Product Description
Developed as a tool to help you integrate various forms of media, Seeing & Believing offers a practical approach to basic theory in media literacy and the analysis of both still and moving images. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Illuminating!
This book has completely changed the way I view the art of teaching.My students now enjoy coming to class, they pay attention, they come every day, ready to learn.Ellen Krueger hits a homerun with this brilliant text!I guarantee you will never look at the media OR the classroom the same way.5 out of 5! ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for ages 2 to 12 years. It includes a 45-minute CD and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More German Songs and Language
While I liked the first CD more (Teach Me German), this one at the least gives my children more German songs and language to hear.They enjoy the songs, although my husband often complains about the singers being very off key.The kids don't mind.The girl they have speaking as Maria speaks too quickly for my comfort.I have a degree in German literature, was an exchange student, and have been studying the language off and on for 25 years.The songs are more hip and less well known to me, so I do like the first CD better.Also, the first CD covers things that are more familiar to for preschool kids like the alphabet, counting, days of the week, etc. ... Read more

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Make your living through writing

If you want to write for magazines on a freelance basis you will find a treasure of information in Teach Yourself Writing for Magazines. This practical, step-by-step guide informs you about the entire process of getting published, from the initial research to targeting a specific audience to ensuring you meet your deadline.

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An entertaining introduction to hieroglyphics which enables children to walk into a museum and translate Ancient Egyptian inscriptions. It provides background history and a practical section explaining how the language works and is written, as well as a glossary-cum-phrasebook. ... Read more

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"Teach Yourself Creative Writing" opens a window wide onto an exciting creative landscape - your own imagination. It covers a variety of different areas, using exercises to help the reader explore and develop their own ideas. This book makes the subject easy and therefore accessible to all. A great deal has happened in the creative writing world over the last five years and this new edition includes new chapters on 'Writing from Experience', 'Magazine Short Stories', 'Creative Writing Competitions', Research and the Internet' and 'The Writer and Technology'. It also restructures existing material to make it easier for the reader to navigate around the book: starting with short experimental forms of writing to get the reader started, moving on to bigger projects and further to specific writing techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not Impressed....
I buy lots of books about Creativity.This was a gift.There is some good advice in the book about techniques and publishing but the CREATIVE part that sucks me in was just not there!

This books is more for the real serious writer wanting to know the ends and outs of what do with your writings once you have mastered your creativity.

Basic book for those thinking about writing .....
This book is a good overview for people who are considering a writing career, but are not sure what direction they want to go in.Here is a sampling of the basic chapter outline: (1) Developing your talent, (2) How to write an article, (3) The radio talk, (4) Working arrangements, (5) Presentation of manuscripts, (6) the short story, (7) the radio story, (8) the art of revision, (9) characterisation, (10) Dialogue, (11) setting, (12) style, (13) poetry, (14) the non-fiction book, (15) How to conduct an interview, (16) the novel, (17) writing for children ..... has 22 chapters.Now all this is covered in 143 pages -- so you realize that there are only a couple pages covering each topic.Also, when the writer talked about typerwriter ribbons I looked and saw that this book was first released in 1983 and this copy was re-released in 1999.So the information is a little dated as well.For example, a reader probably shouldn't follow the manuscript layouts given based on the original date of publication -- they could be well outdated.

Though this book would likely be a waste of time for the seasoned writer, or even the unpublished writer who knows what direction they want to pursue, it would be a good basic resource for those who just want a basic idea of the multitude of writing options they have.

Though I enjoyed reading it, I turn to more specific writing books for my purposes. I'm glad I didn't buy this book, I got mine from the library. Perhaps the reader of this review should do the same before they decide to purchase this book.

If only I had more time...
Doubtfire certainly gets you to think outside the box when doing her prescribed exercises. The only problem - finding the time!

