Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best language books I've ever worked with
It's truly a shame that this book is out of print.The "Teach Yourself" series has kept some other works in print that don't come close to matching this one.By doing the exercises faithfully one can really develop very quickly the ability to think in Malay and to get comfortable with the patterns of the language.The vocabulary seemed very useful and very pertinent although parts of it (terms referring to soldiers and officials, for instance) might be a little dated now. That's nothing that a new edition couldn't fix!I hope that a revision of this book will be made available very soon- hopefully with some tapes to go with. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Them Spanish! is for the teacher who has a little knowledge of Spanish and a lot of enthusiasm. This book guides you through practical lessons in beginning Spanish. Students with little or no previous Spanish will experience the thrill of success wi ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great supplemental information or a great start
Simple introduction to Spanish in a themtaic approach.Each unit contains vocabulary, simple writing activity - very age appropriate. Also has some ideas for a lesson plan. In back of book spanish songs and resource for other spanish books.Disadvantage - Spanish words did not contain definite articles, but can easily be written in before photocopying for class. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Them Spanish! is for the teacher who has a little knowledge of Spanish and a lot of enthusiasm. This book guides you through practical lessons in beginning Spanish. Students with little or no previous Spanish will experience the thrill of success with a second language. Lessons appropriate for second grade are organized by topics familiar to the student, such as colors, clothing, food, family, and animals. Each lesson includes a simple-to-follow teacher lesson plan, a practice page, and activity pages. Lessons also include games, puzzles, songs, chants, and writing activities. Try this fun and practical program for teaching and learning basic Spanish. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good idea, needs more explanations
I like the idea behind this book, but it's not real organized. If you want to supplement a classroom with a few worksheets, then this might help a little bit. I bought it to use in my private Spanish classes, and have yet to use it - it's just too specific to its own lesson plans, and not thorough enough to use as a stand-alone curriculum. Of course I'm biased, but the Flip Flop Spanish curriculum is much more concise and simple, and comes with a CD.

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

Needs more focus and helps for homeschool teachers
I tried to use this book to homeschool my student.Not having any knowledge of Spanish - this was not the book for us.For example, they have a writing practice on page 31 in spanish and the child is supposed to be able to read it.However, they don't give you the translation in English.Since I can't read or correctly pronounce Spanish - well, let's say we were both in the dark.I would recommend this book if you can read, write and talk in spanish. ... Read more

Book Description

Take the frustration out of learning new grammar

The Teach Yourself Language Grammar series brings the languages of the world within the reach of any beginning student. Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually elevates the student to a level of confident communication. Enjoyable and user-friendly, the new editions and titles feature improved page designs and even clearer explanations.

Customer Reviews (2)

Practical, compact and great for beginners
Let's face it, grammar is hard enough in your native language.It's even harder in a foreign language-you don't need a thick complicated book covering every nuance of the language when you're staring out.This teach yourself book is well organized and not overwhelming like many other grammar books I've tried.

Each chapter is a few pages long and covers a couple related grammar concepts.The topics are very practical for everyday situations.The topics get more difficult as you progress through the book.

I've taken this book to Italy twice now and use it in conjunction with a dictionary and the Pimsleur audio course.It's great for travel because it's compact and easy to find the derivations of words you hear people use.

Practical Italian grammar
This book has a knack for explaining tricky points of grammar succinctly in simple, easier-to-understand terms than most Italian grammar books.It also throws you the lifeline of some pretty decent examples of how words are used in a grammatical context. This book I depend on daily. Grazie perquesto libro. ... Read more

Book Description

The official language of Tanzania and Kenya, and a second language spoken throughout East Africa, Swahili is the most widely spoken African language. An indispensable resource for anyone traveling to Africa for business or pleasure, theTeach Yourself Swahili Dictionary provides clear definitions for thousands of essential Swahili words and phrases, including words that are particularly appropriate to life in East Africa. Useful guides to grammar and pronunciation are also included.

Customer Reviews (10)

Sara Review
I received the book in the condition that it was described. They also had great service in shipping me the book.

If it's good enough for the Peace Corps...
Next to my mefloquine tablets, this was the next-most-used resource the PC gave me. "Short" and "comprehensive" are generally mutually exclusive, but this dictionary managed to strike a good balance. If you're looking for a desk reference, there are more comprehensive dictionaries around. But if you're looking for something that doubles as a portable language reference and something to throw at black mambas, this is it.

