious consequences that can befall a person who violates a social rule, the strategies and detailed lists of curriculum items make The Hidden Curriculum a much-needed resource.
Customer Reviews:
Good reference but scant on practical strategies.......2007-07-25
I purchased this book a year ago and it sat on my shelf until today. I dusted it off because I am developing a community-based social skills coaching program for an adolescent with high-functioning Autism. I recalled that the book had a nice list of the hidden curriculum for a variety of social situations (e.g. eating at a restauant, telephone skills, rules for dating, reading body language). There were a few in there that I never would have thought of. This was helpful as a jumping off point for making goals and developing a concise script for the sessions.
There is a section in the book on the strategies to teach the hidden curriculum, but it is limited in content. There is a brief description of a technique, examples of worksheets one could use, but there are no blank reproducible materials of the worksheets they used as examples.
I would recommend this book for those just starting out in the field and teachers or parents who want to know what words to use to explain to their child the "unwritten social rules."
By the way, I would also recommend that you "do not talk about how mucus looks or feels in the throat or looks in your tissue." :)
Totally Unhelpful!.......2006-04-02
I bought this book because a reviewer said it would teach people with Asperger's syndrome how to make and manintain eye contact. It doesn't. It just says you should make and maintain eye contact, it doesn't teach you how. This book only tells you what society expects of you, so if you already know what society expects of you, but just cannot figure out how to do it smoothly, don't buy this book. If you already know stuff like, "pull up your pants before coming out of the bathroom", don't buy this book.
Great Resource for Social Skills.......2006-02-19
This book is a must have for anyone whose life is touched by someone with autism. Myles teaches her readers that teaching social skills is not an insurmountable task. It just requires a conscious effort by all.
Finally! A simple solution!.......2005-04-24
One of the missing components to the concept of teaching "social skills" to children and young adults on the autism spectrum, is that instructors focus on textbook manners instead of teaching REAL life practical knowledge. The Hidden Curriculum explains that every society has unstated rules, the things that no one explains to you, but which you are supposed to pick up somehow on your own. Remember how awkward and geeky most of us were in Jr. High? And there were always the "cool kids" who somehow knew just how to dress, just what to say and meanwhile you (and I) were clueless? It's because they understood the unstated rules, they had an unkanny ability to pick up the exact tools necessary for "coolness." As we grow up, we learn better how to adapt to social situations, we know how to behave in a variety of settings, even perhaps cross culturally. Adults grow into a sense of ease in our surroundings, we know what we are supposed to do. Now, imagine that you never got over that awkward phase, you were perpetually spending your life roaming around trying to figure out the world with little to go on. No one pulled you aside and explained, "This is how it is, Kid." That's exactly what it's like for our kids on the spectrum. Well, here comes The Hidden Curriculum to the rescue! Not only does it explain many of these "unstated rules" (many of which are humorous--who doesn't know you should take tuna in your school lunch because it stinks? many of our AS kids!) It also goes beyond to explain how to uncover them. It highlights how crucial it is for us as parents, as educators and just as a society to literally pull our AS folks aside and say, "These are the rules." For example, "Don't pick your nose." Good advice right? But p-leeeze, everybody picks their nose! (Okay, not me, but everybody else! :-) What we really need to teach our kids is not, don't pick your nose, but not to pick their nose where people can see them. Sound silly? Our children and friends on the autism spectrum just need for us to teach them one little tidbit like this every day and they'll find their way with increasing ease. And wouldn't you have liked someone to pull you aside in Jr. High and done the same for you? Let's equip our kids with the real skills to make their way in the world. The Hidden Curriculum does just that!
Bridging the Gap & Crossing into Neuro-neutral Grounds.......2004-12-24
This is another book that people on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) spectrum have been praying for! This sterling work helps decode and identify tacit Social Codes & Rules. For many people on the a/A spectrum, learning these nonverbal subtleties is a major challenge. a/A related conditions are neurobiological and affect sensory processing and integration as well as communication. People on the a/A spectrum encounter a wide range of social difficulties, many of which are addressed in this book.
