A Christmas Carol - Cantonese

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Robert Coyle

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Sep 25, 2023, 4:30:14 AM9/25/23
to EAL-Bilingual
Hi,
A school has asked if we know where Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' might be available in Cantonese. I hoped that this infinite font of knowledge might have some ideas?

Robert Coyle
EAL/EDC Adviser, Norfolk County Council

Ann Horton

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Sep 25, 2023, 4:38:41 AM9/25/23
to EAL-Bilingual, Robert Coyle
You can get a Chinese version from Amazon for £30! But (a) it's probably Mandarin and (b) I hope somone has a cheaper idea!

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Dominic Brassington

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Sep 25, 2023, 5:18:37 AM9/25/23
to Robert Coyle, EAL-Bilingual
If you're on Twitter this is a really good way of finding key texts. 


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Stuart Scott

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Sep 25, 2023, 6:39:13 AM9/25/23
to Dominic Brassington, Robert Coyle, EAL-Bilingual
I think the reason for needing this might be usefully addressed in a variety of ways. The devil is in the detail. Is it needed for deep study at secondary level or is a primary school thinking of using it for their Christmas play? Would developing more accessible approaches where the Cantonese speaker (s) can discuss the story with English speaking children be a possible alternative. All Dickens novels contain a lot of vocabulary issues since his word hoard was enormous. We have in the past developed activities to do this which you can find at:
Not Christmas Carol though, but there may be stuff in our paper archive which I am currently digitising to release a room in the house. If I find something I'll post it. If anyone has produced something please share it. And please provide more context.
Stuart
Collaborative Learning Project. A teacher network sharing talk for learning resources.
17 Barford Street, London N1 0QB 44 207 226 8885


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trudyk...@hotmail.com

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Sep 26, 2023, 10:09:58 AM9/26/23
to EAL-Bilingual
Mandarin and Cantonese have the same written script

Graham Smith

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Sep 26, 2023, 11:05:57 AM9/26/23
to trudyk...@hotmail.com, EAL-Bilingual
Mandarin and Cantonese have the same written script, but the spoken form is not always mutually intelligible. How do they teach reading in China?

Best wishes,
Graham

 
 
Graham Smith

E: graham...@theealacademy.co.uk
W: www.theealacademy.co.uk

     

 

gordon....@gmail.com

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Sep 26, 2023, 11:45:14 AM9/26/23
to Graham Smith, trudyk...@hotmail.com, EAL-Bilingual

Chinese characters (not letters) are like little pictures – I’ve forgotten the word for this type of alphabet – so it’s possible to write any language using Chinese characters.

Gordon

Stuart Scott

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Sep 27, 2023, 8:14:41 AM9/27/23
to gordon....@gmail.com, Graham Smith, trudyk...@hotmail.com, EAL-Bilingual
Pictogram? producing a picture version of the story would be a fruitful collaborative activity. But we don't know the context of Robert's query yet...

Collaborative Learning Project. A teacher network sharing talk for learning resources.
17 Barford Street, London N1 0QB 44 207 226 8885

Willow Hewitt

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Sep 28, 2023, 5:03:45 AM9/28/23
to EAL-Bilingual
Mandarin and Cantonese don't necessarily have the same written characters. There are two ways to write Chinese: using simplified or traditional characters, and the use is usually based on family history/geography. Those from Hong Kong, for example, tend to be first-language Cantonese speakers using traditional characters; those from Taiwan will typically speak Mandarin and use traditional characters , and those from Mainland China will usually speak Mandarin and use simplified characters. Readers can switch between the two character sets, but you might think of it like trying to read something written in dialect in English - you wouldn't add that complexity to a young/weak reader, unless it's just for a few words.

Stuart Scott

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Sep 28, 2023, 6:40:19 AM9/28/23
to Willow Hewitt, EAL-Bilingual
The Reading Reading Centre (what a brilliant name! and one you would not want to change; but then the internet came along and it became ungoogleable) published a little booklet by Angela Redfern and Prue Goodwin entitled 'Easy as ABC'. They looked at all the writing systems and provide useful information in a short space for teachers in a hurry. I can scan the booklet and put it online for a short period if you are interested. Or you can contact the Reading Centre's descendant: Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism
to see whether it has been updated. 
Stuart
Collaborative Learning Project. A teacher network sharing talk for learning resources.
17 Barford Street, London N1 0QB 44 207 226 8885

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EAL-Bilingual NALDIC

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Sep 28, 2023, 6:54:13 AM9/28/23
to Stuart Scott, Willow Hewitt, EAL-Bilingual
If you’d like to learn how to write Chinese characters (I think they can  be terms pictograms, logograms or even ideograms!), there’s a free Open University app:


Cheers,

Frank

On 28 Sep 2023, at 11:40, Stuart Scott <stuart...@collaborativelearning.org> wrote:


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