What's New

"The Gruffalo" Story Prop for Text-free Story Telling

'Wordless Books' is a growing genre where readers are able to express what they see in their own words, in their own language. 
Our story Props (kamishibai) range is growing since it is particularly suited for multi-lingual classes. This group, rather than individual, activity takes only pictures from familiar picture books and the group performs the story telling in their own words. 
"The Gruffalo" by Julia Donalson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, is one of the best known picture books this century, It is now available as 17 picture cards, with no text,  for group story telling with the Kamishibai stage. 
One suggestion is that the teacher tells the story as it unfurls, card by card, in their own words. The audience are encouraged to participate and the teacher often pauses to ask questions. In multi-lingual classses pupils are encourage to speak in their home language if English is new to them. In fact, Gruffalo can be used as a tool to teach Modern Foreign Languages. 
The end effect is a dynamic story telling experience, with audience participation, which changes each time the story is retold!!

Other Story Prop cards are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Mungo Makes New Friends, Musicians of Bremen, and plenty more to energise the classroom. 
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How to Draw a Horse Workshop for those with Dementia

Fabulous illustrator Jill Newton (Mungo Makes New Friends, Sports Day in the Jungle, Keeping Up With Cheetah) has been taking Mungo round the world! On a recent trip to the USA, Jill ran a workshop exploring creativity and making for those with dementia. Using simple resources, all participants in the workshop were able to recreate Mungo in their own way - and had a great time doing it!

Drawing characters from books is a fantastic was to encourage engagement and participation for anyone of any age. Mungo Makes New Friends comes with a selection of great resources that can support workshops, class activities or fun at home.

Find Jill's 'How to draw a horse' worksheet and much more by clicking the link.
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Mantra Lingua at Sandwell EAL Professional Development Day 2019

Mantra Lingua will be discussing new developments in EAL technology at Sandwell's 2019 EAL Professional Development Day on 28th March!

Featured technology includes:

• ClassroomPEN with Bluetooth Speaker for language amplification and learning with benefits for Home language attrition, English Language Development, MFL and SEN
• Kitabu - Dual Language ebooks for Families and use on whiteboards. Share over 550 ebooks in 38 languages for Family English Language development and SEN
• Mobile1st EAL Course Builder provides bite sized specialist EAL courses for mobile that includes Language sharing. We are looking for education partners to assist in generating exciting and informative content for this service coming soon.

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Sound Enabled, Tactile Coastal Maps

The East Anglia Sailing Trust contacted us to create sound enabled, tactile coastal maps for their sailing trips with visually impaired (VI) and blind sailors. Able to participate in all other aspects of the boat, VI sailors could were not able to assist in charting the course of the boat or ‘visualising’ the shape of the coastline from 2D charts.

These maps are the first of their kind in the world (and sea!). Our tactile layer defines coastlines, sand bars, tributaries and significant crossings. With PENpal technology, areas of note on the map contain and play back audio for interest and information. The maps allow VI and blind sailors to participate during a sailing trip in a way that has never been possible before.

With summer approaching, we wish the amazing VI sailors Bon Voyage! And look forward to catching up with them soon!

Mantra Lingua can bring paper to life with PENpal AND tactile technology. Artwork, documents, maps, posters and even solid objects can be made accessible and inclusive in creative and innovate ways. Get in touch and let’s discuss how your projects could be more accessible for everyone.

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NEW BOOK! Mungo Makes New Friends

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Written by ex EAL Scottish teacher Gill Aitchison, and beautifully illustrated by Jill Newton, Mungo Makes New Friends is a book set in the Scottish Highlands. Join Mungo in his lonely field as he is surprised by new friends!
As the seasons change, Mungo’s new friends must go on a great adventure to keep up with him as he travels to his winter stable.

This story will resonate with any newcomer and with extensive teacher’s notes, this title is rich in modality and resources: ebooks and dual language books with spoken languages, Kamishibai Storytelling Theatre and Kamishibai Story Props for self expression, role-playing and translanguaging.

A book filled with friendship, sharing and suspense, sure to be loved by children and adults alike.

Watch the video to meet author Gill Aitchison and illustrator Jill Newton.
 
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Mantra Lingua at the TES SEN 2018 show, London!