This work gives good advice on how to make and maintain eye contact; how to position oneself when talking to and listening to another; how to appear natural in practicing these skills. This book also gives a good explanation of how to "read" people socially and how to learn to anticipate possible seeming changes in the Tacit Social Codes & Rules. People with neurotypical (NT) brains already know these Rules and NT readers also can benefit from this book by seeing what people on the a/A spectrum contend with. Rather, people on the a/A spectrum learn these behaviors cognitively as this is not intuitive knowledge among the a/A population. Once the Rules are learned, the next step is understanding when and how and to apply them.
Make a place for this book. It is every a/A navigator's best friend when it comes to improving social skills and interpreting human behavior. It is a bridge from the a/A population to the NT population and moves all, a/A and NT readers alike onto neuro-neutral ground. The information found in this book makes communicating in the NT world so much easier and so much more logical!
Customer Reviews:
Analysis of Pop Culture with Mostly Accessible Essays.......2006-02-19
Signs of Life focuses on the way we are shaped by the media and advertising with nine chapters that cover "Consuming Passions," "The Signs of Advertising," "Video Dreams," "The Culture of American Film," "Culture and Contradiction in the U.S.A.," "Gender Codes," "Constructing Race," "Popular Spaces," and "American Icons." Many of the essayists, like David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Thomas Frank, Eric Schlosser, Franine Prose, Gregg Easterbrook, Malcolm Gladwell, and Michael Eric Dyson are best-selling authors whose essays or book excerpts are published in popular magazines. Signs of Life is well served by these writers who, unlike some of the lesser known writers, don't indulge in heavy didactic, academic prose. Some might not like the book for giving too much space to overly didactic writers. For example, there is Fred Davis' essay about the cultural signs and contradictions of blue jeans, which is so steeped in academic speak and is so absorbed by its tiny topic that it seems a pardoy of scholarly writing. Read for example: "Paralleling the de-democratization of the jean, by the 1970s strong currents toward is eroticization were also evident." Or "Of all of the modifications wrought upon it, the phenomenon of designer jeans speaks most directly to the garment's encoding of status ambivalences. The very act of affixing a well-known designer's label . . . to the back side of a pair of jeans has to be interpreted . . . along Veblenian lines, as an instance of conspicuous consumption; in effect, a muting of the underlying rough-hewn proletarian connotation of the garment throug the introduction of a prominent status marker." This is tough going, especially freshmen college students who are not familiar with this type of heavy-handed writing. This essay selection should be further criticized because I don't think students should be encouraged to believe that Fred Davis' heavy-handed writing style represents a worthy model.
In spite of some of the book's excesses, teachers and students alike should appreciate Signs of Life for three reasons: 1) Integrating the aforementioned popular authors into the chapters about popular culture, 2) Providing excellent essay assignments at the end of each essay under the heading "Reading the Signs." With a half dozen strong essay options per essay, the students have over 50 assignment options for chapter. 3) The introduction has three excellent model essays that show the students how to write A-level expositions. The models are based on "The Personal Experience Essay," "Critical Reading of a Film," and "The Open-Ended Analytic Assignment." Each model shows how to integrate outside quotes, paraphrases, and summary into the writer's own voice and how to document outside sources in the text and at the end of the manuscript with an MLA style "Works Cited" page.
It appears that Signs of Life Fifth Edition is moving away from the academic lucubrations of scholarly authors and embracing more accessible writers, like those previously mentioned. This is a positive evolution for the fifth edition and hopefully points to less overly-done academic writing in future editions.
What the media is up to...........2005-09-22
There is a statement that is familiar amongst our society, especially those of us that are more liberal, and that is "to not always trust what the media offers as valid or true." This textbook is an attempt to characterize the ways that media manipulate or tangle the truth, and even goes as far as offering an explanation as to why they do it. Now this is where objectivity within a learning text can be lost because to offer opinion about why the media does such things is treacherously difficult to do without biasing a left or right view. Yet the book does offer many illuminating details about the workings of this incredibly powerful economic and political tool, and more importantly, it offers the reader tools for combating or deciphering the clouded messages it gives.
