These can include broad social, cultural, or political topics, specific life skill competencies, vocabulary groupings, or grammatical structures. One needs to look carefully and critically for these qualities, but many fine choices exist. The pictures are critical. Ideally, they should be large, detailed, and dramatic. They explain the vocabulary and convey the deeper meaning of the story, that is, respect for our environment.
Patterns can include rhyming as well as repetitions of words, refrains, or entire sentences.
They provide a natural opportunity for pattern practice. Poetry and singable books offer good sources. Both the amount of text on a page and the level of syntactic complexity should be considered. This judgment is quite subjective, and it depends on teachers' knowing the learners and their proficiency levels. Books based on the countries, cultures, and life experiences of the learners allow learners to bring a wealth of personal knowledge to the text and to develop multicultural sensitivity as they are exposed to the stories and struggles of various ethnic groups.