tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5453816948894901902024-03-12T21:53:46.938-07:00PRACE PageTurnersAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-85197370649434238652019-06-16T23:53:00.002-07:002019-06-16T23:55:05.229-07:00IDEAS<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Running out of ideas?</b> <b>Or time to prepare worksheets?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are some extra classroom activities to go with "THE WEEKEND", which is currently free to download on Kindle or iBooks. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://books.apple.com/au/book/the-weekend/id1431348357" style="color: #606060; font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word;">Get your free iBook</a>.</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="color: #606060; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GDLYHPR/" style="color: #606060; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Get your free Kindle book.</a></span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/teaching-ideas/" style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Click on this link </a><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">to download the <b>activities sheet.</b> </span><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You'll find more activities for some of our other PageTurners titles there as well.</span></blockquote>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-77291728602704051342019-06-16T18:37:00.002-07:002019-06-16T18:39:37.329-07:00FREE BOOK<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;"><b>FREE for a limited time</b>. </span></h2>
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(56, 88, 152); color: #385898;"><a href="https://books.apple.com/au/book/the-weekend/id1431348357?fbclid=IwAR07t9pCBhX2Wfvzgh3cXD_hzXBHwhArskweE1QkBNjCQlIv16QrcLoVkro">https://books.apple.com/au/book/the-weekend/id1431348357</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1CvCB7F6p4E/XQbt_clbJtI/AAAAAAAABq8/zlZ7wFxc7_QKZZc6Pf1P2HZW-s7kvcfywCLcBGAs/s1600/8%2BThe%2BWeekend%2BCover%2BCalibri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1CvCB7F6p4E/XQbt_clbJtI/AAAAAAAABq8/zlZ7wFxc7_QKZZc6Pf1P2HZW-s7kvcfywCLcBGAs/s320/8%2BThe%2BWeekend%2BCover%2BCalibri.jpg" width="226" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>THE WEEKEND</b> is a simple little story about a man and his two kids going away for the weekend. They stay in a camping ground, they walk along the beach and explore rock pools, they fish — or eat fish and chips. They make a fire, watch the stars and just talk. Simple pleasures.</span></div>
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As well as an easy read for beginners, it's designed as a springboard for discussion, about family togetherness, and weekend activities, and about having a holiday even when you can't afford much. And how a weekend away, just enjoying nature and each other's company can be so refreshing and renewing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As always, with PRACE PageTurners, there are exercises in the back, and a complete list of words used in the story. BUT stay tuned for some free extra exercises you can use with the book. Coming to you on the Pageturners' FaceBook Pages</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">PRACE Pageturners on FB: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PageTurners.PRACE/?" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><b>https://www.facebook.com/PageTurners.PRACE/?</b></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Anne at Pageturners on FB: </span><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/anne.pracepageturners" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">https://www.facebook.com/anne.pracepageturners</a></b><br />
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-7752350871316552242019-05-05T18:17:00.003-07:002019-05-05T18:25:29.204-07:00MARRY ME<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="5saud" data-offset-key="aeil0-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-offset-key="aeil0-0-0"><a href="https://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/books-in-series/#8" target="_blank">Series #8</a> — the e-books have Moira's illustrations in gorgeous colour. The paperbacks are in black and white.</span></span><br />
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MARRY ME <span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"> is a fun little story, about a guy trying to work up the courage to propose to his girlfriend. He wants to do it in the perfect place, at the perfect moment — but each time, something goes wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a discussion starter that can go in several directions — from how/when/where people in your classed proposed, to a more general theme of things going wrong. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-offset-key="dv6tl-0-0">As usual there is a full word list and exercises in the back of the book for students to work on.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can buy<b> MARRY ME</b> from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marry-Me-PageTurners-Anne-Dunn-ebook/dp/B07GDT49N9/"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">amazon</span></a> or <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/marry-me/id1431331732?"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">i-books</span></a> or your usual e-book suppliers or get the (black and white) paperback direct from <a href="https://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/books-in-series/#8"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">PRACE</span></a>.</span></div>
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-20673936445720277232019-04-14T15:28:00.002-07:002019-04-14T15:38:49.338-07:00Series #8 — THE WEEKEND<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJVgAipS6y0/XLOy4cj_p7I/AAAAAAAABpc/7ubR3pejwEYkOzELZwnj19wibL_lY1JgwCLcBGAs/s1600/8%2BThe%2BWeekend%2BCover%2BCalibri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tJVgAipS6y0/XLOy4cj_p7I/AAAAAAAABpc/7ubR3pejwEYkOzELZwnj19wibL_lY1JgwCLcBGAs/s320/8%2BThe%2BWeekend%2BCover%2BCalibri.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pageturners Series #8 is our first venture into e-books, and if you have an e-reader that shows colour, you'll enjoy Moira's pictures. We've now had them printed in paperback as well, but the paperbacks are still in black and white. It's too expensive at the moment to have them printed in colour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><b>The Weekend</b> is a simple little story about a man and his two kids going away for the weekend. They stay in a camping ground, they walk along the beach and explore rock pools, they fish — or eat fish and chips. They make a fire, watch the stars and just talk. </span><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>Simple pleasures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;"><br />As well as an easy read for beginners, it's designed as a springboard for discussion, about family togetherness, and weekend activities, and about having a holiday even when you can't afford much. And how a weekend away, just enjoying nature and each other's company can be so refreshing and renewing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;">And as always, with PRACE PageTurners, there are exercises in the back, and a complete list of words used in the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-kerning: none;">You can buy<b> The Weekend</b> from the usual e-book suppliers or get the (black and white) <a href="https://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/shop/level-01/the-weekend/" target="_blank">paperback direct from PRACE</a>. </span></div>