I believe that this is a book that must be read by every human being (not to mention our pets who more and more become economic targets) so as to arm himself or herself against the incessant onslaught of "buy me! Buy me!" and "I can make you better because God knows you weren't made right!" However, the book loses power in being a textbook because some fluidity is lost, and it can be at times rather bland.
Nonetheless, it is a great tool to have and a tool that has now more recently become important to the human in his newest, superficial society.
Amazon.com
Unhappiness in marriage often has a simple root cause: we speak different love languages, believes Dr. Gary Chapman. While working as a marriage counselor for more than 30 years, he identified five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. In a friendly, often humorous style, he unpacks each one. Some husbands or wives may crave focused attention; another needs regular praise. Gifts are highly important to one spouse, while another sees fixing a leaky faucet, ironing a shirt, or cooking a meal as filling their "love tank." Some partners might find physical touch makes them feel valued: holding hands, giving back rubs, and sexual contact. Chapman illustrates each love language with real-life examples from his counseling practice.
How do you discover your spouse's - and your own - love language? Chapman's short questionnaires are one of several ways to find out. Throughout the book, he also includes application questions that can be answered more extensively in the beautifully detailed companion leather journal (an exclusive Amazon.com set). Each section of the journal corresponds with a chapter from the book, offering opportunities for deeper reflection on your marriage.
Although some readers may find choosing to love a spouse that they no longer even like -hoping the feelings of affection will follow later- a difficult concept to swallow, Chapman promises that the results will be worth the effort. "Love is a choice," says Chapman. "And either partner can start the process today." --Cindy Crosby. This text refers to the Amazon.com Exclusive Journal & Paperback Book Set.
Book Description
Focus, men! Gary Chapman addresses men specifically in this new edition of the multi-million seller, The Five Love Languages. At the end of each chapter are ten ideas for expressing that particular love language to the woman in your life. Do you think her love language is gifts? Take the quiz and find out, then use the practical tips and tell her how much you love her.
Customer Reviews:
A fun book to read and apply.......2007-10-19
It was fun to read this book and think about my own love language as well as figuring out my husband's.
Communicating heartfelt committment.......2007-10-18
The goal of the book "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman is to learn how to communicate heartfelt commitment to your mate. The book achieves its purpose by explaining five possible ways (or love languages) people express and/or receive love. Armed with the knowledge of how to recognize and speak your mates primary love language(s) your mates love tank should hopefully never run low; resulting in a successful and happy marriage.
The "Five Love Languages" makes for a great suppliment tool. The material in the book only deals with one aspect of marriage (expressing commitment),and would be best used with a Biblical study on marriage (or relationships). This is a great tool, but shouldn't be the only tool in ones marriage tool box.
I feel there is a caution worth mentioning in regards to this book. The "Five Love Languages" is not a Bible study, nor does it express the foundational teachings of marriage in the Bible. The book doesn't explain the marriage covenant, God's teaches about marriage, or what the Biblical roles are of the husband and wife.
Insightful Book.......2007-10-17
Gary Chapman's book is very insightful. Not only do you learn your partner's "love language," but you'll understand yourself and others better, too. If you wish to convey appreciation and love to your spouse, family and friends, this book definitely provides effective measures for doing so.
Must Read.......2007-10-17
This book truly opened my eyes to the needs of my husband, and played a large part in saving my marriage.
A must listen to by all to improve yourself and others.......2007-10-16
This audio is for everyone, who wants to try to understand people, especially your spouse and children. I have listened to this five times, and I am still learning, as this tape gives examples with other people in the audio that makes it quite interesting. One situation was when both people were in love, got married then turned around to only be a one sided love. Gary Chapman coached the one person and helped two, and understanding that each of us has things, we love more than the other does. We have been married for forty-six years and I found out how to make it even better, with listening to this tape. The best!
Product Description
A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student is a must for ESL students who are serious about improving their comprehension and usage of idiomatic English.
