Tari Learns to Listen: teacher and parent guide
A picture book by Digi, for ages 4–8. This guide is for reading the book with a class or at home. It has questions for each spread, eight activities, and notes for heritage-language families and for children who have moved.
About the book
Tari is about eight. He lives in the big city of Port Harcourt and has lots of English words. But he has no words at all in Ịzọn, the language of his Mama and Dada. When Mama sends him to Auntie Yengi's creek village, he has to learn to listen, one word at a time. He learns from his strict auntie, his cousins Ebiere and Doubra, the boys at the landing and old Koko on her step. The gentle refrain "Not yet." holds the story together. Then one evening Tari understands a joke, laughs with everyone else, and is home.
The big ideas
Belonging. Tari arrives as the "city boy" and ends the story at home. Belonging grows slowly, like the little green stick.
Patience. "Not yet" is not "never". Some things take time, and that is all right.
Learning a language. Tari learns in many ways: by repeating, pointing, being corrected, playing and waiting.
Listening. Tari listens to people, to the rain and to the river. Listening comes before speaking.
Family. Auntie Yengi shows her care quietly. She never says "Good", but she always says the next word.
Moving to a new place. Everything is new for Tari: the boat, the landing, the words, the food and the people.
Before reading
Look at the cover together. Who do you think Tari is? Where do you think he is going?
Have you ever been somewhere where you did not understand what people were saying? How did it feel?
What languages do people speak in your home, or in your family? Do you know any words from another language?
The book is called Tari Learns to Listen. What do you think it means to be a good listener?
Reading together, spread by spread
Read the whole book through once for the story. Then go back and stop on the spreads your children enjoy most. You don't need to ask every question.
When the characters speak Ịzọn, read the words as printed. The book gives the meaning in English straight after.
| Spread | Pages | Ask | Look closer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4–5 | What words does Tari have? What words does he not have? | Find the empty speech bubble. Why do you think it is empty? |
| 2 | 6–7 | What does Mama give Tari? What does she ask him to do with it? | Look at Mama's face and hands. How do you think she is feeling? |
| 3 | 8–9 | How does Tari travel to the village? What does the boat boy call him? | What is growing along the water? What is Tari holding tight? |
| 4 | 10–11 | Why can't Tari catch the words? | The words are drawn as little fish. Can you count them? |
| 5 | 12–13 | Who is waiting for Tari? What does Tari say? | Look at Ebiere and Doubra. How is each girl feeling about Tari? |
| 6 | 14–15 | Where does Tari plant the stick? What word does he whisper? | The stick and the boy are drawn the same size. Why might that be? |
| 7 | 16–17 | How does Auntie Yengi teach Tari? How does he know he got the word right? | What gives light in this room? Who is fast asleep? |
| 8 | 18–19 | How does Doubra teach Tari? How does Ebiere teach him? | Find the goat, the pot and the fish. |
| 9 | 20–21 | What kind of words do the landing boys teach? Why do those words "jump right in"? | Find Tari. How can you tell he is happy? |
| 10 | 22–23 | What happens to the little stick? What happens to Tari? | Look at each picture of Tari. Is he getting taller? |
| 11 | 24–25 | How many words does old Koko give at a time? What does Tari have to do to get one? | What is Tari carrying home in his hands? |
| 12 | 26–27 | What does everybody do when the rain comes? What does Tari do? | Look at the rain. Does it look scary or friendly to you? |
| 13 | 28–29 | What does Tari hear in the river? Does he know that word yet? | What colours can you see in the water? |
| 14 | 30–31 | Why does Tari laugh? What does Auntie Yengi do? | Look at the little tree now. How tall is it next to Tari? |
Listen out for "Not yet." Children love to join in. After the first time, pause before the words and let them say it with you.
After reading
Ages 4–5
Who helped Tari learn new words? Can you name them all?
What was your favourite part of the story? Why?
How do you think Tari felt at the start of the book? How did he feel at the end?
