Audio books advantages and provide a bridge to important topics of discussion for parents and children
Bilingual audio books benefits : highlight the humor in books : Did you know that a woman by the name of Pura Belpre was New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian? She came to the U.S. in 1921, carrying the cuentos folkloricos (folktales) of her homeland. She found work as a bilingual assistant, where she retold those stories from Puerto Rico. Today, generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate her legacy. In honor of this new story, we’ve put together a few reasons why we think it’s beneficial to read bilingual stories and diverse voices to your children.
It’s definitely less frustrating to read without having to use a translation app or dictionary, and bilingual e-books (as opposed to just bilingual books) also have the added advantage of separate dictionary look-ups if you’re using an e-reader like a Kindle. For example, if you’re reading a bilingual e-book that switches between original text and translation every page, you can choose to just look up a single word with your default dictionary rather than flipping to the next page and spoiling your initial try at interpreting the general meaning of the text.
As you know (perhaps after a distressing experience) when a well-meaning person tries to explain to someone in which way their beliefs are false, even dangerous, the good-willing person is coming up against a more and more solid wall. The more numerous and well documented his arguments, the more the listener will become deaf to his reasoning. It is a psychological fact that you must not fight, since the fight strengthens it. You have to bypass it.
Learn New Vocabulary. Some people raise objections that audiobooks are destroying the time-honored literature. Nevertheless, their objections are useless. Audiobooks contain all flavors of printed books. It is not futile to say that audiobooks have some additional benefits. Students listen and learn new vocabulary. Audiobooks are very productive for students who want to become an essay writer. See additional information at Bilingual audio books English/Chinese.
One reason more audiobooks are not finding their way into classrooms is availability. Public libraries usually have a good quantity of audiobooks, but most school libraries have a limited number – audiobooks are expensive. The cost of cassette or CD players and headphones must also be taken into consideration, and though these costs have come down considerably in the last few years, schools typically do not budget funds for such purchases.
Reduces working-memory deficit. Students who struggle with decoding and the mechanics of reading spend so much time focusing on sounding out the words that it is difficult for them to retain the information they are reading. By eliminating the focus on decoding they are now able to retain, remember, and understand the content. When students begin reading with their ears, they start building their working memory. This helps them respond to questions about the text more readily. The more often this happens, the more confident a student gets around the one subject that has plagued them, reading. Building working memory helps make other reading tasks easier and improves reading ability.
The children listened…. and their parents too. Listening was not felt as a chore but as a delight. So, we decided to prepare bilingual audiobooks from “classical” works. Then, we thought we should publish contemporary short works in at least 2 languages (by the way, if you are the happy author of a work up to 25.000 words, prepare to submit it.) We propose mostly human voices, because to listen to synthetic voices feels… synthetic. But, whatever their accent, the synthetic voices offer a faultless pronunciation, which is important for the student. So, we prepare some sound files with synthetic voices. Read extra info on Learning tool for blind people.