Customer Reviews:
An ESL text you really "can't live without".......2006-12-02
Research in second language vocabulary acquisition demonstrates that learning idioms is one of the most important aspects of acquiring a second language. ESL students who do not understand idioms will not be able to understand a large portion of the English language. Consider that an ESL student can understand the grammar of the phrase "kick the bucket" without having any clue as to its actual meaning. Furthermore, ESL students who do not understand idioms will have a much harder time fitting into the culture of native English speakers. This struggle can be severely detrimental to a learner's intrinsic motivation, which is one of the most important factors influencing language learning success. A Year in the Life of an ESL Student: Idioms and Vocabulary You Can't Live Without is an outstanding resource that addresses this important issue of idioms by teaching ESL students an expansive number of them in an engaging and enjoyable manner.
As to the expansiveness of the text, it provides idioms that address a wide variety of situations from attending a TOEFL class to suntanning on the beach. The following examples give a glimpse of the range of idiomatic expressions that students will learn: "better late than never," "cover for someone (to)," "hangover," and "work one's butt off (to)." The presentation of each idiom is clear with each of them first appearing in bold letters in a stimulating dialogue. This feature of the book is beneficial since research has shown that lexical items are much better remembered when learned in authentic contexts. As the author states, "Context is the key to making the daunting task of understanding and using idiomatic English not only possible, but enjoyable too." The dialogues are followed by pages where each idiom is placed in glossary format. After that, there are a significant number of exercises for students to learn the idioms interactively.
Beyond meeting a need in the ESL community, the other aspect of this text that makes it so successful is its engaging style. Many language learning materials present grammatical and cultural information with pictures and other helpful graphics; however, when it comes to vocabulary and idioms these items are often still presented in lists. On the other hand, A Year in the Life places idioms in interesting dialogues that often contain humor and are related to the actual experiences that an ESL student may have. In addition to the dialogues, learners also have the opportunity to learn idioms by playing games. Two common exercises found throughout the book are crosswords and word searches. The realistic dialogues and the exercises make learning the idioms interesting and fun.
Considering the need for a text of this kind in the ESL community and its engaging style, I would recommend it without reservation to both ESL teachers and students. A Year in the Life will lead learners into a much more native-like competence.
Good application of the lexical method........2006-11-20
Michael Lewis caused quite a stir in the world of ESL when he published his "The Lexical Approach" in 1993. Lewis's point was basically thus: ESL students are force feed too much English grammar. The idea that grammar can be mastered and then students fill in the blanks with vocabulary is naïve, according to Lewis, and makes it difficult for students to understand natural English phrases such as "Let's have a coffee," because students have only studied "Shall we drink coffee?" Having taught English to Japanese students, who are taught grammar and only grammar in high school, I found this to be a huge obstacle. Lewis's book caused a huge sensation on the ESL teaching community, and many teachers thought they didn't have to teach grammar anymore, it was fine just to teach idiom after idiom. Lewis followed up a few years later with a book on how to apply the lexical approach, saying that it is idioms, expressions and grammar are not so far removed from grammar. In other words, idioms and expressions should be taught as a part of grammar.
Since Lewis shook up the ESL world, there have been attempts to bring out commercial textbooks that implement the Lexical Approach. However, most of them are not so different than previous textbooks, with traditional grammar the focus of the lesson, and idioms kind of tacked on as an afterthought. "A Year in the Life of an ESL Student" does a good job of introducing idioms as an integral part of communication, not just as an added bonus. Colorful idioms such as "Drink like a fish" or "toss one's cookies", as well as expressions that are not idioms, but present difficulties to ESL students, such as "mope around" are presented in natural conversations, and than reinforced through various exercises, such as crossword puzzles, word find exercises, and so on. Many ESL students have the goal of being able to watch Hollywood movies with no subtitles. Just studying grammar and straight vocabulary will never allow this to happen. However, this book will equip students with hundreds of natural and useful expressions that will help them understand and by able to speak more natural English.
The book focuses on a Swiss student, Andre, as he studies for a year at a private language school in North America. All of the conversations in the book involve Andre and his friends at the language school. Students will like this because it makes the stories easy to follow and understand. Teachers will like this book because there are lots of good exercises in each of the 16 chapters, making it easy to teach good lessons with no or very little preparation. Then there is the theme of this book, studying language abroad for a year. This should be the goal of many of your students, and if it is not, studying with this text will hopefully get them interested in the possibility. For classes with more advanced students, this can be a good springboard for a discussion on the topic.