A straightforward approach
I enjoyed the simple, straightforward style of this book. It doesn't get weighed down with artistic issues but instead offers a practical guide to writing technique, with exercises, which can be applied by even the mostnovice of writers, a group of which I count myself a member. ... Read more

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A Musical Journey Through the DayIntroduce kid's to the Japanese language through songs and story. Learn days of the week, numbers, colors, and the alphabet as you sing along and learn. Sings include the ABC Song, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, One Elephant and many more familiar tunes. Includes paperback book and audio CD. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

My daugher and I love this CD.
My 1.5 y.o. daughter - half American and half Japanese - currently speaks only English, but she loves this CD because she knows many songs in it both English and Japanese songs.One of the reviewers said adult singers are not native speakers but it doesn't matter.The male singers who are Americans don't speak in Japanese in this CD.Only one female adult singer speaks in Japanese and she is a native speaker.Conversations and vocabularies are natural and are of daily usage.I plan to keep playing this CD so that my daughter will at least be familiar with simple Japanese.

English children's songs with Japanese lyrics
I bought this title for my small daughter who was at one time fascinated with all things Japanese.Most of the music are familiar English children's songs with Japanese lyrics.The accompanying booklet provides the Japanese lyrics and the English translation. My daughter enjoyed it greatly, although I had hoped for more traditional Japanese children's songs (and, hence, a more cultural experience).Nevertheless, it does somewhat live up to the title of "Teach Me Japanese" because my daughter did pick up some Japanese words from the lyrics; and she did learn to read and write a few Japanese characters from one catchy tune.

Recommend
I played this for my daughter a month before she turned 2.She picked up some vocabulary right away.It's been 3 months now (with 2 weeks of not listening to this at all) and she can sing along with the CD.For the past week, this is all she wants to listen to.Prefers this over her Wiggles songs.I definitely recommend this CD for initial exposure to Japanese for children.

The only thing I do not like is the female singing voice.It's a bit too high and gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it.Took some time to get use to it.

It's OK, not great
I would recommend this set only because good Japanese learning tools for young children are so hard to find. The adult singers are not native speakers; if you buy this, tell your little listeners to concentrate on the way the native children singers pronounce words. The English 'translations' are merely the usual English lyrics; many words have been altered in the Japanese to fit the rhyme and rhythm. For example, the last line of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' should be translated as "isn't it cute?" not "the lamb was sure to go."

Excellent
Familiar tunes and lovely singing (both in Japanese and English.)After we played this CD twice, my 2-year-old son has started to sing along and in Japanse.

His eyes lighted up when he first heard his favorite songs in a "new" language (Japanese is the 3rd languages my son is learning.We now have songs in all three languages!)

Music is a good way to get to know/learn a new language.It sort of take the fear away and get your all comfortable about learning new language.My family highly recommand "Teach Me Japanese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Day" by Judy Mahoney. ... Read more

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This "Teach Yourself" revision guide for GCSE French is exclusive to W.H. Smith until further notice. ... Read more

Product Description
When it comes to computer-aided design, AutoCAD is a staple for architects, engineers, and draftspeople. Written for both the professional and student looking to further understand this important program, Teach Yourself AutoCAD 2004 avoids technical jargon and gives instructions in clear, easy-to-understand language. New users of AutoCAD will quickly gain the necessary skills to become competent in the use of the program. ... Read more

Product Description
A Musical Journey Through the DayIntroduce kid's to the German language through songs and story. Learn days of the week, numbers, colors, and the alphabet as you sing along and learn. Sings include the ABC Song, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, One Elephant and many more familiar tunes. Includes paperback book and audio CD. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Fun way to learn
My 5 year old loves this and I think it's cute the kids are actually NOT native speakers of German. German Mom

Kids love it!!
My kids LOVE this c.d....the ONLY drawback is they speak and sing too quickly, like they're rushing through it....makes it harder for the kids to pick it up quickly....

Very good for young children
I checked this out from the library and am very pleased with it.My son seems to like that some of the tunes are familiar from english versions that he has heard.I think that learning a language though singing is the best way for young children to be exposed.

As an other reviewer already said, I am confused by some of the negative reviews.I grew up in a Dutch speaking houshold, studied German in college, and have been to Germany and spoken with natives many times.Germans always complement my German.Germany has many accents and the 'R' sound is gutteral in some places and not others.Perhaps the German on this CD is more like what is spoken in nothern Germany (which sounds quite similar to the language my family speaks from the northern Netherlands, Friesian.)I really felt like the German spoken on this CD was like the German I had experience with, though perhaps it is not what is spoken in Southern Germany.No matter what language you speak it is likely there will be accents from different places.