Good but showing age
I got this Dictionary with Teach Yourself Swahili.The both of the books are showing age, but especially the dictionary. At least the Textbook had a word for Computer(Kompyuta) in it! The dictionary has the needed words though, don't get me wrong.The word "to look" is very important.

Oddly, I did find a use for the dictionary in a very modern reference though.I translate some Swahili from the Simpsons myself and it added up to the translation they had on TV, so hey! I guess that is a bad example, but their are few good Swahili dictionaries and this one is pocket sized.

Concise Swahili and English Dictionary : Swahili-English/Eng
I ordered this dictionary when I was writing my novel Death by Bad Magic, I needed to have my Priest to speak in one of Africa's oldest languages and if I had not had this wonderful dictionary to guide me I really don't think I could have written my novel.

An Out-of-Date Resource for Swahili Vocabulary
This is a reprint of Perrott's dictionary that was first publishedin 1965 but based on much much earlier lexicographical work.It is a simple glossary with mostly single equivalencies given.The Swahili-English section is adequate for simple, basic sorts of vocabulary, but it contains none of the new terminology and vocabulary that has entered the language since the original lexicographical research was done. So, for instance, it would be inadequate for reading a modern Swahili newspaper, let alone a novel or modern play. Many of my students over the years have used this book and it was a useful tool given a lack of a pocket-sized Swahili dictionary that a student could easily carry around.But students had a lot of problems using the English-Swahili section of the book. Many times the gloss given for a particular English word, is not the correct one, or does not reflect modern meanings or usage. ... Read more

Product Description
Teach Them Spanish! is for the teacher who has a little knowledge of Spanish and a lot of enthusiasm. This book guides you through practical lessons in beginning Spanish. Students with little or no previous Spanish will experience the thrill of success with a second language. Lessons appropriate for fifth grade are organized by topics familiar to the student, such as colors, clothing, food, family, and animals. Each lesson includes a simple-to-follow teacher lesson plan, a practice page, and activity pages. Lessons also include games, puzzles, songs, chants, and writing activities. Try this fun and practical program for teaching and learning basic Spanish. ... Read more

Book Description
A wonderfully easy, entertaining way to learn the uke! Based on C tuning,this text presents strum-along/sing-alongs in the keys of C, G, D, F, andB flat. The video will teach you in a step-by-step manner, and providehours of fun and enjoyment! You will learn 58 great, all-time favorite uke songs including Peg O' My Heart and Fascination. ... Read more

Book Description
Paul and Yuko Swanson have done students of English and Japanese a remarkable good turn. Where other textbook authors have concentrated on making language-learning so complex that only a school curriculum can handle it, or so simple that you can teach yourself, the Swansons have given
intelligent aid to an alternative model of education: learn-yourself-by-teaching-someone-else.

Obviously, exchanging languages works. Bulletin boards and classified ads across the country carry messages just like the title of this book. For despite the best efforts of professionals to expropriate conversational skills for their own field of specialization, there is no denying the basic fact
that we are all experts in the
language we were born with. What the Swansons have done is to provide some basic organization to that native expertise, while maintaining the informal setting that makes exchanging languages so appealing.

As a quick glance through these pages will show, the language-patterns and drills are based on ordinary conversation, and the helpful "Culture Notes" are drawn from everyday experience. There is nothing artificial or bookish about them. In this sense, it is the kind of book that only bi-lingual and
bi-cultural folk like Paul and Yuko Swanson could have written. The Japan Publications Trading Company is to be congratulated for supporting this effort at helping students of language of all ages to do better what they are already doing well. ... Read more

Product Description
Excellent resource for teaching or directing Shakespeare. Great ideas for different teaching methodologies and plenty of across-the-curriculum activities. You, your colleagues, and your students will enjoy the clever means of incorporating math, science, art, journalism, music, social studies, physical education, and social issues into the study of Shakespeare. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

..."the Five Star Shakespeare Collection an incredible resource"
As our Education Outreach department at Colorado Shakespeare Festival is dedicated to enlightening teachers and students (and the community at large) about Shakespeare's works--using a "hands-on" philosophy--I have found the Five Star Shakespeare Collection an incredible resource. Whenever teachers are looking for a truncated script, or help with "opening up Shakespeare" to their students, I refer them to you...(Five Star Publications - Arizona)

Melinda J. Scott, Education Director
Colorado Shakespeare Festival

A Good Beginner Text
I found this book rather simplistic. I bought it to teach Drama and I think it is probably more appropriate to English. It gave me one or two ideas but the rest of the activities were ones I use already or ones that weren't really appropriate.
I would recommend this book to a beginning teacher of Drama or English.

