Open Sesame: Understanding American English and Culture Through Folktales and Stories (Audio Cassette)

by Planaria J. Price (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

We humans learn our language and culture through the stories and rhymes of tales we learned as children. By learning the twenty-six most popular and enduring stories collected in Open Sesame, ESL students learn about Americans and about life in America. Open Sesame facilitates discussions comparing and contrasting American folktales and stories with those of students' native cultures. Specific American cultural values are found in the text and debated by students who often find those values confusing and in conflict with their own values. The allusions learned from these American stories are extremely helpful for fluency.
Included are such classic tales as "Cinderella," "The Three Pigs," "Johnny Appleseed," and "Rip Van Winkle," and excerpts from more recent stories such as Charlotte's Web and The Wizard of Oz.
The goals of Open Sesame are to teach reading skills, build vocabulary, stimulate discussion, and develop critical-thinking skills. The text may also be of interest in the disciplines of children's literature, folklore, and cross-cultural studies.
The text is accompanied by cassettes that "tell" the stories for learners who have not yet acquired all the vocabulary needed to read these original stories and folktales on their own.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press; Pap/Cas edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472085069
• ISBN-13: 978-0472085064
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,792,809 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The magic of Open Sesame for ESOL Adults, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Open Sesame: Understanding American English and Culture Through Folktales and Stories (Paperback)

I've used Open Sesame for three wonderful trimesters in my ESL immigrant classes in Los Angeles and now in my EFL college classes in Japan. It is a wonderful course text to use to teach core vocabulary, idioms, reading skills, critical thinking, and especially American culture and allusions. My students are stimulated by the cultural questions and we have great discussions comparing and contrasting their folk stories and values with the ones in Open Sesame. The cassette tapes are great for them to study listening at home and in their cars. I must disagree with the reviewer from Germany that it is a supplemental text--it covers everything I need in my advanced EFL curriculum. By the way, the illustrations are charming.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Open Sesame Understanding American English & Culture through, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Open Sesame: Understanding American English and Culture Through Folktales and Stories (Paperback)

This book contains exerpts from famous folktales and stories in American Culture for ESL students. The exerpts are short and manageable for most intermediate to upper-intermediate students. At the end of each story, there are comprehension questions and vocabulary exercises to support the story- This book is a great supplementary tool for the classroom, or for students who are trying to understand the basis (and Background) of many American Metaphors and analogies. I was a bit disappointed by the book, because I was looking for a course book, and not a suplementary book.