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Can You Count Ten Toes?: Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages
In this dynamic counting book you can learn to count in ten different languages: Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Hindi, Hebrew, and even Zulu! Amaze your teachers, impress your friends, and prepare yourself for world travel with this incredible counting book that's unlike any other. Lezlie Evans's jaunty rhyme and Denis Roche's vibrant illustrations are sure to intrigue young language learners.
32 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 1999
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34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 19, 2022
sorta boring, but I like that you learn other languages. I already know how to count to ten in Spanish.
Want to read
February 22, 2010For the unexpurgated version, check out http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml
September 29, 2024
Fun counting book in several languages, but excludes some of the mainstream ones. Definitely has a variety to practice with kids, but wish it had more common ones too.
October 12, 2016
Title: Can You Count Ten Toes?: Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages
Author: Lezlie Evans
Illustrator: Denis Roche
Genre: Counting Book
Theme: Culture, Diversity, World Travel, Numbers
Opening line of book/sentence:
Can you count ten toes, ten toes?
Count them if you please.
Count the toes from one to ten,
but count in Japanese.
Book summary: On each page of this book there is a different language presented. The opening sentences of each page start off by asking the kids if they can count a certain object in the language on the page. Underneath the beginning sentences on each page there is a list of numbers one through ten in different languages. For example, on the Chinese language page it shows the symbol of how to write the numbers one through ten. Next to each number there is the Chinese word for the numbers and then the pronunciation next to it. The pictures on the page correspond to what objects on the page the book is asking you to count.
Professional Recommendation/ Review #1: Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)- You can prepare for the final countdown on December 31 with Lezlie Evans's rhyming verses and phonetic spellings. They engage folks of all ages as they learn to count to ten in Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese, and seven other languages. Denis Roche's bright gouache illustrations teem with the ten things (boats, children, balloons, etc.) described in the text. Kids will relish this first taste of a new language as they wrap tongues around intriguing words and count the objects in the pictures.
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: Kirkus Review- Can You Count Ten Toes?: Counting is a good introduction to new languages, and Evans (Snow Dance, 1997) has chosen a nice mix for her exercises from 1-10, including French, Spanish, Zulu, Russian, Chinese, Hebrew, and Hindi. The numerals appear next to their names in their original languages as well as in transliteration and phonetically. Roche’s perky illustrations provide ten objects in each picture to be counted, from toes to lightning bugs. A map at the end of the book shows, with color-coded dots, the locations in the world where these languages are spoken.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I agree with both of the positive comments the reviewers gave that this is a great introductory book to begin counting in different languages. The Kirkus Review mentions the map at the end of the book, which I think was a really cool idea for the author to include in the book. It can help kids put into perspective what countries in the world speak these different languages, or they might be surprised to see that some of the languages are spoken close to where they live.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: The author uses a particular rhyme scheme where the last word of the second and fourth sentences always rhyme with each other. The sentences of the plot are very short as the book wants you to focus on learning how to count the ten numbers. On every page of the book the same two characters, a girl and a cat, are used to act out the pictures.
Consideration of Instructional Application: This book would be great to use for the younger grades such as preschool or kindergarten when they are first learning how to count. They can start off by learning the order of the numbers one through ten without even having to learn the language. If you have a diverse classroom this is a book you could use when working with numbers because it would represent every students language to make them all feel included. If one student speaks Chinese they can help the rest of the class pronounce the numbers correctly.
Author: Lezlie Evans
Illustrator: Denis Roche
Genre: Counting Book
Theme: Culture, Diversity, World Travel, Numbers
Opening line of book/sentence:
Can you count ten toes, ten toes?
Count them if you please.
Count the toes from one to ten,
but count in Japanese.
Book summary: On each page of this book there is a different language presented. The opening sentences of each page start off by asking the kids if they can count a certain object in the language on the page. Underneath the beginning sentences on each page there is a list of numbers one through ten in different languages. For example, on the Chinese language page it shows the symbol of how to write the numbers one through ten. Next to each number there is the Chinese word for the numbers and then the pronunciation next to it. The pictures on the page correspond to what objects on the page the book is asking you to count.
