No English

By Jacqueline Jules

Book Overview

"No English" is all that Blanca, the new girl from Argentina, says. She spends her time drawing pictures instead of doing class work and that hardly seems fair to second-grader Diane. One misunderstanding follows another until Diane begins to see how afraid Blanca must feel in their classroom. Their teacher, Mrs. Bertram, helps her class understand that "different" is just different, not strange or weird. She encourages them to learn about Blanca's home country. Diane must make things right, but how will she do that when they don't speak the same language?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587264749
• ISBN13: 9781587264740
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Mitten Press
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 0.5" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 5 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

A lovely addition to any classroom library

No English is a colorfully illustrated picture book tells the story of Blanca, a new girl from Argentina, who struggles to adjust and acclimate to her second grade American classroom. Blanca's story is told from the perspective of her classmate, Diane, who initially has trouble dealing with the fact that they don't speak the same language. Early on, "No English," is all that Spanish speaker, Blanca, can say--thus making her misunderstood by her classmates. However, with the help of her teacher, Mrs. Bertram, the students are able to better understand Blanca by learning about her homeland. This is a lovely story that could be read aloud to students of all ages and will make a lovely addition to any classroom library.

This beautiful, heartwarming tale is one that is experienced in more and more schools across the cou

It was not going to be easy being a new student at Robinson School. Blanca just knew everyone would turn and stare at her and it would be even worse if she couldn't respond to their questions. "No English. Español." Blanca was from Argentina, but Diana, her new seat mate, didn't know that. It really annoyed her that this new girl was getting away with drawing a little blue house with a rainbow and flowers overhead when she had to write out her spelling words. Moon, space, stars . . . "Mrs. Bertram!" Her hand shot up in the air because the unfairness of the whole situation annoyed her big time. Yep, after Diane tattled everyone gave poor Blanca the evil eye. Diana was totally embarrassed when Mrs. Sanderson took Blanca out of the room to give her English lessons. Mrs. Bertram gathered the class around to talk about making her comfortable and discuss her language and culture. At recess Diana tried to play with Blanca and had yet another misunderstanding and only succeeded in making her angry instead. It was enough to make anyone cry. Being a tattletale and hurting someone all in the same day was simply horrifying. On Friday she tried again to make friends and this time her effort succeeded. They shared a bilingual book, drew pictures and had some good giggle `n smile time during spelling class. The substitute teacher had no patience for nonsense and the girls "left the classroom for the long walk down the hall." It was going to be a looooong day! This beautiful, heartwarming tale is one that is experienced in more and more schools across the country every day. Children, who have no prejudicial behaviors unless they learn by example, do have language ones and stories like this bring awareness to the issue. The story has an easy, comforting flow and the tension of Blanca and Diana's situation is dealt with quite nicely. The art work captures the emotional flow in the children's faces and meshes quite well with the story. This would be an excellent read and discuss book in any classroom even if there are no bilingual issues in the school. No English . . . no problem!

SFC 5 star review

Blanca from Argentina joins Diane's second grade class. When she is spoken to, be it teacher Mrs. Bertram, or a fellow student, her response is always "No English". Blanca knows nothing in the English language, and of course, she is thrust into a class of all English-speaking children! Diane is at first very jealous that Blanca is allowed to sit there drawing pictures instead of working like the other students, so she raises her hand and complains to the teacher. All the kids start staring at Blanca and she's feeling bad. The teacher that's helping Blanca learn English walks in and takes Blanca with her for her lesson. Diane is ashamed of herself when she sees how afraid Blanca looks as she encounters the hostile stares of her classmates. Mrs. Bertram opens a discussion about being from a foreign country and not knowing the language in your new home. She encourages the children to think of ways to help Blanca adjust. The class decides to learn more about Blanca's country, Argentina. There are many differences that the class feels are "weird", but Mrs. Bertram points out they're not weird, just "different". Diane is determined to befriend Blanca and somehow bridge the language barrier. Finally, Diane comes up with a terrific idea and puts her plan into action. Find out her solution by reading this fantastic story! Jacqueline Jules wrote this book with a depth of feeling often missing from books for children on a difficult subject. Jacqueline is the child of an immigrant herself, so I'm sure her parents were a good role model for her to know how to approach this modern-day situation our immigrant children face every day in our schools. Also, as a school librarian, Jacqueline faces the language barrier and cultural differences her students encounter every day since a large population of the students in her elementary school speak English as a Second Language. This book is a way to reach out to them all, and to teach American-born children to have empathy and more understanding for children not born in America that are struggling to overcome the difficulties of adjusting to life here. Accompanied by the outstanding, lifelike illustrations of Amy Huntington, this quiet book is a keeper for any parent who wants their child to grow up appreciating the differences among the people that populate this world. A downloadable Teacher's Guide is available at the Mitten Press website.