Monday, September 1, 2014

Introduction to Cultures: If You Were Me and Lived in Turkey...... Portugal (Review and Giveaway)

With school resuming for the 2014-2015 school year, folks are focusing on education and one of the key fields in education that needs more emphasis is the study of geography, cultures, and peoples of the world. Today our introduction to cultures of the world takes us to Turkey and Portugal. Author Carole P. Roman continues writing her series of little books giving youngsters a glimpse into the lives of children in various countries.

TURKEY

In learning of Turkey, you first learn that it has the second largest city in the world - Istanbul; and it straddles two continents - Asia and Europe. Turkey is very old. In the year 390 the Hagia Sophia was built as a church by the emperor Justinian and over 1,000 years later it was changed into a mosque by the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II.

As in any country, folks like to eat and Turkey has food specific to that country. And you also like to shop in the market or play soccer or with your doll which is called a bebek.

 Next, the author introduces you to the names you would call your parents and in the back of the book there is a list of words in the Turkish language and their punctuation. 

Turkey celebrates with Children's Day which is a very special.



PORTUGAL

As with all of Carole P. Romans Introduction to Cultures books, we begin with locating the country on the World globe. Did you know that Portugal is the most Western country on the continent of of Europe and that its next door neighbor is Spain? 

Portugese money is called the Euro and they eat a lot of fish. You might enjoy soccer as it is a favorite sport.


They have their own holidays, too. They have a special carnival holiday with costumes, parades, and parties.


At the end of the book there is a page of words with definitions that are good to know about Portugal.

To date, Carole P. Roman has written and printed at least nine of the  If You Were Me and Lived in…… books. Chat With Vera has reviewed most of these. I invite you to read my reviews and see if these might be good books to add to the library of that special child of yours. They are especially nice to have on hand in the home school library or school classroom library.

GIVEAWAY: Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. You may be blessed to be the winner of  one copy each of "Turkey" and "Portugal" that Carole P.Roman is so generously providing. Begins September 1 & ENDS September 23  @ 12:01 a.m. EDT. Open to USA addresses only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
DISCLOSURE: The author provided a complimentary copy of If You Were Me and Lived In Turkey and also .... Portugal in exchange for my honest review. Opinions expressed are solely my own and I was not compensated for this review.

21 comments:

  1. i just won turkey would like to try to win them good for my daughters school projects

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  2. This is a great series of books for children! I definitely think kids learn very little about geography.

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  3. I have to be honest and say no. I honestly don't think that enough emphasis is placed on learning a little more about the rest of the world. I think that we could all better understand the reasons why our international relationships are so difficult if we better understood the cultures behind those relationships!

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  4. My son has just started school I will have to see if geography is included and enough.

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  5. I think my students received ok instruction on geography, but where is the fun of researching certain countries. They don't do enough of this. My kids enjoyed this part.

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  6. This looks like a great series for culture studies at school. Thanks for hosting the giveaway on KidLit BlogHop. I will spread the word!
    -Reshama

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  7. No, I don't think enough time is spent learning geography in school.

    Gloria

    jaw_gjw@yahoo.com

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  8. We haven't started school yet, so I will keep it in mind when we do. Thanks for brining these books to our attention on the Kid Lit Blog HOp

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  9. Definitely not! I wish I cared more when I was younger.

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  10. only received one semester in 7th grade

    Roy c.

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  11. I didn't learn much in school about geography. I want my daughter to learn more than I did

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  12. I would like to see Finland since my grandma was from there

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  13. No, we did not learn enough. We are Native American and live and go to school on the reservation and my kids are taught nothing at the public schools.

    Being a Cultural Anthropologist I find this frustrating. We need to start teaching our own cultures and then expand their horizons.

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    1. Yvette figueroa, thank you for your comment. I find it very interesting and even highly appropriate that you, a Native American, are a Cultural Anthropologist! What a great field in which to work. You would have a unique understanding. I really like your sentence, "We need to start teaching our own cultures and then expand their horizons."

      Thank you for visiting us here on Chat With Vera and I do hope to have more visits in the future.

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  14. I don't feel it was adequate. I am very lacking in geography.

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  15. no, i wasn't taught much about geography at all.

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  16. Finland!!! one of my best friends is from there :)


    her3littlethinkers.com

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