Professional Recommendation/ Review #1: Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)- You can prepare for the final countdown on December 31 with Lezlie Evans's rhyming verses and phonetic spellings. They engage folks of all ages as they learn to count to ten in Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese, and seven other languages. Denis Roche's bright gouache illustrations teem with the ten things (boats, children, balloons, etc.) described in the text. Kids will relish this first taste of a new language as they wrap tongues around intriguing words and count the objects in the pictures.
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: Kirkus Review- Can You Count Ten Toes?: Counting is a good introduction to new languages, and Evans (Snow Dance, 1997) has chosen a nice mix for her exercises from 1-10, including French, Spanish, Zulu, Russian, Chinese, Hebrew, and Hindi. The numerals appear next to their names in their original languages as well as in transliteration and phonetically. Roche’s perky illustrations provide ten objects in each picture to be counted, from toes to lightning bugs. A map at the end of the book shows, with color-coded dots, the locations in the world where these languages are spoken.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I agree with both of the positive comments the reviewers gave that this is a great introductory book to begin counting in different languages. The Kirkus Review mentions the map at the end of the book, which I think was a really cool idea for the author to include in the book. It can help kids put into perspective what countries in the world speak these different languages, or they might be surprised to see that some of the languages are spoken close to where they live.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: The author uses a particular rhyme scheme where the last word of the second and fourth sentences always rhyme with each other. The sentences of the plot are very short as the book wants you to focus on learning how to count the ten numbers. On every page of the book the same two characters, a girl and a cat, are used to act out the pictures.
Consideration of Instructional Application: This book would be great to use for the younger grades such as preschool or kindergarten when they are first learning how to count. They can start off by learning the order of the numbers one through ten without even having to learn the language. If you have a diverse classroom this is a book you could use when working with numbers because it would represent every students language to make them all feel included. If one student speaks Chinese they can help the rest of the class pronounce the numbers correctly.
February 21, 2010
I recently read the newer book Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?: 12 Common Phrases in 12 Different Languages and I liked it, so I decided to try this one too.
Being able to count is obviously less useful than knowing 12 words/phrases in a foreign language but this was still interesting. (Actually, when I was 9 and had only one month or so of Spanish lessons, I was able to count to 10 and, because of that, when I was in Mexico and lovely man, a traffic cop we saw every evening, taught me to then count to 100 in Spanish. He spoke English well but I also got to practice my Spanish. Longer story that I’ll cut short.)
One dressed cat and people populate these pages, showing each item as 1 through 10 being counted; the reader can count each object too. Each double page has a short rhyme and each language gets to be a number, 1 to 10 of various objects, but each language shows counting 1 all the way through 10. The 1-10 is shown as numbers, spelling of the word, including with characters &/or alphabet, and the pronunciation too, the latter of which is very helpful for unfamiliar languages. This is a good complement to the later phrases book.
I’m not that fond of the illustrations but it is fun to count the objects on the page; they’re not all lined up as they are in some counting books, and there’s a few nice little touches.
There’s also a map in the back that shows some of the countries in which the 10 languages are officially spoken. (English is not included.)
The languages are: Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Hindi, Hebrew, and Zulu.
Being able to count is obviously less useful than knowing 12 words/phrases in a foreign language but this was still interesting. (Actually, when I was 9 and had only one month or so of Spanish lessons, I was able to count to 10 and, because of that, when I was in Mexico and lovely man, a traffic cop we saw every evening, taught me to then count to 100 in Spanish. He spoke English well but I also got to practice my Spanish. Longer story that I’ll cut short.)
One dressed cat and people populate these pages, showing each item as 1 through 10 being counted; the reader can count each object too. Each double page has a short rhyme and each language gets to be a number, 1 to 10 of various objects, but each language shows counting 1 all the way through 10. The 1-10 is shown as numbers, spelling of the word, including with characters &/or alphabet, and the pronunciation too, the latter of which is very helpful for unfamiliar languages. This is a good complement to the later phrases book.
I’m not that fond of the illustrations but it is fun to count the objects on the page; they’re not all lined up as they are in some counting books, and there’s a few nice little touches.
There’s also a map in the back that shows some of the countries in which the 10 languages are officially spoken. (English is not included.)
The languages are: Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Hindi, Hebrew, and Zulu.
