New OER from Iowa State University

[Abbey Elder]

Good morning, all!

The ISU Digital Press is excited to announce the publication of two brand new open educational resources from our faculty this month:

Teaching Pronunciation with Confidence: A Resource for ESL/EFL Teachers and Learners

Authors: Agata Guskaroska; Zoe Zawadzki; John M. Levis; Kate Challis; and Maksim Prikazchikov

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31274/isudp.2024.161

Teaching Pronunciation with Confidence is an essential resource for both English teachers and learners, designed to effectively build strong pronunciation skills and knowledge of pronunciation. This guide covers key topics, including English sounds, word stress, intonation, rhythm, prominence, connected speech, and pronunciation diagnostics to guide improvement. The book includes a wide array of interactive H5P activities and sound recordings, which can be used for classroom teaching, or homework and individual practice. These exercises provide practical experience, reinforcing the concepts covered in each chapter. 

Note: We have provided an EPUB rather than PDF export for this book, to preserve the audio files used as examples throughout the text for offline readers.

---

通过表达动物的汉字学习中文书写系统： 起源、演变和文化

Author: Shenglan Zhang (张胜兰)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31274/isudp.2024.152

在内容的取舍上，本书主要包括了重要的动物汉字的起源、它们的字形以及与现代楷体字的联系，从这些字衍生出的其他字、它们的常见用法及文化含义，并展示了历史对当今的持续影响，也阐释了汉字产生发展背后的思维理念。

English Description: This book discusses the origins of important Chinese characters for animals, the original characters used, and their connections to modern characters. In addition to showing the evolution of the character for "horse," for example, other characters that are derived from these characters are also discussed, along with their common uses. By exploring the development of characters for animals, this book serves as a jumping-off point to explore the continuous influence of history on the present day.

Note: This book is written entirely in Chinese, but it is written in short accessible prose with various examples given to engage mid-level Chinese students.

-----

Have a great month, all! I look forward to seeing many of you at the Open Education Conference (online or otherwise) next week!

Sincerely,

Abbey K. Elder (she/they)

Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian, Iowa State University

Statewide Open Education Coordinator, Iowa OER

ORCiD: 0000-0003-2289-0166