An excellent resource for English as a Second Language classrooms or self-study for students learning English.......2006-02-09
A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student: Idioms And Vocabulary You Can't Live Without is an excellent resource for English as a Second Language classrooms or self-study for students learning English. Following Andre, a student from Switzerland spending a year completing his English studies at a private language school, the lessons cover a wide variety of language situations directly relevant to adult ESL students, from disembarking at the airport to getting around the city to hanging out with classmates. A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student is particularly valuable for its definitions of common idioms - English phrases with a specific meaning that is not immediately identifiable to those unfamiliar with the language's nuances, such as "blow someone away" (astonish someone), "into something" (enjoy something), "give someone a ring" (phone someone), and much more. Simple exercises for idiom recognition and daily use and a host of online resources round out this consumable textbook.
Francis Nails It!.......2005-09-01
Never before in my 20 years of E.S.L. teaching have I seen a better idioms textbook. A Year in the Life is simple to use, is extremely comprehensive, and helps meet a need for relevant, structured, higher level material dealing with spoken English. There are a variety of exercises and activities that can be utilized/skipped according to needs and tastes, and the extensive definitions and examples make it possible for students to learn correct usage at home. All in all, a great find for students and teachers alike. Bravo Mr. Francis!
An Invaluable Work Book.......2005-05-23
One of the most challenging difficulties teachers of a second language face is creating an atmosphere where the learning process becomes meaningful and at the same time practical, painless and enjoyable.
From my own personal experience learning French, it was only when my ear became tuned in to the nuances and subtleties of the language, and I ceased translating from English to French, that I achieved a certain amount of fluency.
One of the keys that aided my personal plight was being immersed into situations, where I had no alternative than to make myself understood to individuals, who could not converse in English, such as in a shopping mall, a restaurant, or hotel.
When I picked up a copy of Edward J. Francis' A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student: Idioms And Vocabulary You Can't Live Without, I asked myself, would life not have been far simpler if I had at my disposal this excellent workbook?
Francis is an ESL professional with over 15 years of teaching experience. He has put together an innovative and creative workbook that serves as a compliment to the classroom teaching of English as a second language.
Specifically, through the various exercises included in the book, students are exposed to a variety of practical circumstances, wherein certain words and idioms are regularly employed.
Rather than just providing vocabulary for the sake of language, students are stimulated by true- life situations rather than abstract concepts.
Divided into sixteen chapters, the workbook format follows the life of André, a student from Switzerland, who spends a year in North America in a private language school learning English. André experiences include his arrival in the country, wandering around the city, sitting in the student lounge, attending a TOEFL class, eating dinner with a roommate, shopping in a mall, picking up a friend at the airport, a day at the beach, waiting for a fireworks show, working out at a fitness club, drinking in a bar, catching a movie, driving to a cabin for the weekend, finishing classes, snowboarding and returning home.
Each chapter is set in motion with a conversation between André and another party, wherein certain key words and idioms are identified and printed in bold letters, and subsequently defined. As an example, where André works out at a fitness club, some of the key words and phrases are tuckered out, cleaned up my act, kicked the habit, pooped, carried away, do wonders for and many more.
This is followed by a series of exercises where the words are reinforced by having the student match the words/idioms, use them within sentences, complete a cross word puzzle, rewrite sentences using the word/idiom from the dialogue, fill in the blanks, comprehension questions, discussion questions, and identifying where certain words were more apt to be heard.
Also included at the back of the workbook are a list of related websites to the topics covered, answers to the exercises, and a glossary of terms.
No doubt, the traditional methods of teaching a second language are passé. Gone are the days when students only regurgitated vocabulary and rattled off verbs without integrating what they have learned into everyday situations. For the most part, with excellent workbooks as, A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student: Idioms And Vocabulary You Can't Live Without, there is recognition that what is the key to learning a second language is creativity, innovation and experimentation in the classroom.
This workbook should be a must for anyone who wishes to learn English, and will definitely prove to be an invaluable learning aid.
Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com
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