July 13, 2010
This picture book teaches early elementary schoolchildren how to count to ten in Japanese, Russian, Korean, Zulu, French, Hindi, Tagalog, Hebrew, Spanish, and Chinese. Rhyming text coupled with the naïve art of thick, dark strokes that outline children and animals in intense colors convey a warmth and joy in a panoply of fantastical and multicultural settings: a Japanese home, outer space, undersea, a tropical marketplace, a kiosk selling balloons, a cow in a Hindi home, a school bus, sailboats in a canal, a campground at night, which then culminate in two scenes of children holding international flags and counting in various tongues. Playful and fun, Can you Count Ten Toes? would be a fun read-aloud to a group of kindergartners, combining language arts and math instruction into a lesson. The picture book besides celebrating different cultures and teaching world languages also ties in with the kindergarten math standard, where “students understand the relationship between numbers and quantities” (California Department of Education, 1997).
September 11, 2015
I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I speak fluent Spanish but also have some knowledge of French and Korean and this book is an excellent choice when introducing children to different languages spoken around the world. In this book, the author uses rhyme and counting to ten in ten languages. I loved that each page showcased the numbers written in the native alphabet, along with the english pronunciation, for example, the Korean page had the numbers in Hangeul, as well as the way to write and pronounce the numbers in english. The illustrations are very lively and I LOVED that the last page shows a map of the world and illustrates where in the world these languages are spoken! This would be a great book during a multicultural and counting unit!
Read
September 17, 2012Hee is another great book to read to students at the beginning of the year to promote community. The book helps students count to ten in ten different languages. This is great because it shows that we all have the objective in mind (count to 10), but we do not all use the same words to get there. I would love to allow my ELL students to write their numbers from 1 to 10 in their native language for us to place somewhere on the wall in the classroom. This will help give all students a sense of acceptance and belonging.
September 16, 2011
Counting to 10 in 10 different languages! This book is neat. It walks the children through 10 ways to count to 10. The is excellent because there is the constant reinforcementof 10, meaning ten different numbers. There is also a neat aspect that brings in literacy because children learn that there are many forms of print. This book would be a good tool for kindergarten age children.
January 22, 2012
I was very impressed at this book. It has ten different languages that would be good for ELLS and students studying abroad. I would use this book in my clasroom because it also teaches children how to count and it has the pronunication of the words in their different language to help students sound the words out. Very colorful pictures!
September 15, 2012
This is a cute book for ESOL learners. Ideally I would love to incorporate this book into my future ESOL room in order to show my students that although we might say things differently, in the end we are still counting 1-10.
It shows 10 different languages including: Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Japanese, Tagalog, Russian, Zulu, Korean, Spanish and French.
It shows 10 different languages including: Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Japanese, Tagalog, Russian, Zulu, Korean, Spanish and French.
September 16, 2012
This is a really cute book for ESOL learners. It teaches students how to count to ten in 10 different languages including: Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Japanese, Tagalog, Russian, Zulu, Korean, Spanish, and French. I really like this one because it has so many different language incorporated within in because not all ELLs will be Spanish speakers.
June 4, 2014
A short rhyme and bright illustrations fill this counting book, and encourage the reader to count the ten objects in each picture in one of ten different languages. The numbers include pronunciations for those of us who are not gifted with the ability to speak multiple languages. There are also end notes that show the countries where each language is spoken.
June 22, 2011
The same characters as "can you greet the whole wide world" Written and illustrated by the same author and illustrator. With the numbers are the pronunciation guide. Could be more difficult with a larger group.
August 31, 2011
This book can be used to introduce counting and different languages. I think this book is really neat because the book shows counting from one to ten in ten different languages. Also, with your students you can take one number from each language and count to ten.
September 30, 2012
This book was pretty cool. It was a book on counting but in many different languages. It's def not a book to be used for children who struggle with counting but can be used as a challenge for older kids.
November 6, 2011
This book is great for introducing counting to 10 to children, but it also a great book to use for ell students.
January 20, 2012
We learn to count to 10 in 10 different languages. I knew at least two of these already.
April 11, 2013
This is a good book for counting to ten, learning different languages, and introducing rhyming words.
February 27, 2015
Super cute and super fun!
November 9, 2015
Super way to count to ten in ten different languages. Great for the classroom
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews