Alma Flor Ada » News

Alma Flor Ada on Books and Reading for Latin Baby Book Club

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:39:09 +0000

Last month we were fortunate enough to have esteemed author, Alma Flor Ada, contribute a short piece on helping our children to grow up bilingually. This month, Sra. Ada has once again shared some of her thoughts on the value of books in a child’s life…

Few friends could be more valuable for children than books.

Books can be fun and entertaining offering children wonderful moments. But they certainly do much more.

Books can be informative, and allow children to learn about any topic, any time, any place. But they do much more. Read more…

MuuMoo Animal Nursery Rhymes Release

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:40:26 +0000

It is always an immense source of joy to see a new book published. Isabel Campoy and I have been collecting folklore all our lives. We know the soul of the culture lives in these popular expressions that have been shared from generation to generation through the centuries. It is very meaningful for us to be able to share the children folklore bilingually. Children who are familiar with the Spanish language will be able to enjoy the original rhymes, those that are not fluent yet will be able to enjoy them in English, particularly because the English versions have been lovingly and artistically created by Rosalma Zubizarreta to make them as enjoyable as the originals.
These book follows another collection of traditional rhymes, Pio Peep! and one of Villancicos or Christmas Carols, all of them published by HarperCollins with extraordinary illustrations by Vivi Escriva.
A particular element in MuuMoo is that our wonderful editor Rosemary Brosman, understanding the importance that popular poetry remains alive, by being added upon, encouraged us to add some of our own original animal rhymes to the traditional collection.
We look forward to your comments as you share MuuMoo with your children or students.
May these rhymes continue to live and delight and remain as small treasures in the hearts of children to be held on to forever and some day share with yet another generation of children.

Article on the application of Authors in the Classroom in the Dominican Republic in the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:13:39 +0000

“Using Teachers’ Volunteer Experiences in the Dominican Republic to Develop Social Responsibility in Canadian Middle-School Students: An ‘Authors in the Classroom’ Approach,” Judith K. Bernhard, Lisa Evans, Yohannys Marmolejo, Teresa Cosentino
http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/

Alma Flor Ada Teachership Award, 2010

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:03:36 +0000

The winner of this year Alma Flor Ada Teachership Award is Pavel Escobedo. Mr. Escobedo is studying for his teaching credencial at CSU Channel Islands. The award will be presented by Alma Flor Ada during the Award Luncheon at the CABE [California Association for Bilingual Education] Conference, in San Jose, on March 11, 2010.
The first recipient of the teachership, was Maricela Vargas Gonzalez, in 2009.

I Love Saturdays y domingos in video for the program Beyond the Page

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:38:11 +0000

I Love Saturdays y domingos in video for the program Beyond the Page, Disney Educational Productions. Animated illustrations bring to life the story and Elivia Savadier’s illustrations. The story is followed by an interview with Alma Flor, accompanied by her granddaughter Camille and by a video field trip featuring grandparents. Click here to see interview.

Ballet The Malachite Palace

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:33:57 +0000

Alma Flor Ada’s picture book The Malachite Palace has been turned into an extraordinary ballet with choreography by Diane Lambie and performed by Ballet Bras d’Or in CapeBreton, NS, Canada. Watch a video:

Smiles & Butterflies Newsletter

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:31:18 +0000

A new monthly digital newsletter can come your way to signal the collaboration between Alma Flor Ada and American Reading Company. You are a teacher; a believer in potential; a guide and a mentor to children of many backgrounds and diverse cultures. You lead them and love them, and you seek to send them on the most beautiful path they can walk. Who is guiding you?

Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy feel a kinship with you and a deep gratitude for your work. Our love for children and our belief that they blossom in your care has led us to create a free new publication, Smiles & Butterflies. It’s our way of acknowledging your calling and offering a colorful, informative tool that, in your capable hands, can surely add sunshine and happiness to the time you spend teaching and cultivating these growing lights in our world.

Our first issue is just a click away. Thank you for all that you do, and enjoy Smiles & Butterflies!

Download issue 1 »

Meet the author: Alma Flor Ada interviewed for Colorín colorado

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:29:38 +0000

“Alma Flor Ada is the award-winning author of more than 200 books for children. She is also a poet, storyteller, educator, mother, and grandmother. With a Ph.D. in literature and a lifelong love for stories, Ada has mastered the art of retelling traditional folktales and nursery rhymes from across Latin America. A native of Cuba who has also lived in Spain, Peru, and the United States, Alma Flor Ada writes poetry, picture books, and novels that offer rich, multicultural perspectives for all children.”

View the video clips below:

Meet the Author – Colorín colorado
Conozca al Autor – Colorín colorado

SILK a moving film

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:01:00 +0000

The wonderful idea, from my son Alfonso, of projecting films at home –instead of watching them on a TV screen– continues to my the life long dream of a home theater be a great gift.
Among the many beautiful films recently seen is SILK — a film with a very direct story line, a love story, but one of the most delicate expressions of true love.
The views of France and Japan are equally striking, the photography is excellent, but it is the delicacy and exquisiteness of the love story what makes it memorable.

Naomi Shihab Nye beautiful message

admin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:09:00 +0000

The Reading the World Conference at the University of San Francisco this past weekend was as always an extraordinary experience.
While I enjoyed every speaker, I would like to comment on a moment that was very significantly to me personally.
The great poet Naomi Shihab Nye as usual did not read a speak, but wove her talk around stories and poems, by her and other poets. Every word was meaningful, but what I want to share with you is a particular story.
Naomi told how when as a young woman she moved to San Antonio and was getting to know the city she was intrigued by a newspaper article which mentioned that a particular family had donated their mansion, filled with art, to become a museum.
She invited a friend to go visit the museum, and was delighted when upon arriving to the street she recognized the house she had seen in the newspaper. So, she parked the car in their parking lot, entered the house and began admiring each painting. The friend decided to go upstairs while Naomi enjoyed the living room, thinking of how pleasant it was to see these paintings in situ, without even a label interrupting the decor.
After a moment there was a gentleman next to her asking her what was she doing. She was surprised by the question and said she was enjoying the museum. The gentleman pointed out to her that the museum was two blocks down the street. So, when she asked what then was this place, he answered with a smile: We thought it was our home.
She called her friend from upstairs, and left filled with embarrassment, while a number of people sitting in the parlor looked at them.
She never told anyone of such blunder.
Years later, after a poetry reading a young woman approached her and asked her if indeed she was the person who once had entered a private home thinking it was a museum. All her feelings of inadequacy returned, but then the woman surprised her by saying: “I have wanted to thank you all my life. I was the teenager on that parlor. And up to then I had never appreciated the place I lived in, but when you mistook it by a museum, I realized that my parents indeed had good taste and hand made an effort to create this beautiful home, and my relationship towards them changed… because of you.
Naomi’s message with this story was how extraordinary it is that life will give us the opportunity to free ourselves of something from the past that had bothered us.
For me the message took even a higher meaning. It made me think again of the movie Atonement that I mentioned on an earlier posting. And I felt the invitation to not wait for life to come with a magical gift but to begin to create the actions that could somehow contribute to make up for past errors.
All my best wishes to anyone who reads this.