My Children & I Like This Set
I am a bit confused by some of the other reviews and felt compelled to write one myself. I was raised in America, in a German-speaking household. I did not find the pronounciation to be "off" or "wrong" as I did the German CD put out by Twin Sisters Productions, which used American children with American accents trying to speak German.My children love this CD and recognized some of the songs from my singing them.I got this first from the library and sought it out for purchase.The important point I must make is that other languages do not translate literally into English.These songs have not been butchered to make them fit the music, that is what is referred to as "idiomatic translation".Some words and phrases cannot be translated exactly.Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in German is "Die Kleine Raupe Nimmersatt" or The Tiny Caterpillar Never-satisfied (Hungry).Even this is not precise; just check out titles of American DVDs in German on Amazon.de.Also, as far as "more German songs" on the CD, many of these songs have been sung in German for just as long as they have in English, maybe longer.My grandparents used to sing me "Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken" (My Hat Has Three Corners) already when I was a toddler and I never knew it existed in English until I heard it on Barney when my son was watching it.Also young children don't always sing so well, and I think it sounds very realistic, as if we were sitting in on a real Kindergarten class. I think this poor CD is getting a bad reputation, undeservingly.It's really inspiring my children to want to learn German instead of getting irritated when I speak it to them.

Big Disappointment
I bought this, hoping to expose my kids to German and maybe even learn some new vocab myself.I was excited about the musical format, however the accents are attrocious--I'm a native English speaker, but can even pick up on that.Also, it would have been nice to have more German folk songs, rather than taking primarily well known English folk songs and translating them.Part of the problem with that is that the translations don't match the words (e.g. The line from "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" which goes, in English "and Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose" is sung in German "Augen, Nase, Ohren und Mund"--literally "Eyes, Nose, Ears and Mouth".)Obviously, in order to fit better with the music, the text had to be changed in German.But that complicates things for beginning language learners and kids (manufacturer recommended for ages 2-12).The singing is mixed--somewhat charming to have the kids' voices (and I think kids will be drawn to that) but again, the accent is americanized, and the muddy quality of the kids' timing may make it difficult to understand.There is also a woman's voice which is a bit over the top and therefore distracting.The drawings in the book are cute.If I could return this, I would, but unfortunately, as it has been opened (in order to listen to it!) I'm stuck with it. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, published by Dolan Media Company on May 4, 2009. The length of the article is 704 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Planting the seed: financial literacy educators teach thousands of Mississippi children how to save money.
Author: Evelyn Edwards
Publication: Mississippi Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 4, 2009
Publisher: Dolan Media Company
Volume: 31Issue: 18Page: 20(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for children of ages 2 to 12 years. It contains a book & aCD. It offers a 45-minute CD and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Disorganized book, nice audio.
I got this hoping it'd help me improve my Mandarin since I only know Cantonese Chinese. It was a great disappointment.

The audio portion is lovely, but the book that accompanies it is poorly organized. It does not contain all the lyrics in Chinese characters, and you need to flip back and forth in the book to get the "additional lyrics" in pinyin. The English translations are in the back of the book, so you cannot cross-reference meanings easily either.

The pictures and vocabulary words in between each singing section are cute and useful, but I would not recommend this CD and book set to anyone wanting to learn Mandarin Chinese.

Teach Me Chinese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Day
i am a native Mandarin speaker and have a BA in English. i've been a Mandarin instructor for adults and children for the past 12 years.

Positive: CD comes with book inlcuding lyrics in SOME of the songs. Book's illustration has many pictures along with the Pin yin for the songs. kids can use the pics in the pages for coloring.

Negative: Some of the songs are wrongly translated... like "The More we get Together Song".That's why previous comments mentioned how the songs when translated into Mandarin, do not rhyme.Lyrics are not printed for ALL the songs on the CD.

Other comments:
I wonder why are there English songs in the CD too? I understand why they have the songs in English then translated into Mandarin with the same tune. But some songs are only in English.

