• List of titles - guide to level/ age suitability
  
  
• Availability - which titles / languages can you get NOW?
  
  
• Three NEW French titles to start 2008: "Hurry up, Molly" , "Get dressed, Robbie", and now "Space Postman"
  
• out soon

Praise from John Bald in a leading UK national daily newspaper. - 8 January 2008 "An exception is Early Start's series of Talking Big Books, available in French and Spanish for primary or younger secondary children. The ... stories in each language are clear, well-illustrated, and presented at a pace children can understand, with a well-organised series of additional activities to practise language skills and clear teachers' notes. French and Spanish versions are both recommended." Read the whole article > http://education.guardian.co.uk/link/story/0,,2236733,00.html

Not just a recorded story -
YOU have control over how the story is told:

• Step-through the story at a pace to suit your class.
• Go back if you want, or pause to discuss.
• HEAR the native-speaker storyteller...
• ...as you SEE the French text line-by-line.
• Text can be switched off
• Words can be highlighted as you hear them.
• Hear any line repeated...
• ...or see an English version if you want.

Children always hear the words as they read them, encouraging good pronunciation.
Vivid illustrations make the simple text readily understandable.
The first part of "I Want my Banana" in French (above)

Introduce the sound and spelling of key words -
Electronic flashcards

• Designed to encourage class participation
• Big clear pictures...
• optional native-speaker sound.
• optional text.
• le, la or l' always shown
• Colour-coded for gender
• New words introduced in small groups

...or use for echoing, guessing games, "conceal-and-reveal" - lots of ideas in the Teacher's Notes (included on CD-ROM).

A perfect tool for your interactive whiteboard.
Some of the key words from the story "Puppy finds a Friend" in French (above)

...plus carefully designed games using the story to develop language skills.

Simple games to help children focus on what they hear -
Listening skills - compare spoken and written words

In "Happy Birthday", this game asks children to compare the French words with what they hear.

One letter at a time is highlighted - but is it pronounced?

Children can listen as many times as they want, until they are ready to choose (and add to their score!).

Helps children work out how they can sound French!

Explore with your class how French written words are pronounced.
This game from the story "Happy Birthday" in French (above)

Build oracy and literacy skills

Children have fun joining in with the story, discovering they can work out what is going on in unfamiliar language.

Games and activities help them begin to read and pronounce new words with confidence.

They can even try writing their own story!

What's on each CD-ROM?

Each CD-ROM includes the story, Teacher's Notes and lots of interactive activities:

• - spot silent letters
• - sentence from jumbled words
• - Hangman
• - Simon Says!
• - Spot the sound (phonemes)
• - Storyquiz
• - Story Starter
• - Find word types (nouns, etc)
• - electronic flashcards

GUIDE to age suitability of Big Book CD-ROMs
Suitable for...	Title	Language content	Cross-curricular themes
	Goodnight Everyone	toy animals	bedtime rituals - PHSE
	I'm Too Big	comparing opposites	self-confidence, accepting diversityy
	Happy Birthday	counting, colours, exclamations	celebrations
	I Want My Banana	jungle animals, food	environment, conservation
	Hurry Up, Molly	parts of body, directions	my body
	George the Goldfish	pets, feelings, seasons	bereavement, life cycles
	Puppy Finds a Friend	farm animals, excuses	Farming, animal welfare
	What's for Supper?	food, shopping, likes/dislikes	Food, cooking.
	The Space Postman	directions, simple narrative (searching)	space, sci-fi, Solar System
	Get Dressed, Robbie	clothes, adjectives (descriptions)	clothes, fashions