Customer Reviews

A Look Inside America: Exploring America's Cultural Values and Holidays

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This book is a great homeschool resource and a good gift to give away to internationals. Even Americans will be surprised at some of the interesting tidbits Perry uncovers in this crisply-written volume. I highly recommend it... it's a pleasant afternoon's read.

A Look Inside America: Exploring America's Cultural Values and Holidays

Bill Perry has assembled a useful collection of cultural background information, particularly for use by educators of those who are not native to the U.S.A. Easy to use to stimulate discussions or to reference for background information, Perry's book is definitely user friendly. Those learning the language will be grateful for clear explanations of cultural traditions with historic details that add insight into the traditional American viewpoint which influences perceptions of the U.S., although it may currently seem to be outside the mainstream.

As an ESL instructor, I've used portions of the book a number of times in a variety of settings.

This a small book but it's packed with information. It is a great resource for at least three groups of people: Americans who are interested in knowing the reasons behind why we do what we do to celebrate many of our holiday; ESL and EFL professionals who need to supplement culture-based lessons; and non-native English speakers who want to understand more of the background of values commonly held by Americans. Especially for the latter two groups, the wording used by the author is fairly simple but still includes (defined) key vocabulary words.