The story 'Olivia y los monos' takes place in Misahuallí, a small village in the Amazone region of Ecuador. The village is situated at about 500 kilometres to the southeast of the capital Quito. It is well-known for the group of capuchin monkeys that form part of its inhabitants. This story in seven chapters/days is about these monkeys, told from the point of view of Olivia, a 16 year old Californian girl. Many tourists visit the village and play with the monkeys, on the other hand they also get robbed of their water bottles and other items by these little rascals. The word 'mono', which means monkey, will be ingrained in your memory after reading this novel.

Features

• 53 pages of text
• written in present tense
• 1 chapter per day of Olivia's visit
• contains a short glossary after each chapter
• Neutral Spanish with several Latin-American characteristics: more use of personal pronouns than in Spain, and the use of 'ustedes' instead of 'vosotros'.
• setting: Misahuallí, Ecuador

Check out this video about the book:

Information for teachers

This book is at level A1. There is glossary of the words used at the end of every chapter. The story is spread over seven days on each of which a new event is described from the perspective of the 16 year old protagonist. The text contains many opposites: big-small, nice-mean, the monkeys have to leave-the monkeys have to stay, etcetera. Grammatical structures are repeated continuously to boost learning.

The book is suitable to be read individually or can be used in your classes, in which case before and after reading activities will enhance interest and comprehension. Cultural and environmental aspects of Ecuador dealt with in the book can be used as springboards for classroom discussions.

Would you like to order a class set? We will give you a 10% discount on 25 or more copies of the same title. Please, order the novels via e-mail. Due to relatively small stock numbers, please allow 2-3 weeks for your order.

Note: All the materials are copyright protected, which means that it is not permitted to make copies for use in the classroom.