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-50197281443162066852019-02-13T15:40:00.003-08:002019-02-13T15:48:03.755-08:00We're back!<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After a long battle, where I was locked out of this blog and for the life of me could find no way back in, and after numerous communications to google and blogger, all of which seemed to go into a black hole, today, gloriously, I'm in again. Thank you to the anonymous employee who made it possible!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So it's 2019, and on the new <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PageTurners.PRACE/" target="_blank">PRACE FaceBook page</a> and my own little <a href="https://www.facebook.com/anne.pracepageturners" target="_blank">PageTurners FB page</a>, we're talking about summer-themed PageTurners. (Click on the link and follow us on FB)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We've posted about books on the theme of Summer Dangers — bushfires, cyclones and snakes. Now we're moving on to holidays and today's post was about I WANT A HOLIDAY.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The story was inspired by one of my students who came back from holidays saying everyone in the family had had a nice time, but she just cooked and cleaned as usual. So I wrote a different ending to her story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was one of the first series of PageTurners. <span style="color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series #1 was a gamble -- we had no idea whether we'd even break even - the PRACE Committee of Management had lent us the money to print the books. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember the day I walked into my class with a handful of books, series #1, direct from the printers. I handed them around to the students to see what they thought. One student, Graeme, sounded out his title aloud — "I want a holiday! Yes," he added, "I could do with one of those." </span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="506oc-0-0" style="color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He opened the book and started reading it aloud. The class went silent as everyone listened to Graeme read. </span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the book he closed the cover, looked up and said, "That's the first book I've ever read from beginning to end!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And the class spontaneously applauded. Graeme blushed mightily, but was thrilled to bits. Of course, I gave him the book. PageTurners was on its way.</span></div>
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-628053680365852252015-06-30T17:58:00.003-07:002015-06-30T18:12:25.916-07:00Series 7 is coming and to celebrate, here's a fun jig-saw puzzle you can do of one of our new titles — DancerAnd to celebrate, here's a fun jig-saw puzzle you can do of one of our new titles — Dancer. Just click on the cover or on the title below, then click on the circular arrow on the bottom left of the page, which pulls the puzzle apart. Then have fun putting the jigsaw together<br />
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<span style="display: inline-block; margin: .6em; width: 160px;" title="Dancer - online jigsaw puzzle - 54 pieces"><a href="http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=333a78aa6867" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o9DMImISNCQ/VZM7kjC2scI/AAAAAAAABgk/neskg-_7xOU/s320/Dancer.png" width="229" /></a></span></div>
<span style="display: inline-block; margin: .6em; width: 160px;" title="Dancer - online jigsaw puzzle - 54 pieces"><span style="bottom: 4px; position: absolute; right: 5px;"><span style="color: white; font: bold 16px Verdana,sans-serif; text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #000; vertical-align: middle;">54 </span><img alt="piece" src="//www.jigsawplanet.com/img/preview/piece.png" style="border: 0; vertical-align: middle;" /></span><a href="http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=333a78aa6867" style="display: block; overflow: hidden; text-align: center;">Dancer</a></span><br />
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Or you can <a href="http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=333a78aa6867" target="_blank">click here</a> and play the puzzle off site.<br />
Have fun, and stay tuned for more news and fun activities for series 7Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-22406536956700508582013-12-10T16:28:00.001-08:002013-12-10T16:28:06.108-08:00END of year SALE<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">PageTurners End-Of-Year SALE!!</span></span></b></h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">10 books for $60 (aust) until end of December</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FKpEl9&h=CAQEVWtoT&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/KpEl9</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ldwvM3TVfXA/UqexK2G7mWI/AAAAAAAABH0/HFFvCs-4jDk/s1600/fortybigballoonmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ldwvM3TVfXA/UqexK2G7mWI/AAAAAAAABH0/HFFvCs-4jDk/s320/fortybigballoonmed.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-64796562689121320412013-12-04T02:20:00.002-08:002013-12-04T02:24:41.053-08:00Have you read the stories from Series 6 yet? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2EMqzAQeTgA/Up8B4KrZAtI/AAAAAAAABG0/yiVrnpNyEkU/s1600/Pagturners%236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="215" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2EMqzAQeTgA/Up8B4KrZAtI/AAAAAAAABG0/yiVrnpNyEkU/s320/Pagturners%236.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Level 1 </b></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">The Fortune-Teller —</b> Zara Rose says she can see the future, but then she gets a surprise.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Learning to Swim </b><b>—</b> Bill said he didn’t like the water but the truth was he couldn't swim. Then he decided to take swimming lessons.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Level 2 </b></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Dance Class </b>— Zoe wants Sam to go to dance class with her, but he doesn’t like dancing.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Drums </b>— Ben wants to learn to play drums. His mother says they’re too noisy, so Ben comes up with a plan.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Dream Job </b>— Otus is a working dog. A story that rhymes.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S_aZuGQ6EWI/Up8A4j1ccZI/AAAAAAAABGs/Lhn2wmuSDV0/s1600/shark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S_aZuGQ6EWI/Up8A4j1ccZI/AAAAAAAABGs/Lhn2wmuSDV0/s400/shark.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Level 3 </b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Be Careful </b>— Rob tells his wife to be careful, then he has an unexpected accident at home.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>My First Plane Trip </b>— It’s my first time in a plane and I’m a little bit nervous. . .</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Sports Camp </b>— Benny likes Evie, but she doesn’t even notice him. At sports camp everything changes.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Level 4 </b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Turning Forty </b>—Luke’s 40th birthday is coming up, so he makes a list: <i>10 things I want to do before I turn 40.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Doctor’s Secret </b>— James Barry was a well-known British doctor in the 1800’s. But “James” had a secret that he took, almost to the grave. Women weren’t allowed to be doctors in those days. A true story.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These are stories for all ages and interests, fun to read, entertainingly illustrated and good for a class discussion afterward.</span></div>
