Wanted: Fun, bite-sized English for my English learning quirky niece
January 20, 2018 2:10 AM Subscribe
I want to get my niece (14) hooked. On learning English. Like her aunt (me).
She seems to enjoy it so far but I need more resources. Can you help, Metafilter?
My family and I live in Europe and many of us are avid language learners. Our country's language is Polish but the adults in my family all speak English with varying fluency. There are five kids in the family, aged four months to fourteen years, and we have a very close bond. As the Fun Auntie (TM) I am often taking the kids to museums, libraries, shows and buying them lots of books (they love books).
One thing I would really like to help them with is becoming fluent in English - not just fluent enough to get directions in an English-speaking country but to be able to enjoy English-language books, websites, movies, and maybe even stuff like Metafilter some time down the road (my niece has already expressed interest in the green/blue stuff her aunt is always reading ;)
The older kids all have English at school and they are doing well grade-wise although they all say the classes are fairly boring. So I decided to show them how FUN English can be - and so far it seems to be working. They have read and loved
- the Elephant and Piggy book series
- The Little World of Liz Climo animal cartoons
- David Wiesner's wordless books (and the one or two with words)
- The Ugly Princess (with a lot of translation help from me)
They also like watching apartment makeover videos by Tara Dennis - short, funny and really cool. Also, YouTube videos from Meghan Trainor (Better When I'm Dancing especially).
My niece especially seems to enjoy it but I am running out of ideas that are suitable for her age and interests. She loves (and draws) cartoons but does not especially care for Manga. She has a very sarcastic, quirky sense of humor. Enjoys interior decoration and design magazines, and thinks of becoming either a designer or a book illustrator. Makes simple and quirky machines from paper. She likes adventure books and humor but her English is not yet strong enough to read whole books or even short stories in English on her own. Liz Climo cartoons seemed to hit the sweet spot - short and fairly easy yet not too childish, with bonus points for quirky.
I am looking for more ideas - books, comics, short and interesting Youtube videos (short clips or songs). No websites or online games/forums for now - they are just too time consuming. And no straight language resources - no grammar games or vocabulary games. Just real-life stuff that people who are not ESL learners actually enjoy. Bonus points for quirky!
My family and I live in Europe and many of us are avid language learners. Our country's language is Polish but the adults in my family all speak English with varying fluency. There are five kids in the family, aged four months to fourteen years, and we have a very close bond. As the Fun Auntie (TM) I am often taking the kids to museums, libraries, shows and buying them lots of books (they love books).
One thing I would really like to help them with is becoming fluent in English - not just fluent enough to get directions in an English-speaking country but to be able to enjoy English-language books, websites, movies, and maybe even stuff like Metafilter some time down the road (my niece has already expressed interest in the green/blue stuff her aunt is always reading ;)
The older kids all have English at school and they are doing well grade-wise although they all say the classes are fairly boring. So I decided to show them how FUN English can be - and so far it seems to be working. They have read and loved
- the Elephant and Piggy book series
- The Little World of Liz Climo animal cartoons
- David Wiesner's wordless books (and the one or two with words)
- The Ugly Princess (with a lot of translation help from me)
They also like watching apartment makeover videos by Tara Dennis - short, funny and really cool. Also, YouTube videos from Meghan Trainor (Better When I'm Dancing especially).
My niece especially seems to enjoy it but I am running out of ideas that are suitable for her age and interests. She loves (and draws) cartoons but does not especially care for Manga. She has a very sarcastic, quirky sense of humor. Enjoys interior decoration and design magazines, and thinks of becoming either a designer or a book illustrator. Makes simple and quirky machines from paper. She likes adventure books and humor but her English is not yet strong enough to read whole books or even short stories in English on her own. Liz Climo cartoons seemed to hit the sweet spot - short and fairly easy yet not too childish, with bonus points for quirky.
I am looking for more ideas - books, comics, short and interesting Youtube videos (short clips or songs). No websites or online games/forums for now - they are just too time consuming. And no straight language resources - no grammar games or vocabulary games. Just real-life stuff that people who are not ESL learners actually enjoy. Bonus points for quirky!
Nimona (and Lumberjanes?) might suit her style.
posted by trig at 3:44 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by trig at 3:44 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: How do you feel about cussing? If you don't mind it a whole lot, then try Simone Giertz of "shitty robots" fame!
Most of her videos are captioned, she's amazing and hilarious, she's a badass at English, and she makes stuff. Plus the videos are visually interesting so I don't think you have to understand every single thing she says to enjoy it.
posted by sacchan at 4:23 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Most of her videos are captioned, she's amazing and hilarious, she's a badass at English, and she makes stuff. Plus the videos are visually interesting so I don't think you have to understand every single thing she says to enjoy it.
posted by sacchan at 4:23 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm an ESL teacher. Penguin puts out a lot of short ESL books for children. They're graded readers, meaning they have different levels based on vocabulary and grammar. I haven't used the kid's ones, but the teen and adult ones are terrific. You can find all the levels here: https://readers.english.com/ They're available on Amazon UK also. Good luck!
posted by pangolin party at 6:04 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by pangolin party at 6:04 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you for the great suggestions so far!
The reason I'm not looking for ESL resources per se is that I don't want this to look like it's about learning English so much as "check out this cool stuff".
So I guess I'm looking for stuff that you guys yourselves like and enjoy but which would be fun and not too linguistically challenging for a 14 year old born abroad.
Hope that makes sense š
posted by M. at 6:39 AM on January 20, 2018
The reason I'm not looking for ESL resources per se is that I don't want this to look like it's about learning English so much as "check out this cool stuff".
So I guess I'm looking for stuff that you guys yourselves like and enjoy but which would be fun and not too linguistically challenging for a 14 year old born abroad.
Hope that makes sense š
posted by M. at 6:39 AM on January 20, 2018
Instead of manga (not really an English-native art form), why not offer her a YA graphic novel? Raina Telgemeier is the reigning queen of the genre.
posted by milk white peacock at 7:09 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by milk white peacock at 7:09 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
English language magazines likeāSeventeenā might hit a nice spot. Itās fun because itās international trends, slang to learn, but also articles that are short enough to actually read and thereās a vague sense of accomplishment from reading the whole thing.
posted by raccoon409 at 8:15 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by raccoon409 at 8:15 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Just a clarification about the Penguin readers. I don't know how I missed that she was 14! I was thinking younger. The readers aren't text books--they're fiction and non-fiction books that have been simplified. So the teen ones include books that are linguistically simplified versions of popular novels, short stories and movies; biographies of celebrities and historical figures; and non-fiction on history and general science topics. Most are about 80 pages total. What makes them great is that they're high interest but low frustration for learners.
posted by pangolin party at 8:52 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by pangolin party at 8:52 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Does she like music? Music videos on English with captions would be fun!
Does she like cooking? Following a recipe written in English for an American or English dish would be fun.
Or maybe she would like to be pen pals with an American teen.
posted by SyraCarol at 4:45 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Does she like cooking? Following a recipe written in English for an American or English dish would be fun.
Or maybe she would like to be pen pals with an American teen.
posted by SyraCarol at 4:45 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Rookiemag! You can get the print annual if the website is too overwhelming. But what I love about the website is it has monthly themes and creative prompts, and invites teens all over the world to send in poetry, art and articles for publication.
posted by hellopanda at 8:12 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by hellopanda at 8:12 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the great answers!
I fell in love with the Shitty Robots channel :) But I seriously liked all your suggestions very much.
Thank you!
posted by M. at 2:32 AM on February 3, 2018
I fell in love with the Shitty Robots channel :) But I seriously liked all your suggestions very much.
Thank you!
posted by M. at 2:32 AM on February 3, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gakiko at 2:38 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]