Somali-English language and literacy resources

The following resources support Somali-English language and literacy skills.

Books | Activities | Supporting Materials | Additional Resources

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Somali-English bilingual children's books

• Somali-English bilingual children's picture books
  Four original Somali folktales published by the Humanities Center
  ORDER FORM
• Somali bilingual children's picture books list
  A comprehensive list of books compiled by the Humanities Center

Books | Activities | Supporting Materials | Additional Resources

Activities to support the use of the Humanities Center's
Somali-English bilingual children's books
The following activities and discussion questions will support the use of the Minnesota Humanities Center's bilingual books in classroom and home settings. These activities will help students interact with the text, identify and explore questions raised by the story, increase comprehension skills, build student connections between the stories and real life, and motivate families to engage in conversations about the stories.

This resource will continue to grow as more and more activities are added. If you are inspired to create new activities to support the use of the books, please send copies to kathleen@minnesotahumanities.org for potential inclusion in this list.

• NEW! Short activity ideas, for use with all titles (view pdf)
• NEW! Short activity ideas, by title (view pdf)
• NEW! Activities, by title:

The Lion's Share/Qayb Libaax

• Reading guide (view pdf)
• Fact sheet (view pdf)
• Discussion questions (view pdf)
• Activities:
  • Cloze exercise (view pdf)
  • Homophones worksheet and answer key (view pdf)
  • Past tense verbs worksheet and answer key (view pdf)
  • Verb pronunciation worksheet (view pdf)
  • Simple word match (view pdf)
  • Sample reader's theater script (view pdf)
  • Sentence sequencing instructions, handout, and answer key (view pdf)

Dhegdheer, A Scary Somali Folktale

• Reading guide (view pdf)
• Fact sheet (view pdf)
• Discussion questions (view pdf)
• Activities:
  • Good vs. evil activity instructions and handout (view pdf)
  • Sentence sequencing instructions, handout, and answer key (view pdf)
  • Simple word match (view pdf)
  • Story words (view pdf)

Wiil Waal

• Reading guide (view pdf)
• Discussion questions (view pdf)

Books | Activities | Supporting Materials | Additional Resources

Materials to support the use of the Humanities Center's
Somali-English bilingual children's books

• Background information
  • The Somali oral tradition and the role of storytelling in Somalia
    By Ali Jimale Ahmed, Queens College
  • Somali folktales in world folklore
    By Joseph Mbele, St. Olaf College
• CD recording of the four books (ORDER FORM)
  

Books | Activities | Supporting Materials | Additional Resources

Additional resources

• Articles, books, videos, web sites about Somali Language and Literacy

Books | Activities | Supporting Materials | Additional Resources

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