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<b><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/index.php" target="_blank">To find out more or order the books go here.</a></b></div>
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-1386767528626941362013-02-05T21:24:00.000-08:002013-02-05T21:24:47.214-08:00Series #6 is here!I've just picked up PageTurners, Series #6, from the printer, and they look fabulous. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LB9E0tWxGYI/URHoa8JBJgI/AAAAAAAAA_k/yGa-r6RbhTQ/s1600/Pagturners%236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LB9E0tWxGYI/URHoa8JBJgI/AAAAAAAAA_k/yGa-r6RbhTQ/s400/Pagturners%236.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
These have been in the pipeline for some time and I know people outside Australia have been waiting for more general titles, so here they are.<br />
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I'll be putting more info up about each of the titles in the next little while.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-30530541989694655842012-11-11T17:28:00.003-08:002013-02-05T21:25:05.570-08:00War PoetryThere's a video here of Sean Bean reciting Wilfred Owen's WW1 Poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth." It's a wonderful poem and his superb reading of it sent tingles down my spine.<br />
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If you haven't read Owen, do so — he wrote some wonderful, poignant and often heart-wrenching poetry.<br />
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-49270610230580038672012-11-08T16:51:00.001-08:002012-11-11T17:29:00.369-08:00Simpson and his DonkeyWhen we were working out what stories we'd write for series #5, the specifically Australian series, we wanted some stories that would be useful as a springboard for some themes that come up year after year in a class. War is one of those themes; it comes up on ANZAC Dat (25th April) and Remembrance Day (11th November.)<br />
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For this we chose Simpson and His Donkey — a well-known and beloved story of a man who didn't quite fit the army, but whose bravery was legendary. As well, there's a donkey, and we've noticed that readers of PageTurners love stories about animals. Finally there's the question of justice — a built-in discussion at the end of the story that can lead in to all sorts of other topics.<br />
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We <a href="http://pracepageturners.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/anzac-day-simpson-and-his-donkey.html" target="_blank">blogged about Simpson and his donkey here</a>.</div>
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You can <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-simpson.php" target="_blank">listen to the story here</a>.</div>
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Click here for a <a href="http://bit.ly/Z9fsIA" target="_blank">google image search on Simpson and his Donkey</a> and look at more pictures.<br />
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Or if you want to discuss something different in class, you might want to read about <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-nedkelly.php" target="_blank">Ned Kelly</a>, who was hanged on November 11th. I'll be blogging about him soon.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kym5BlGmUTU/UJxHgx6WDJI/AAAAAAAAA4g/4ScuaWjcv0c/s1600/Simpson+and+his+donkey,+Gallipoli1_11405235_tcm11-18424-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kym5BlGmUTU/UJxHgx6WDJI/AAAAAAAAA4g/4ScuaWjcv0c/s1600/Simpson+and+his+donkey,+Gallipoli1_11405235_tcm11-18424-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-61986407234223866242012-09-21T21:30:00.001-07:002012-09-21T21:31:09.654-07:00It's Racing TimeIt's spring carnival racing time in Australia and what better story than that of the immortal Phar Lap, a horse still beloved many years after his death.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8rux2e9JLM0/UF0GLVFuBWI/AAAAAAAAAxs/skiwBTiAmdY/s1600/PharLap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8rux2e9JLM0/UF0GLVFuBWI/AAAAAAAAAxs/skiwBTiAmdY/s320/PharLap.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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Most Australians have only ever seen Phar Lap in a glass case at the Melbourne Museum, but he's still one of the most popular exhibits and his story continues to fascinate.<br />
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In a time of economic hardship, Phar Lap was an inspiration —he won and won and won.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yysbZIF8qt0/UF08dTI8GRI/AAAAAAAAAz4/-YmJ1irzyv4/s1600/PLHug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yysbZIF8qt0/UF08dTI8GRI/AAAAAAAAAz4/-YmJ1irzyv4/s320/PLHug.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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He and his trainer, Tommy Woodcock were very close. Tommy loved the horse.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wsPRPP4PvH0/UF08f6ya6_I/AAAAAAAAA0I/7WTAXPg9s1o/s1600/PLsleeping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wsPRPP4PvH0/UF08f6ya6_I/AAAAAAAAA0I/7WTAXPg9s1o/s320/PLsleeping.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
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The drawings above are by our own Moira Hanrahan, of course. There are lots more in the book.<br />
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Visit the PRACE PageTurners website to <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-pharlap.php" target="_blank">hear the story read aloud</a>.<br />
<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/order.php" target="_blank">Order the book.</a><br />
Look at more books in the PRACE <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/index.php" target="_blank">PageTurners Aussie Series</a>.<br />