Mantra Lingua were at theTES SEN Show 2018, showcasing new resources that enrich learning in diverse classrooms. Tactile Talking Books, Musical Play mats and Kamishibai Story telling Stage and Props, these all trigger children to respond with speech, action, and excitement. They are something totally new but easy. They can record their own voices in books, play mats and sticky labels- just watch them amazed at hearing their voices played back! Our Kitabu e-book library of over 550 titles is dyslexic friendly. Readers can enlarge the font and listen to the word highlighted text. Our approach is less through structured reading schemes but more towards the enjoyment of story-telling, video and games. Text is not the prime feature but works equally with audio and visuals, giving a multi-dimensional enjoyment of story telling and literacy.

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Mungo Makes New Friends comes to Dundee!

Ex-EAL teacher and first time writer Gill Aitchison showcased her new book, Mungo Makes New Friends, at readings around Dundee. Gill read to children in a Dundee Nursery and Primary school, followed by a reading at the Largo Library. 

Mungo Makes New Friends is a sound enabled, dual language book, currently available in 20+ languages. Using Mantra Lingua's ClassroomPEN and Bluetooth Speaker, Gill was able to enhance her book even further, bringing sound, and different languages, to paper. Children can also record their own voices and save the sounds 'in' the images. Gill said:
"The highlight was when I used the PEN to read the book in Polish to a group of Polish Nursery children, and then got them to create some sound spots, they were beaming."

Gill is passionate about inclusion in schools and Mungo is a great resource for encouraging an understanding of diversity and acceptance. The book is supported by a number of resources which encourage collaboration and participation.
 
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Pinocchio and the Real Boys

“Pinocchio always did as he was told, even if others made him do bad things. Until one day, they went too far. Pinocchio began to think for himself and learn to take responsibility for his actions.”

This classic tale is lovingly re-told and boldly illustrated by Magda Brol, multi-lingualism advocate, in her debut picture book for Mantra Lingua. Magda was born in Wroclaw, Poland, where she graduated with a degree in Business and Environmental Sciences. After a few years working in the City of London and the birth of her two little girls, Magda turned her passion for drawing into a job and her bold, quirky images delight and intrigue her audiences.

Pinocchio and the Real Boys is PENpal sound enabled where the text is read out loud, page by page, in English and the home language. Pinocchio is available in 24 dual language books: English with Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Urdu, or Vietnamese.

 
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A Day with Grandpa

A Day with Grandpa is a brilliantly illustrated book by Fiona Rose, winner of the prestigious D&AD14 award for new illustrators. Written in rhyme, this 'read, point and explore' book will raise more questions than it answers...

The book addresses two important issues - the relationship between children and their grandparents, and the steady increase of dementia - in a sensitive yet quirky way. It will soon be available in dual language editions printed in English with Polish, Bulgarian, Czech, French, Lithuanian, and Spanish. It is also TalkingPEN-enabled, and the audio files can be downloaded using our free software FreeLINK. At 28 x 28 cm, this beautiful softback book can be enjoyed by children alone, or with a loved one.

Take your child by the hand and enter an enchanted world where everything is possible for a day. Every page bursts with magical images that add extra meaning to the poetic story of a child and his grandad. Click 'read more' to gorge yourself on some of the wonderful illustrations, and see the magic for yourself!

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New Arrivals Starter Pack

Our new Starter Packs are a quick start for the new pupil with little or no English. The Starter Packs come in 33 language options and in two age groups: 4 to 7 and 7 to 10.  Each pack has a PENpal fully loaded with all the language audio files, a dictionary, and three story books, all in their own storage box. There is nothing simpler or more comforting to an EAL pupil than to switch on PENpal and listen in their home language.

Priced £110 makes a saving of £18.50!
Languages include: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Czech, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepali, Panjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

With PENpal's recording function, the pupil can also practise English Pronunciation, and leave their recordings on the pages; a great way to build confidence in speaking.

The PENpal in each language pack is already loaded with audio files for all books in the specified language. This includes not only the books in the pack, but all books from our list that are available in that language. For example, the PENpal in the Polish Starter Pack will be preloaded with over 70 audio files representing 70 books in Polish. That way, if you choose to buy any more Polish books from us, you will already have the audio loaded onto your PENpal, ready to go.

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