Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Dumbed-Down Books

I have a love/hate relationship with those versions of classic novels that are simplified for little kids. On the one hand, it's great for ESL students to be able to enjoy a classic that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. On the other hand, all the things that made the classic so likable in the first place are taken out - the beautiful writing style, the descriptions, the complexity.

Yuki has to read a book and write a book report for her Language Arts class. There is a list of books the students can choose from, so she doesn't have unlimited freedom. Her ESL teacher gave her a dumbed-down version of Little Women, and we read some of it together. I was less than impressed, but c'est la vie. The original version is practically a tome.

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