<br />Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-91684259434602096022012-05-14T20:23:00.004-07:002012-05-14T20:26:25.328-07:00On feeling good. . .<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The other day I posted this quote on the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003792775604&sk=wall" target="_blank">PageTurners face book page</a>;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">“<i>My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.</i>”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">― A.A. Milne</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">And afterward I was thinking about it, and it reminded me of something I used to do with my literacy students at the end of the semester — list one thing they could do now that they couldn't do before.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">We used to make the list into a poster, and every time I saw it, I'd smile.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">It said things like:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> I can spell Wednesday.</span> (And every time I think of this one I grin, remembering the rant this student had made about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><i>stupid</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> spelling!)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">I can fill out the bank form by myself.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">I read a book on my own.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">I can work out some big words without asking.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">I can read my son his favorite story.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">I can leave a note for my daughter. And she can read it.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> (That's two things)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">I wish now I'd kept those posters. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-54146051523050788022012-05-12T23:13:00.002-07:002012-05-13T01:54:19.908-07:00A Handful of Sand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-handfulsand.php" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AoaLyaMa2JI/T69PxmDixLI/AAAAAAAAAo8/o3FdwQ38sGI/s200/HandfulSand.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>Anne here, talking today about another of our series #5 Aussie topic books, <b>A Handful of Sand</b>. It's about indigenous land rights — how the Gurindji people got their traditional land back.<br />
<br />
As the back blurb says: <i><b>It started as a struggle for pay and turned into a struggle for land rights. It took nine long years but finally the Gurindji got their land back. Read how they did it</b></i>.<br />
<br />
The book was written by Chris Malakar and, as always, illustrated by Moira Hanrahan. I have to say, I think Moira's drawings are getting better and better and this book contains some great examples.<br />
<br />
Here's a drawing of the Gurindji stockmen mustering cattle. It was hard, dusty work and they got terrible pay for it.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jmo71iLoBw4/T69N2eTEKoI/AAAAAAAAAos/9If4JRo8rOQ/s1600/mustering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jmo71iLoBw4/T69N2eTEKoI/AAAAAAAAAos/9If4JRo8rOQ/s400/mustering.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
The book is also one of our new pale green cover readers — it's longer than most of our books, but still has the same limited word count as the Green level 4 books — 300 unique words. (For an explanation of<a href="http://pracepageturners.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/pageturners-levels.html" target="_blank"> how we arrive at our levels, go here</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IG17CYhoDm8/T69OMURz8RI/AAAAAAAAAo0/ivjKqIfFktQ/s1600/walkoff6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IG17CYhoDm8/T69OMURz8RI/AAAAAAAAAo0/ivjKqIfFktQ/s320/walkoff6.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>The Gurindji walk-off was a turning point in Australian indigenous history. If you want to read more about it, there's some information <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurindji_people" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
There's a very moving you-tube here that gives you a brief look at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27TUaScXco8&feature=related" target="_blank">some of the main events</a> and some of the people involved.<br />
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There's a brilliant <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_ndC07C2qw&feature=related" target="_blank">song here about it by Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly</a>.<br />
<br />
And if you'd like to hear the book read aloud, there's <a href="http://j.mp/pthandful" target="_blank">an audio file here</a>.<br />
<br />
You can also <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-handfulsand.php" target="_blank">order the book</a>.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-27406038792093665102012-04-18T04:39:00.004-07:002012-04-19T05:30:21.725-07:00ANZAC Day — Simpson and his Donkey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/order.php" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZAY8Luqaic/T46j5SgyZgI/AAAAAAAAAnk/ZdE-Aj8-fv8/s320/Simpson.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>ANZAC day is coming up and you might want to read a story that's about the ANZACs — Simpson and his Donkey. It's a true story about Jack Simpson, a young man who joined the Australian army, hoping for a trip back to England to see his mother.<br />
<br />
Instead he found himself landing in Turkey, at Gallipoli, under intense fire.<br />
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Jack Simpson wasn't exactly the perfect soldier — he didn't like taking orders, and he loved a good joke. Here he is posing with a skeleton for a photo. He often got into trouble.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MKB7qJhoPQ/T5AFMtMfa0I/AAAAAAAAAoc/L1tzS13VCm4/s1600/simpson_at_camp-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MKB7qJhoPQ/T5AFMtMfa0I/AAAAAAAAAoc/L1tzS13VCm4/s200/simpson_at_camp-1.jpg" width="165" /></a>He was a big, tall, strong fellow, so the army put him in the Ambulance Corps (corps means group of men.) His job was to work with a partner to carry wounded soldiers to the hospital tents.<br />
<br />
But the fighting was on very steep ground and they were being shot at all the time, so it was hard to rescue the wounded soldiers. This is a real photo from 1915.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zJCrAGmI39Y/T46npGuAdRI/AAAAAAAAAoU/Yra70Pyyig0/s1600/steeles_post_at_anzac_3_may_1915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zJCrAGmI39Y/T46npGuAdRI/AAAAAAAAAoU/Yra70Pyyig0/s320/steeles_post_at_anzac_3_may_1915.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><br />
Simpson saw some donkeys running free and it gave him an idea. He caught a donkey and started carrying wounded soldiers to safety. Using the donkey he could rescue three times the men than he could with a stretcher.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2YIOfja7Bmc/T46k6kEYxfI/AAAAAAAAAn0/uzmcEO7g-B0/s1600/Simpson+and+his+donkey,+Gallipoli1_11405235_tcm11-18424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2YIOfja7Bmc/T46k6kEYxfI/AAAAAAAAAn0/uzmcEO7g-B0/s320/Simpson+and+his+donkey,+Gallipoli1_11405235_tcm11-18424.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But this was against official orders.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He was very brave, and rescued many wounded soldiers in very dangerous situations.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The ordinary soldiers thought he was a hero.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">His commanding officer agreed. He recommended Simpson for a medal.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">But the top army brass didn't agree. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">They wouldn't give a medal to a man who was disobeying orders, by using a donkey instead of carrying a stretcher.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Simpson became a legend.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">He's on a gold coin, on stamps, and there are statues of him.