KBR welcomes Tim Johnson, the creative mind behind an award-winning, bilingual series of illustrated books featuring the adventures of Bosley Bear.
Bilingualism is becoming more and
more valuable in today's world as it becomes more and more expected of our
young workforce. There are so many young adults who speak many languages
and put that skill to excellent use when creating discussions at an international
level to reach new clients, work with manufacturers, create outreach programs
and immerse small businesses and non-profit organisations into cultures that
can benefit from what they have to offer.
High school classes and higher
education for language learning are, of course, a critical part of making these
people successful, but to create native speakers in a language, I believe it is
essential to start children at a very young age. Studies have been done
to confirm that even though adult learners can learn more quickly out of the
gate, a more native accent can be acquired by language learners who are
introduced at a younger age and these young learners are witnessed to advance
to higher proficiency in grammar.
The next question to ask, for many
people is, 'What is the best way to teach a young child a second
language?' There are many answers to this, but I believe the
overarching theme is to make it fun and exciting. Give them the opportunity
to learn and explore new things and they will enjoy the process. Children
love books; even my six-month-old twin boys are fascinated by the colours and
shapes in illustrated books and will sit quietly and listen as I read an entire
book to them (okay, not always … but most times!). The point is, this is
an activity that they enjoy and in teaching young children it is important to
piggy-back learning experiences on top of enjoyable activities.
'The Adventures of Bosley, the
Language Bear' is a new series of dual-language children's books
specifically designed to be fun and enjoyable by children of all ages, but at the
same time teach essential words and phrases in a second language. The
books can be read in either one of two languages, provided side-by-side on each
page, allowing each sentence to be read and translated individually depending
on how you want to read the book and how much you want to immerse your child in
the second language. Alternatively, there are various words throughout
the books that are highlighted in each language in order to call attention to
those words and teach children these specific words or concepts as you read.
The story is closely matched with the illustrations so there is always
the opportunity to 'point and learn' or encourage your child to relate
certain images to new, second-language sounds. Many of the illustrations
are labelled with individual words to provide more opportunities to create
connections between images and words in a second, or even a first language
depending on the age of the child.
Currently the series comprises three books that follow the adorable Bosley Bear on journeys through the woods
(Bosley Sees the World), meeting new friends
(Bosley Goes to the Beach), and learning
essential basic words (Bosley's First Words). More books are
being published regularly and are available with dual language translations in
a variety of languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic.
For more articles about teaching young children a
second language, or information on future releases, please
visit The Language Bear website.
