For all of those parents and grandparents struggling to keep school-aged kids occupied and learning while stuck at home during the coronavirus lock-down (and looking ahead to the summer months!), how about using my Polar Bear Facts & Myths book to practice a second language? The book is short (<800 words), the topic is compelling, and the text is simple. As well as the original English, it's also available in French, German, Norwegian, and Dutch – all translated from English by native speakers. Prices have now been reduced on all versions of this title and several others (note it has taken Amazon two weeks to implement these changes).
Purchase two copies (one in your native language, the other in the language the child has been learning), and let them work their way through. This approach makes it easy for kids to tackle this task on their own. For Canadian kids who must take French, this is an excellent way to brush up on their French reading skills while learning about polar bears and the Arctic. Similarly, for a large number of European kids, it’s a chance to practice their English reading skills.
When they are done, you could 1) ask them to find a polar bear picture online and write a caption in their second language; 2) send me a question that the book hasn’t answered and I will respond on this blog, in English! Other links below.
Only the English version of Facts & Myths is available as an ebook, via Amazon for a ‘Kindle’ version or Smashwords for an ‘epub’ version that you can use on a PC, laptop or iphone. However, to encourage young readers and language learners, I have just reduced the price of the English ebook version to $0.99 and the hard copies of all language versions to US$9.83 or equivalent (from $12.99), which are the lowest prices allowable on Amazon (the prices are on the high side due to the large number of colour photos).
For older teens and adults looking for more detail, the fully referenced Polar Bears: Outstanding Survivors of Climate Change (English only) has also been set at $0.99 for the ebook and reduced to $11.93 for the paperback (the lowest allowable, down from $14.49). For older kids less interested in pure science, they might enjoy my science-based novel, Eaten: the ebook version of this exciting polar bear attack thriller has been set to $0.99 at Amazon and Smashwords (for an ‘epub’ version), and the paperback version is reduced from US$12.99 to $11.67 or equivalent.
Note: The price of my newest volume, The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened, has not been reduced.
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