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-29vaeDWhs5U/T46mqaNQFpI/AAAAAAAAAn8/Fs7Q8hOQd8k/s1600/1198989008735-7568.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-29vaeDWhs5U/T46mqaNQFpI/AAAAAAAAAn8/Fs7Q8hOQd8k/s200/1198989008735-7568.jpg" width="142" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytLU-Qb9yhU/T46m0AGwF4I/AAAAAAAAAoE/QBELb5bOGH4/s1600/apl08-1965+8d+anzac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytLU-Qb9yhU/T46m0AGwF4I/AAAAAAAAAoE/QBELb5bOGH4/s200/apl08-1965+8d+anzac.jpg" width="137" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRfG2UJk6uU/T46nERntspI/AAAAAAAAAoM/emUJmJozpgg/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mRfG2UJk6uU/T46nERntspI/AAAAAAAAAoM/emUJmJozpgg/s200/images-2.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">But Simpson never got his medal.</div><div class="" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-simpson.php" target="_blank">Listen to the story here.</a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">And <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/order.php" target="_blank">buy the book</a>.</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-68867995059913661842012-03-14T20:30:00.012-07:002012-04-04T20:48:32.424-07:00Series #5, an all Australian series<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anne here, writing to let you know that Series #5, our All Australian Series is now on sale. We had a number of problems and delays with the printing, but all that is behind us, now, and it's all OK.</span><br />
<br />
There are 10 new titles, and we're hoping they'll be popular with Aussie readers in particular. For all you overseas readers, don't worry, Series #6 is in production as we speak and should be on sale in the first half of 2012.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the next few weeks I'll talk about each of the books in turn, but in the meantime, here's a look at the covers. Both</span> stories in level 1 (Yellow covers) are set in the desert, Australia's vast inland. <b>Running With Boats</b> is about the famous Todd River Boat Race in Alice Springs, a race held on a dry river bed. It's a crazy event and people there have lot of fun.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-1-runboats.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MlgEPc1fH_Q/T2FdJOzA0UI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/TIYxNZILMck/s200/RunBoats.jpg" width="143" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b> The Camel Man</b> is about the Afghan and Indian cameleers who helped open up much of the outback, bringing goods and supplies to the isolated people living there.<br />
</span><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-1-camelman.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K0dBKgzf6GE/T2Fc5onlfrI/AAAAAAAAAlU/LzlhtC7Hqb8/s200/CamelMan.jpg" width="145" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Fire</b>, one of our level two (red) books is about a danger many Australians are touched by every year — bushfire. Liz, Anne, Ian and Greg get caught up in a bushfire. It's based on a true story. This really happened to me and my friends.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-2-fire.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CEu6ZxdNPIM/T2FdC7P7ixI/AAAAAAAAAlk/NFvFK5vYtzw/s200/FIRE.jpg" width="139" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>On The Goldfields</b> is a story from history, about life on the goldfields in the 1850's and gives a small insight into how it was for women.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-2-goldfields.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9vwc6t49wzA/T2FdFg-cYkI/AAAAAAAAAl0/p9Ui34oRgeU/s200/Goldfields.jpg" width="143" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Next, in level 3, we have the story of <b>Cyclone Tracy</b>, which hit the city of Darwin on Christmas Eve.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-3-tracy.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CMphWR3Hcgk/T2FdB_fs_CI/AAAAAAAAAlc/cCdBHQSVu48/s200/Cyclone.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And Moira has <b>Would I Lie to You</b>? — a tale of the Furphy tank, a water carrier that gave rise to a common expression "that's a furphy."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-3-furphy.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dIngGChWKjE/T2FdEH7IslI/AAAAAAAAAls/VZq0xqNtGRs/s200/Furphy.jpg" width="139" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In level 4 we have the story of Australia's most beloved racehorse, <b>Phar Lap</b>. He died before most of us were born, but people still love Phar Lap. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-pharlap.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qup6cCvFfus/T2FdIKuoywI/AAAAAAAAAmI/63J56rbNEdk/s200/PharLap.jpg" width="145" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Finally we have three books at a new level. They're longer books, but we've kept the unique word count to the same as level 4, so they're longer to read, but not too hard, we hope. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>A Handful of Sand</b> is about indigenous land rights -- it's the story of the Gurindji people, and how they fought to get their land back. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-handfulsand.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-smwBFuEP_v0/T2FdGpWRSqI/AAAAAAAAAl4/tR21iP3O03I/s200/HandfulSand.jpg" width="143" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Simpson and His Donkey</b> is a beloved story from Word War One -- an ANZAC story, about Private Jack Simpson and the donkeys he used to rescue wounded soldiers. In this book we use a lot of historical photos from WW1, as well as some of Moira's cartoons.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-simpson.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PleGI-0wS4c/T2FdKMovjYI/AAAAAAAAAmY/rk2iFX_rUeM/s200/Simpson.jpg" width="146" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Lastly we have the story of Australia's best known bushranger, <b>Ned Kelly</b>. This book is entirely illustrated from historical photos and illustrations from Ned Kelly's own time, and are of interest in themselves.<br />
</span><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-4-nedkelly.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ix0eR-prYws/T2FdHfmpxNI/AAAAAAAAAmA/ENMW03osE58/s200/NedKelly.jpg" width="146" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> We're very proud of this new series. We hope you enjoy it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-1-runboats.php" target="_blank">http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-5-1-runboats.php </a></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-6982271705497409722011-09-28T16:30:00.001-07:002012-04-04T21:32:48.790-07:00At a conferenceI went to the ACAL conference on Tuesday and Wednesday to display the new series of PageTurners. Series #5 isn't printed yet, but they will be soon. I made up some hand made versions of the books so people could read them and get an idea.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEF_8jood1k/ToOn_4wd0KI/AAAAAAAAAYU/Cpxvia5uq3c/s1600/PTSeries5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEF_8jood1k/ToOn_4wd0KI/AAAAAAAAAYU/Cpxvia5uq3c/s320/PTSeries5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Series #5 is on topics that are particularly Australian — they're the sort of topics that come up year after year. There's <b>NED KELLY, PHAR LAP, GOLD, FIRE, CYCLONE TRACY</b>, and more.