This book is an amazing introduction to the Bard ...
"The book is an amazing introduction to the Bard, his works andenvironment...a way to overcome literacy and dramatic stage fright that canopen many doors..."

R. Thad Taylor, President Shakespeare Society ofAmerica, Inc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book is how I found my wife.
Years ago I bought this book to learn Danish.Its texts and exercises tell the story of a Danish farm family, with a son named Ole.Not long after I started reading the book I was having lunch in a restaurant and three young women sat at the table right next to me.They spoke what I was sure was Danish.So I decided to try out what I learned from the book:"Er du dansk?"Which means, "Are you Danish?"They had no idea what I was saying, but one thing led to another and one of them became my wife.She comes from a Danish farm, just like the family in the book, and even has a brother named Ole.Over the years, from listening to what she says to me, I've picked up a few other Danish terms (for example, "idiot"), but this is the book that got me going.

The text starts simple but, even early on, gives a real feel for what Danish culture is like.The typical chapter has a short dialogue, glossary, grammatical notes, and exercises, as well as "ordsprog" and "talemaader," proverbs and sayings which give you a great introduction to the sly and ironic Danish sense of humor.The book provides an especially clear grasp of the "Jysk folkekarakter," the character of the people of Jutland, which is pretty impressive for an introductory language-learning text.If you work at it, after a while you even come to bits and pieces of the Ugly Duckling in Danish, the language of Hans Christian Andersen.This book may be a Special Order, but in my view it's well worth waiting for. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

good explaination of grammer
a found that teach yourself cantonese teaches by example rather than by the chalk and talk method i feel this method is much better because people can easily see the grammer points rather than having it explained to him/her which can lead to alot of confusion some grammer should be explained but it should be kept a minimum people should practice as this it how the human brain learns language so as a final note i would like to say that teach yourself cantonese by R.Bruce is the best language book i have perchased. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ancient and sublime
I got this text by Michael Coulson, then head of the Department of Sanskrit at Edinburgh University, Scotland, about twenty five years ago.I was studying religious studies, and wanted to be able to understand the primary scriptures of the primary religions of the world in their original languages as much as possible; I've had a reasonable facility with languages in terms of reading, and found that Coulson's book fit my style of learning rather well.

There is a useful, pull-out sandhi grid early in the book, that shows consonants and vowels.This does not show all possible combinations, but most of the basic ones.This is a hard thing to remember (rather like learning the difference between written English and spoken English, where the pronunciations colloquially vary depending upon accent as well as position in the sentence or the speed of talking).Sanskrit is a langauge where it isn't necessary to learn the entire alphabetic structure for writing at the outset -- Coulson recommends this as a gradual process, and I agree with this idea.The primary Sanskrit font described and used here (a common Sanskrit font throughout India, although far from the only one) is the nagari script.

Sanskrit is a part of the Indo-European family of languages, but that being said, it is vastly different from English, and the student of this book would be well-advised to make sure she or he has a good command of English grammar ideas, and the willingness to not attempt to apply them to the Sanskrit sentences and passages presented.

Coulson in his introduction makes the distinction between a learned language and a natural one, as well as a dead language and a living one.Sanskrit to a Western student is both a learned and a dead language; to the late Sanskrit writers, it was both learned and living -- very roughly parallel to the Latin used in academic circles in the Middle Ages, a language still living in a sense, but not a natural language for anyone.Sanskrit has much greater fluidity and variation over its incredibly long history; Coulson introduces bits and pieces of these strands, but stays fairly close to a classical Sanskrit represented by the most common and widespread of religious texts.

There would be only one item where I really feel I must take marks off, and that would be the constant use of transliteration into Latinate script rather than using the Sanskrit throughout the models.While almost all of the reading passages are in the Sanskrit basic font style, the various grammar points (conjugation and declension charts, etc.) are presented in transliteration, which made things a bit more difficult for me, as I'd sometimes have to struggle not only to remember the Sanskrit but also the code for the transliteration (which, of course, never coincides with the transliteration paradigms in other langauge texts I've studied).

This book is designed both for classroom use and for self-study.Based on my readings and comparisons of my translations on texts such as the Rig Veda with other, published translation, this book has helped me gain a working knowledge of Sanskrit, and provides a useful text for review on a periodic basis.

Itincludes an answer key to all the major exercises, a guide for further study, an introduction to prose/poetry constructions, and a useful vocabulary glossary.

... Read more