I want to add that some previous comments mentioned the "high pitch" voice of the female singer.As a native Mandarin speaker, i feel that is normal how children songs are sung in Mainland China.Its a folksy style which is very common... No, that's not how Mandarin is spoken (high pitch/ squeeky etc) But if you compare with nursery rhymes in English, you will notice a distinct difference in them too - they are usually sung with a certain accent or tone.We do not speak English like the way they were sang in songs.

the idea of using the tune of English nursery songs is a good because it may encourage children of non-native Mandarin background to feel familar and hence interested to learn the songs.Unfortunately, in this case, it was a poor attempt or it has not been proofed?

Eg. the song "Are you sleepng" - there is a chinese version which i learnt as a kid. the song is called "San zhi lao hu" translated as "3 tigers". instead of using san zhi lao hu's lyrics to the song, the translator translate word for word "Are you sleeping" from English to Mandarin which resulted in forcing syllables to cramp into the original notes.

I would have to modify many parts of the book to suit learning.

I have limited resources where i teach - cant use a dvd player either. so i bought this, based on previous reviews and whats available.

would i recommend this?Only if you have no other better alternatives.

Easy listening
My daughter will take Mandarin in school, so we wanted some exposure and got it with this set.

Annoying but Effective
My 2 1/2 year old loves it.She asks to listen to this CD every day, instead of her old favorites.The first week or two she complained that she didn't like the Chinese parts, but now she likes it all.She walks around the house singing phrases in Chinese to herself.She counts to ten in Mandarin with no accent, like a native Mandarin speaker, according to a Chinese friend.Misses the last star because the voice on the tape is so obnoxiously sickly cutesy I can barely leave it on.

Ouch, My Ears!
English part on this CD is awesome - both the background music and the voices sound professionally done.The problem with Chinese is not that the vocalists are bad - for the most part they sound decent - but no matter how good voice you may have if you keep on trying to squish 5 - 10 syllables into a beat of music that can accommodate harmoniously only one or two - it's not going to work.

The music on this CD was created to accommodate English verses.When these English verses got translated to Chinese, the number of Chinese syllables that has to fit into the same music constantly comes out as being either not enough or too much.

it makes me wonder if musicians who were involved in creating these songs didn't have ears to hear how bad the combination sounds, or they didn't care, or thought that kids for whom it was made, would either not notice or care.

This recording could've been done beautifully if instead of using popular western music to accompany Chinese verses, they picked perhaps some Chinese music.

(...) ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for ages 2 to 12 years. It includes a 45-minute CD and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Intro to Japanese
We got this for our son who is 7, because he is an unschooler, and very motivated to learn Japanese. He and his younger brother (age 4) both love it.He plays it on repeat, brings it in the car, reads along, and checks the translations in the back. He has now memorized some songs and is getting the pronunciation down.Now they are asking for the Spanish version!

Need to know some Japanese before using this product
I found the product inadequate. This CD is a collection of children's songs, with some narrative, spoken by a child in Japanese, preceding each song. The weird thing is the narrative is completely unrelated to the song. Even my 9 year old figured out that the song following the child's narrative, was in her words "completely random".


I don't know why the narrative wouldn't have a strong(er) relationship to the song. That aside, the songs chosen are perfect for very young children, under age 10. But there is no way you are going to "learn" Japanese by listening to this CD. The best result would be that you and a child would improve listening comprehension, which isn't a bad goal, but isn't how I interpreted the CD as advertised.

Great CD but hard to read
My son and I both love the CD and the variations between Japanese songs, bilingual songs that we knew prior, and conversations in Japanese. The book is a bit difficult to read because of the small print of the Japanese kanas, Romanji, and the English Translations in the back. This would be easily remedied with slightly larger print. It is still a great purchase.

the best tool for learning japanies
if you want to learn japanies this is great i thought myself and my kids japanies and now we just booked a trip to japan for this summer hopeing to learn more hope that you all have as much sucess as i did. ... Read more

Product Description
By encouraging and developing an interest in reading in their children, parents can increase the speed at which children progress and learn to read unaided. This book shows how to make learning fun for young children and their parents, with exercises to suit each child's personality and level. ... Read more

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These songs are so much fun, students won't realise they are learning! This audio CD uses synthetic phonics methods to teach the long vowels, y as a vowel, consonants and blends. It includes: qu, j, v, w, hard g, soft g, x, y and z. ... Read more

Product Description
The Haiku Handbook is the first book to give the reader everything needed to begin writing or teaching haiku. It presents haiku poets writing in English, Spanish, French, German, and five other languages on an equal footing with Japanese poets. Not only are the four great Japanese masters of the haiku represented (Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki) but also several major Western authors not commonly known to have written haiku.