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">These are the hand-made covers — the final books will look like the usual PageTurners.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yxEZovawEXU/ToOoA23_ebI/AAAAAAAAAYc/0zgRe_7ITU0/s1600/PTseries5%253A4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yxEZovawEXU/ToOoA23_ebI/AAAAAAAAAYc/0zgRe_7ITU0/s320/PTseries5%253A4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And some more:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RWpVtNf7jUc/ToOoAfB8EqI/AAAAAAAAAYY/sQl7qjbl8-Q/s1600/PTSeries5%253A1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RWpVtNf7jUc/ToOoAfB8EqI/AAAAAAAAAYY/sQl7qjbl8-Q/s320/PTSeries5%253A1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We're also introducing a new level — level 4 extended, with a light green cover. These have the same number of unique words as level 4 (300 unique words) but are longer and more complex. These titles are <b>SIMPSON AND HIS DONKEY</b> (an ANZAC story) <b>A HANDFUL OF SAND</b> (a story of indigenous land rights) and <b>NED KELLY</b> (outlaw or hero — you decide.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wTX4K6NbwNw/ToOn_S5SutI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/LtXBUCF82Uo/s1600/PTExtended.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wTX4K6NbwNw/ToOn_S5SutI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/LtXBUCF82Uo/s320/PTExtended.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's always a pleasure going to conferences and displaying our books. So many people come up to say "We use these books all the time," or "My students love these books," and we talk about our classes, or maybe the <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/">PageTurners website</a> and what's on it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sometimes there are people standing nearby who've never seen the books, and when they hear other people saying nice things like this, they drift closer, and start looking through the books. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">By the way, a lot of people said they'd been using <b>RED DOG</b> (from series 4) in conjunction with the movie that's out at the moment, but not many realized we had an interview on this blog with my friend, Janet, who actually had<a href="http://pracepageturners.blogspot.com/2010/06/about-red-dog.html"> RED DOG hitch a ride with her</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-4-1-red-dog.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0BamjiX0mY/ToOs4fXLOeI/AAAAAAAAAY0/W-8EwB_Estw/s1600/red+dog+cover.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This conference was at Victoria University, in the heart of Melbourne, on the 12th floor, so in the break I wandered out onto the terrace and took a few snaps. I'm still getting the hang of photos with an i-phone, so they're not great. But you get the idea. The photo below is looking south, across the Yarra River, away from the city. All the photos are away from the city.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrpXolYlqow/ToOoCJh8TXI/AAAAAAAAAYk/OQ9qpZrtxd8/s1600/VicUniView2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrpXolYlqow/ToOoCJh8TXI/AAAAAAAAAYk/OQ9qpZrtxd8/s320/VicUniView2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is looking to the west, down the Yarra, heading toward Port Phillip Bay.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VEbJe--uVpE/ToOoBofi5uI/AAAAAAAAAYg/Mqbb8iL7HhA/s1600/VicUniView1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VEbJe--uVpE/ToOoBofi5uI/AAAAAAAAAYg/Mqbb8iL7HhA/s320/VicUniView1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And this is east, looking past the magnificent old Flinders St Station.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Wm4gL0D0MA/ToOoDfA_5FI/AAAAAAAAAYs/si8B52I-SLI/s1600/VicUniView4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Wm4gL0D0MA/ToOoDfA_5FI/AAAAAAAAAYs/si8B52I-SLI/s320/VicUniView4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'll post more information about the new series soon.</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-37122323995109268532011-08-03T21:09:00.000-07:002011-08-03T21:13:24.473-07:00Red Dog, the Movie<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span></span>Red Dog the movie is out today in Australia. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's a film about the very same Red Dog our book is based on.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBVMup_JOCE/TjoUwQn2BQI/AAAAAAAAAVw/HFfIKhCO3Sw/s1600/RedDogPoster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBVMup_JOCE/TjoUwQn2BQI/AAAAAAAAAVw/HFfIKhCO3Sw/s1600/RedDogPoster.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I can't wait to see it.</div><div style="text-align: center;">It's not exactly the same as our book, of course. But it's about the same dog.</div><div style="text-align: center;">The dog who plays the part of Red Dog is called Koko. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uLVy9kcrpZA/TjoVNmM-ljI/AAAAAAAAAV0/Ld5M4HRKHgM/s1600/Koko.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uLVy9kcrpZA/TjoVNmM-ljI/AAAAAAAAAV0/Ld5M4HRKHgM/s200/Koko.jpeg" width="175" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">He's a really clever dog.<br />
Here is a short clip of his screen test.<br />
The director of the movie is talking to him.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Su66nlzKC0" width="560"></iframe><br />
Isn't he a cute dog?<br />
They dyed his fur red for the movie.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> I love this poster, too.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWZLV-qWzMk/TjoVghKfOtI/AAAAAAAAAV8/vypO2XnKhI8/s1600/SoulfulRedDog.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GWZLV-qWzMk/TjoVghKfOtI/AAAAAAAAAV8/vypO2XnKhI8/s1600/SoulfulRedDog.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You can read more about it <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803061/">here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You can buy <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-4-1-red-dog.php">our book about Red Dog</a> here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I wrote about Red Dog earlier on this blog. It contains a story from my friend Janet, who actually met the real Red Dog. <a href="http://pracepageturners.blogspot.com/2010/06/about-red-dog.html">You can read it here.</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com2Melbourne VIC, Australia-37.595884448930349 145.14974717812504-37.996321448930345 144.46462317812504 -37.195447448930352 145.83487117812504tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-86508015688590349572010-12-05T15:29:00.001-08:002012-04-04T21:36:25.834-07:00Where do we get our ideas?Anne here. People sometimes ask us where do we get our ideas for the stories.<br />
The truth is, they come from everywhere — from other people, from seeing something or hearing a snatch of conversation. Sometimes they come from a story a student tells us, sometimes they come from our own lives and sometimes we just make them up.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-4-1-dentist.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TPwfmjF1InI/AAAAAAAAARY/pJhLcWS0guY/s1600/dentist+cover.jpg" /></a></div>The Dentist came from my own experience. For instance, at the time when we were thinking up stories for series #4, I needed to go to the dentist.<br />
