Carmen Learns English [Hardcover]

Judy Cox (Author), Angela Dominguez (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

The first day of school can be scary, especially when no one else speaks your language. Carmen, who speaks only Spanish, knows she must be brave. Her teacher's Spanish is muy terrible; but with a little encouragement from la Senora, Carmen teaches the class Spanish words and numbers, and she in turn learns English from her new friends. 

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 2–Older sister Carmen tells Lupita, who is about to enter kindergarten, about her first day of school, when she could speak only Spanish. She recalls other children teasing her about saying the wrong words or mocking her accent. Yet with a kind teacher's help, Carmen mastered English well enough to teach her new language to Lupita and then to begin to use it at school, where classmates learn Spanish from her. Dominguez's average-quality paintings convey a childlike energy and effectively express Carmen's moods. This charming celebration of bilingualism captures both the fears and delights of learning a new tongue.Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Starting school is scary for Carmen, who has just arrived in the U.S. from Mexico, but with the help of la señora Coska, her kind teacher, she starts to learn English. The colorful illustrations, in ink, watercolor, and acrylic paint, show Carmen both happy at home and then struggling with worries at school. Many kids, especially immigrants, will enjoy the nonpreachy turnarounds, in which Ms. Coska (whose Spanish is muy terrible) has Carmen teach the other students Spanish, and Carmen tells the class bullies that they are the ones with an accent. Preschool-Grade 2. --Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1 edition (July 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823421740
• ISBN-13: 978-0823421749
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,838,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in San Francisco. I'm the oldest of five children and enjoyed telling stories from an early age. I am a reading teacher at a small rural school. I am inspired to write children's books by my own love of good literature, by raising my son, and by teaching my students.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent tool to aid adjustment to new English speakers, September 21, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carmen Learns English (Hardcover)

"Carmen Learns English" is a partly bilingual children's picture book about a girl who adjusts successfully to attending English-speaking school from her Spanish background. Carmen is encouraged by her new teacher, Senora Coski's terrible sounding attempts to speak Spanish to her because she figures her teacher will not laugh at her first stumbling attempts to learn and speak English. Gradually Carmen learns many new English words and expressions, even jump rope rhymes. when Carmen recites her numbers in Spanish and is corrected by a peer, Senora Coski encourages the whole class to learn the Spanish counting words, while Carmen learns the English number words. Some interactions with other students are not positive or fun, but Carmen learns to speak up for herself very well in even these situations. Carmen remembers all the things she has learned as she begins helping her sister Lupita prepare for beginning school next fall. She wants her sister to learn to speak English just as well as she can. "Carmen Learns English" has a helpful Spanish-English glossary at the end to illuminate the embedded Spanish expressions used in context in the story. "Carmen Learns English" is suitable for children ages 5 and up, and can be an excellent tool to aid adjustment to new English speakers.