Resources

LANGUAGE RESOURCES

Included below are a variety of options for formal language study as well as resources to support language acquisition. Resources and links are divided by region. Please contact the Outreach Coordinator from corresponding WIRC unit with any questions or concerns.

Tools and games developed by UW faculty to facilitate language learning in addition to other online sources curated by faculty. Included resources are for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Tibetan.

East Asian Language Resources

Tools and digital resources to facilitate language acquisition, including news websites, in Spanish, Portuguese, Yucatec Maya, and Quechua.

LACIS Language Resources

Tools to facilitate learning Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew.

Middle East Language Resources

Digital resources to support language instruction in a variety of South Asian languages.

South Asia Language Resources

Tools to facilitate learning a variety of Southeast Asian languages, including the Asian Languages Database.

Southeast Asia Language Resources

Each summer, undergraduates, graduate students, professionals, and other non-traditional students from across the country come to UW-Madison to study a language at the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes (WISLI).  WISLI offers high-quality language courses in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs).  WISLI courses are intensive, condensing an entire year of language study in the 8-week summer session that combines classroom learning with a variety of co-curricular activities.  WISLI language courses are cost-effective, and, increasingly accessible with distance and online learning options.

View the full range of language offerings here!

BOOKS

Below is a list of folk and fairy tale books organized by world region and age.

Elementary School:

Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan
The Hatseller and the Monkeys: A West African Folktale by Baba Wague Diakite
The Hunterman and the Crocodile: A West African Folktale by Baba Wague Diakite

Middle School:

Ashley Bryan’s African Tales, Uh-Huh by Ashley Bryan
Never Forgotten by Patricia C. McKissack
The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton

High School:

Handbook of Egyptian Mythology by Geraldine Pinch
The Fire by Heinz Janisch
African Myths of Origin by Stephen Belcher

Elementary School:

The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale
Before the Sword (Mulan) by Grace Lin
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

Middle School:

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
The Star Fisher by Laurence Yep
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

High School:

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
Forest of a thousand lanterns by Julie C Dao
Mysterious Tales of Japan by Rafe Martin

Elementary School:

The Bossy Gallito = El gallo de bodas by Lucia Gonzalez
The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece by Anthony L. Manna, Soula
Mitakidou
The Story of Chicken Licken by Jan Ormerod

Middle School:

Hansel and Gretel by Jakob Grimm
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
West of the Moon by Margi Preus

High School:

Windswept by Margi Preus
The Book of Pearl by Timothee de Fombelle
German Literary Fairy Tales

Elementary School:

How Raven Got His Crooked Nose: An Alaskan Dena’ina Fable by Barbara Jacko Atwater and Ethan Jacko Atwater
How Turtle’s Back Was Cracked: A Traditional Cherokee Tale by Gayle Ross
The Legend of the Windigo: A Tale from Native North America by Gayle Ross
How Two-Feather Was Saved from Loneliness: An Abenaki Legend by C. J. Taylor

Middle School:

The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl by Virginia Hamilton
Voices of the Winds by Margot Edmonds
Native American Folktales by Thomas A Green

High School:

Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture and Values through
Storytelling by Joseph Bruchac

Elementary School:

Can’t Scare Me! by Ashley Bryan
The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes by Duncan Tonatiuh
Senor Cat’s Romance and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America by Lucia Gonzalez

Middle School:

The Tree Is Older than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems & Stories from
Mexico with Paintings by Mexican Artists by Naomi Shihab Nye
Fiesta Famenina by Mary Joan Gerson
Lotería by Karla Arenas Valent
The Song of El Coqui and Other Tales of Puerto Rico by Antonio Martorell, Nicholasa
Mohr

High School:

Cuban Legends by Salvador Bueno
From the Winds of Manguito/Desde Los Vientos de Manguito by Elvia Perez

Elementary School:

The Three Princes: A Tale from the Middle East by Eric A. Kimmel
Nearly Nonsense: Hoja tales from Turkey by Farida Zaman
Tales from the Bazaars of Arabia by Amina Shah

Middle School:

The Crystal Flower and the Sun: An Original Persian Folk Story by Farideh Farjam
A Treasury of Turkish Folktales for Children by Barbara K Walker
Fabled Cities, Princess and Jinn from Arab Myths and Legends by Khairat Al-saleh

High School:

Folk Tales from Iraq by C. G. Campbell
Folk Tales of Afghanistan by Asha Dhar
The Answered Prayer and Other Yemenite Folktales by Sharlya Gold

Elementary School:

The Talking Eggs by Rober D San Souci
The Glass Mountain by Jan Pienkowski
Russian Fairy Tales by An Afanasev

Middle School:

Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross
The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer
The Dollmaker of Krakow by R. M. Romero

High School:

Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire
Baba Yaga by Sibelan Forrester
An Anthology of Russian Folktales by Jack V Haney

Elementary School:

Grandma and the Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale from Tibet by Barbara Helen Berger
Panchatantra

Middle School:

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
Thakurmar Jhuli by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder
Akbar and Birbal Stories

High School:

Mahabharata
Shower of Gold Uma Krishnaswami
Ramayana

Elementary School:

Nine-In-One Grr! Grr! A Folktale from the Hmong People of Laos by Blia Xiong, Cathy Spagnoli
Thai Children’s Favorite Stories by Marian D Toth, Patcharee
Meesukhon
The Adventures of Mouse Deer: Favorite Folk Tales of Southeast Asia (told by Aaron
Shepard)
A Donkey to Market

Middle School:

Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly
Princess Amaradevi Story
Sunlight & Moonlight
High Mythology and Folklore in South-East Asia by Jan Knappert
Malay Magic: Being an Introduction to the Folklore and Popular Religion of the
Malay Peninsula by Walter Skeat
Myths and Legends of Indonesia by Jan Knappert

FILMS