<br />
I'd put it off, because I'd cracked a tooth, and the nerve was dead, so I was fairly sure the dentist would want to pull it out. And I didn't want that.<br />
<br />
When I was a kid the dentist had taken out four teeth to make room for the others. It was awful. It really hurt and I felt bad for days.<br />
<br />
So I put my visit to the dentist off. And off.<br />
It was easy to put it off because my dentist had died, and I didn't have a new one yet.<br />
But I knew the tooth was going to be a problem. Decay happens.<br />
<br />
Anyway, to cut a long story short, after series #4 came out I made an appointment with a new dentist.<br />
And last week I had the tooth out. To my amazement, it didn't hurt a bit. I wondered why I'd taken so long to go. All the waiting and worrying was worse than the tooth extraction.<br />
<br />
So now you know where at least one of the stories comes from.<br />
And maybe now the story needs changing.<br />
You can listen to The Dentist story<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-4-1-dentist.php"> here</a>.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-90178391574266751652010-09-21T06:01:00.000-07:002010-09-21T06:10:40.455-07:00PageTurners Levels<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anne here. Recently we were asked how we come up with the various levels for our books.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We've been teaching ESL and adult literacy for many years and seen various schemes for measuring readability wax and wane in popularity. Additionally, PageTurners are sold internationally and different countries do things differently. </span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div><br />
</div><div>We didn't want to tie ourselves to any particular scheme, so when we were working out our levels we made it really simple — the number of unique words in a text, and the length of the text.</div><div><br />
</div><div>So...</div><div>Level 1 (yellow covers)</div><div> — about 100 words long</div><div> — up to 60 unique words</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TJioOAKvMcI/AAAAAAAAAQE/zrOCmyv9nSs/s1600/pageTurners%234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TJioOAKvMcI/AAAAAAAAAQE/zrOCmyv9nSs/s200/pageTurners%234.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div>Level 2 (red covers)</div><div><div> — about 200 words long</div><div> — up to 150 unique words</div></div><div><br />
</div><div><div>Level 3 (blue covers)</div><div> — around 300 words in total</div><div> — about 200 unique words</div><div><br />
</div><div>Level 4 (green covers)</div><div><div> — 400 - 600 words long</div><div> — about 300 unique words</div></div></div><div><br />
</div><div>But it's a little more than that. Because we're experienced teachers we also go by instinct. We'll replace a difficult word with a simple one when we can. We hope the pictures will add to the ease of reading the text. We read the stories aloud and check that the sentences don't get too long or involved, especially at the lower levels. We usually trial them with adult learners as well.</div><div><br />
</div><div>First and foremost we want the books to be fun to read but we also want them to be useful and lead to good discussions. We're always happy to consider suggestions and answer questions. </div><div><br />
</div></span></span></span></span></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-87521028883493338922010-08-30T20:00:00.000-07:002010-08-30T20:07:16.410-07:00Moira Hanrahan, the cartoonistAll the drawings in our books are done by Moira Hanrahan, and we love them.<br />
<br />
Moira's not a trained artist, but she's been drawing all her life. She started young by drawing unflattering cartoons of her brothers and sisters. She has nine of them so that gave her plenty of practice.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/THxrYkM3kOI/AAAAAAAAAOE/h1J7IAvBizM/s1600/MoiSchoolgrl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/THxrYkM3kOI/AAAAAAAAAOE/h1J7IAvBizM/s200/MoiSchoolgrl.jpg" width="96" /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/THxt2x28dII/AAAAAAAAAOM/43nLUCKng88/s1600/polecat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/THxt2x28dII/AAAAAAAAAOM/43nLUCKng88/s200/polecat.jpg" width="126" /></a> She moved on to drawing pictures of the various people she worked with, especially school principals and other people who inspired her art to great heights.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The picture on the right is from a fun awards certificate she made. </div><br />
Moira's also a musician — she plays drums and the Irish tin whistle. She loves dogs and horses, but isn't very fond of cats. You can probably tell that from looking at her <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-1-3-dog.php">pictures of dogs</a> and comparing them with the ones she does of<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-1-2-mizuri.php"> cats</a>.<br />
<br />
In the <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/titles.php">PageTurner books</a>, what cartoons of Moira's do you like the best?Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-46205765570008198402010-06-23T16:47:00.000-07:002011-08-03T21:12:57.421-07:00About Red Dog<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span></span>Anne here. I've wanted to write the story of Red Dog for age<span></span>s, ever since a writer friend of mine, </span></span><a href="http://janet-woods.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Janet Woods</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">, in Western Australia said she'd had a real life encounter with the famous dog. I asked her for a little info for this blog. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This is what Janet said:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TCKbwXvjaoI/AAAAAAAAAL4/iRdw6MOsKjQ/s200/woods_janet.jpg" width="200" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;">Red Dog was a familiar figure in the Port of Dampier in the 1970s, where my husband worked for a shipping company. Red was a familiar figure when he was in town, usually lying in the stream of air conditioning that flowed from the shopping centre doors as they opened and shut.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;">I came out from work one day to find Red waiting on the shady side of my car in the car park. I think he smelled my own two dogs, and realized I drove a dog friendly vehicle. I was about to head for home, but as soon as I reached the turnoff and took the right turn he began to bark. There was no mistaking what Red wanted. He was barking directions, and I was going the wrong way.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TCKe0BQ-uAI/AAAAAAAAAMA/ptdAnmK1uAo/s1600/red+dog2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TCKe0BQ-uAI/AAAAAAAAAMA/ptdAnmK1uAo/s320/red+dog2.jpeg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;">As soon as I changed direction and took the road out of town he settled down. Red agreed to get out at Karratha half an hour later, by which time the combination of hot car and ripe dog was a bit overpowering. I had no intention of driving any further, so pulled over and told him so. For a moment he ignored me, then we had a bit of a push and shove. He got out, peed on the tyre and trotted off in the direction of the main highway, where he could get a lift further north, or down south, whichever took his fancy.