Reading To Be Truly Bilingual
I am not bilingual but read Chinese literature that
has been translated into English because I have an
appreciation for the culture and want to learn more.
I would call myself a bicultural reader. I hope the
same for our students as well. Many of our students
are highly advanced in their Chinese reading, but
find they need to work harder with comprehension
of English resources. Keystone Libraries and staff
aim to enable our students to enjoy the bilingual
and bicultural experience of reading, to have an
appreciation and understanding of literature of all
cultures, by alleviating the burden of feeling unable
to do so. Many titles in our primary and middle
school libraries are avialable in both languages
and some resources have both Chinese and
English in the same book. This enables students
to read the same book in both languages, thus
improving reading and comprehension levels in
both languages, and gaining better academic and
cultural cognition. Reading is simply the one and
the only way forward to becoming truly bilingual.
We also have Ebooks, audio books and DVDs,
which help students build important languages
skills by absorbing content through multiple media.
Where possible, the Libraries also collaborate with
faculty through units of inquiry and subject areas
to incorporate and encourage self-directed learning
and research, and the use of our م