Being Bilingual LEVELED BOOK • J

Being
A Reading A–Z Level J Leveled Book
Word Count: 272

Bilingual
Connections
Writing
How is speaking two languages
useful?
Write a sentence and draw
a picture showing your idea.
Social Studies
Choose a country from the book
that is different from the one
you live in.
Find the country on a map.
Discuss with a partner what
you can learn about the
country from the map.

Written by Lorena F. DiBello

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 Being bilingual
Words to Know
language

Bilingual
Incas nation
keyboards weave
Pronunciation guide
Bengali (ben-GAW-lee)
bilingual (by-LING-gwuhl)
Cantonese (kan-tuh-NEEZ)
Hindi (HIN-dee)
Mandarin (MAN-duh-rin)
Quechua (KECH-wah)
Swahili (swah-HEE-lee)

Photo Credits:
Front cover, pages 6, 7, 15 (top center): © Alex Mares-Manton/Asia Images
Group/age fotostock; title page, pages 12, 15 (center): Danita Delimont/Alamy
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FatCamera; pages 5, 15 (top left): © iStockphoto.com/GreenPimp; pages 8, 15
(top right): © iStock.com/huePhotography; pages 9, 15 (bottom left): © Lawrence
Migdale/Science Source; page 10 (both): © Mike Simons/Tulsa World/AP Images;
pages 11, 15 (bottom right): Elena Odareeva/Alamy Stock Photo; pages 13, 15
(bottom center): © John and Lisa Merrill/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images;
page 14: Sébastien Lecocq/Alamy Stock Photo

Written by Lorena F. DiBello

www.readinga-z.com
Being Bilingual
Level J Leveled Book Correlation
Focus Question © Learning A–Z
Written by Lorena F. DiBello
LEVEL J
Fountas & Pinnell J
Why are some people bilingual? All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 17
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 18
 Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
French and English . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mandarin and Cantonese . . . . . . 6
English and American
Sign Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Cherokee and English . . . . . . . . . . 9 Introduction
Hindi and Bengali . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 What language do you speak?
Swahili and Arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Do you speak one language
Quechua and Spanish . . . . . . . . . 13 or more than one?
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 People who speak two languages
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 are bilingual.
Being Bilingual • Level J 3 4
 Canada

NORTH ASIA
AMERICA

China

French and English

My name is André.
I live in Canada.
I speak two languages. Mandarin and Cantonese
I speak French and English. My name is Lee.
My teachers use French and English I live in China.
in many classes, such as reading People in different parts of China
and social studies. speak different languages.
Being Bilingual • Level J 5 6
 NORTH
AMERICA

United States

I speak two languages.
I speak Mandarin and Cantonese.
Mandarin is the most used
language in China.
Being Bilingual • Level J
English and
American Sign Language
My name is Sam.
I live in the United States.
I am a person with hearing loss.
I speak one language and sign
another.
I speak English and sign American
Sign Language.
7 8
 United States
Cherokee
Oklahoma
North
Carolina

Cherokee and English

My name is Waya, and I am The Cherokee people are
Cherokee. a Native American nation.
Waya means “wolf” in the At home, my family uses special
Cherokee language. keyboards.
I speak two languages. We can write in English and
I speak Cherokee and English. in Cherokee.
Being Bilingual • Level J 9 10
 AFRICA

Tanzania
ASIA

India

Hindi and Bengali Swahili and Arabic

My name is Kabir, and I live My name is Layla, and I live
in India. in Tanzania.
People speak many different I speak two languages.
languages in India. I speak Swahili and Arabic.
I speak two languages. Swahili is used in many countries
I speak Hindi and Bengali. in Africa.
Being Bilingual • Level J 11 12
 Peru

SOUTH
AMERICA

Inti means “sun” in Quechua.

Quechua and Spanish Quechua is the language the
My name is Inti, and I live in Peru. Incas spoke.
I speak two languages. My mother, grandmother, and I
I speak Quechua and Spanish. speak Quechua as we weave.
Being Bilingual • Level J 13 14
 Glossary
bilingual able to speak two languages
(adj.) easily (p. 4)
Lee
Incas (n.) a group of people of the
Andes Mountains of South
America in the 1400s and
André Sam
1500s (p. 14)

Layla
keyboards groups of keys laid out in one
(n.) or more rows that operate
a computer (p. 10)

language the system used by a culture

Waya Kabir
(n.) or country to communicate
Inti (p. 4)

Conclusion nation (n.) a large group of people who

We speak two languages. live under one government
We are bilingual! (p. 10)

Being bilingual makes us part weave (v.) to make fabric by interlacing

of two worlds. thread or yarn (p. 14)

Being Bilingual • Level J 15 16