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #20124d;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A dog of great character, don't you think?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TDrW9eCX9RI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/0WKmkJA6tXw/s1600/dog%26statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TDrW9eCX9RI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/0WKmkJA6tXw/s320/dog%26statue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This picture shows a living kelpie with the statue of Red Dog.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The sculptor has shown Red Dog always on the move.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Red Dog covered a lot of territory. Below is a map showing the area he travelled in. It's all desert country.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TDrV2gkcchI/AAAAAAAAAMI/OxSf6TicJ74/s1600/ReddogMapsmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qubKo1FQMp8/TDrV2gkcchI/AAAAAAAAAMI/OxSf6TicJ74/s320/ReddogMapsmall.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can listen to Chris reading </span><a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/book-4-1-red-dog.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the story of Red Dog here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you have any questions, or have your own dog story to tell, you can post them in the comments section of this blog</span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-545381694889490190.post-54504985584106447112010-05-17T18:46:00.001-07:002010-05-17T18:49:28.839-07:00PageTurners - Launching the blog<div style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;">Hi everyone, Anne here, to tell you about PageTurners, our short, fun books for adults learning to read.<br />
<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/can-you-read-this-cover-th1.jpg" mce_href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/can-you-read-this-cover-th1.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-15" height="140" mce_src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/can-you-read-this-cover-th1.jpg" src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/can-you-read-this-cover-th1.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right;" title="can you read this cover th" width="100" /></a><br />
The latest series of the adult literacy readers, PageTurners Series 4, is now for sale. Series 4 contains 10 fun new titles, mostly at the easier reading end of the spectrum, with 4 titles at level 1 (Yellow) 4 titles at level 2 (Red) and one each at 3 (Blue) and 4 (Green.)<br />
It seems there's a real demand for readers for adults who are just learning to read. We're very happy about that, as that's why we started making books in the first place -- we were teaching people to read and the only books we could find for beginner readers were kids' books.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th.jpg" mce_href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-19" height="142" mce_src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th.jpg" src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right;" title="beach-cover-th" width="100" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;">How PageTurners Started</span><br />
I've been making books with students for years, making them by hand just for our own classes. Apart from being expensive, books for adults at absolute beginner level were hard to find. We built up quite a little home-made library. Then Libby, who was our boss at PRACE (Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education) suggested we make them for sale, and so, having Moira, the demon cartoonist, on our team, we did. That was 10 years ago, and since then we've published 37 books.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/want-holiday-cover-th.jpg" mce_href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/want-holiday-cover-th.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12" height="142" mce_src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/want-holiday-cover-th.jpg" src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/want-holiday-cover-th.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left;" title="want-holiday-cover-th" width="100" /></a>The first series was really an experiment and we had no real idea if they would sell or not. We decided to focus on reading for fun and pleasure, as so many books focus on reading for practical purposes. Since we have a youth program as well as general literacy and ESL programs, we made sure some of the stories would appeal to young people as well.<br />
I remember the first day we got the books back from the printers, and I took them into my class. Graeme, who'd never read any kind of book in his life, grabbed<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;"> I Want a Holiday</span> and started reading it aloud. In the end, he read the whole story to the class. Everyone clapped. Graeme was so thrilled when he realized he'd read it all the way through without help, he picked up another book straight away. It was a good omen, I thought.<br />
<br />
The experiment worked, and since then, the books have pretty much sold by word of mouth, and by us sitting at a table, showing them at an occasional literacy/ESL conference. It's great fun doing that -- people are always coming up and saying, "Hey, I love those books" and then they grab a friend and tell them all about the books and how they use them. Nice people also put <a href="https://www.elmoreviews.ca/product_reviews.php?action=refresh" mce_href="https://www.elmoreviews.ca/product_reviews.php?action=refresh">reviews up</a> and <a href="http://wendell-communitylit.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-page-turners.html" mce_href="http://wendell-communitylit.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-page-turners.html">blog about them</a>, which is fantastic, too.<br />
It's wonderful to know that as well as being sold all over Australia, the books are used in other countries -- in Canada, the USA, New Zealand and the UK. We're hoping to find more distributors, so if you read this and know of any, feel free to email us.<br />
<a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th1.jpg" mce_href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th1.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-29" height="142" mce_src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th1.jpg" src="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/beach-cover-th1.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right;" title="beach-cover-th" width="100" /></a><br />
The purpose of this blog is to share some background information about the various stories, to make some suggestions for class activities and to open a channel for communication. In future blogs I'll be telling you a little background about each book and also a bit about the people who produce the books. We've also updated <a href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/" mce_href="http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/" target="_blank">our website</a> with a cleaner look and more content, including audio readings of some of the books. We hope you like the new-look website. We're still tweaking it, so we welcome constructive comments and suggestions.</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564152027118499399noreply@blogger.com0