The book presents a concise history of the Japanese haiku, including the dynamic changes throughout the twentieth century as the haiku has been adapted to suburban and industrial settings. Full chapters are offered on form, the seasons in haiku, and haiku craft, plus background on the Japanese poetic tradition, and the effect of translation on our understanding of haiku.

Other unique features are the lesson plans for both elementary and secondary school use; and lists of haiku publishers and magazines (in several languages). The Handbook concludes with a full reference section of haiku-related terms, bibliography, and a comprehensive season-word list to aid in understanding and appreciating Japanese haiku. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Improve Writing and Thinking...
I have a tendency to be too wordy in my writing, so to learn more focus and control, I have been studying (and writing) haiku. The Haiku Handbook has been an engaging resource for me in those efforts. Each of the book's five sections contains a wealth of ideas and information that both challenges and inspires:

Part One: Haiku Old and New [A great introduction to the experience of haiku and to Japanese Masters. The "Why Haiku" is helpful in clarifying one's purpose for writing such brief poetry.]

Part Two: The Art of Haiku [Natural themes, the form and craft of haiku; this is the section that I like best, and I repeatedly refer back to these pages. I especially enjoy how the author discusses the difference in Japanese and English languages.]

Part Three: Teaching Haiku [How to teach haiku writing to children, lesson plan included]

Part Four: Before and Beyond Haiku [Haiku and its uses]

Reference Section [With Season-Word List & Glossary]

Overall, this is a worthy product for anyone who wishes to delve into haiku more deeply than the introduction that most Westerners receive.

Fantastic
I love this book, as a matter of fact I love it so much I purchased two. One for my desk and one for my purse. Great info for Haiku writers.

Great Writing
There are very few books on how to write in any idiom.This book explains the hows and whys of haiku.What it takes to get started and to continue to write.I have found this useful in my writing that is not associated with haiku or poetry.This book is a lot of fun to read, and is not stuffy and boring as text books are.It will serve all writers well.

This One's A Must Have
Blyth's Haiku Seasons books and Higginson's guide to reading and writing "haiku" in English are two of the necessary books to begin to understand what haiku is all about.I have a difficult time with the idea that a tiny poem written in any of the Romance languages--esp. English-- could be called a "haiku," even though the author might include season words and even the 5/7/5 syllable count.I would much rather call them epigrams, because they simply cannot give you the effect of a Japanese haiku. Anyone who argues otherwise is simply fooling themselves, and you.Given all of that, however, Blyth and Higginson are good books to have on the shelf.Blyth, I believe, is the better writer/translator and his sense of chronology and history is stronger.In addition he gives hundreds of translated gems to admire from Basho, Issa, Buson, and others.He also doesn't try to convince you that haiku can be written in English.Higginson is the warmer writer and his generosity to the reader is apparent from the beginning, so practioners will find him perhaps more useful than Blyth in a practical sense.I disagree with Higginson's history of English language "haiku"--there are some important people he simply leaves out, but he more than makes up for the omissions in other chapters. Both writers impart an enthusiasm for the subject to their readers. If you're building a haiku library and would like a great start, Blyth's four volume set and Higginson's Haiku Handbook are the way to go.

How Haiku SHOULD have been taught in school...
This book really helped me as both a reader and writer of poetry. Through the author I was able to understand the real essence of Haiku; something that I seemed to have missed when I studied it in grade-school! This book not only shows where the form came from, but how it has evolved over time and through different cultures. For anyone who wants to understand the form for themselves, either to use it, teach it or just appreciate it, I highly recommend the book. (the sections on lesson planning are both interesting and helpful, whether or not you want to teach a class!) ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from District Administration, published by Professional Media Group LLC on September 1, 2010. The length of the article is 2126 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A bull market for financial literacy: the Great Recession compels school districts to teach dollars and sense.(CURRICULUM)
Author: Ed Finkel
Publication: District Administration (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2010
Publisher: Professional Media Group LLC
Volume: 46Issue: 8Page: 68(6)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more