Ages 6–8
Auntie Yengi never says "Good". How does Tari know she is pleased? Do grown-ups in your life show they are pleased without saying so?
The book says "Not yet" three times. What is Tari waiting for each time? Is "not yet" the same as "no"?
At the end, "Tari was home." What makes a place feel like home: the house, the people, the words, or something else?
Activities
| Activity | You need | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Not yet" growth diary | A bean or cress seed, a cup of soil, a folded paper book, crayons | 15 min, then 5 min a few times a week for 2–4 weeks | Plant it like Tari's green stick and put it in the sun. At each check, draw what you see; if nothing's happened, write "Not yet." Beside it, draw one new thing the child learned that week. At the end, look back at how both grew. |
| A listening walk | Nothing (a clipboard for older children) | 15–20 min | Walk slowly and quietly. Stop three times and listen for a minute with eyes closed, like Tari at the river. Back inside, draw every sound. If that sound were a word, what might it be saying? |
| A word a day | A wall chart or notebook | 5 min a day for 1–2 weeks | Ask a speaker of a home language (or sign language) for one everyday word a day: water, goat, pot, fish, friend. Say it; children say it back, as by the lamp. Add a small picture. "One word a day. Then two. Then ten." |
| My new place | Paper, crayons or paints | 20–30 min | Look again at spreads 3 and 4. Fold the paper in half: on one side, how a new place felt on the first day; on the other, how it felt later. What changed? Who helped? |
| Word cards | Card, pens, pictures | 20 min, then play any time | Make picture-and-word cards: goat, pot, fish, boat, rain, tree, lamp. Add family-language words, or the book's own Ịzọn words from its last page. Play Doubra's game: one child points, the other names it, and the pointer laughs and laughs. |
| The lamp lesson | A torch or battery candle, two chairs | 10–15 min | Reread spread 7. One child is Auntie Yengi and one is Tari. Auntie Yengi says a word, and Tari says it back. If it's right, she doesn't say "Good"; she just says the next word. Swap. How did it feel not to be told "Good"? |
| Catch the word-fish | Paper fish with a word (or picture) on each, a net or bucket | 15 min | Look at spread 4. Scatter the fish or wave them past; children catch one, say its word and put it in the net. Is it easier to catch words that come slowly or quickly? |
| Koko's pebble | Smooth pebbles, paint or markers | 20 min plus drying | Reread spread 11. Each child picks one special word (kind, new, or from a family language) and paints it on a pebble to keep or to put in a class word bowl. |
For families who speak Ịzọn or another heritage language
If your family speaks Ịzọn, this book is a lovely way in. At the printed Ịzọn lines, let your child hear you say them. Then keep going: name the goat, the pot and the fish in your own voice, and point at things around the house the way Doubra does. If your family speaks another language, do the same: read the English line, then say how you'd say it at home.
Little and often. One word a day is enough. Tari's words grew slowly, like his tree.
Repeat, don't test. Say the word and let the child say it back. Like Auntie Yengi, just move on to the next word.
Play in the language. The landing boys' fast, funny words jumped right in. Songs, games and jokes are often the easiest way to learn.
Invite the elders. Grandparents, like old Koko, may have words and patience to share. Ask them to read with you.
Laugh together. The story ends with a joke everyone understands. A shared laugh in your language is a big moment.
Be patient with "not yet". A child who understands but doesn't speak yet is still learning. Listening comes first.
For children who have moved or live apart from a parent
Some children will see themselves in Tari: they may have moved home, changed school, or live apart from a parent for a while. The book can open a gentle conversation.
If they ask why Mama sends Tari away: the book doesn't say, and you can be honest about that. Try "The book doesn't tell us. What do you think?" and let the child's answer lead. You might add: "We can see Mama loves him very much. She held him for a long, long time."
Point to what he carries. Mama's green stick grows with Tari and is there at the end. Something from home can be a comfort.
Name the feelings. Tari feels small and unsure at first. Those feelings are normal, and they pass.
Show the helpers. An auntie, cousins, new friends and an old neighbour all help Tari. Ask: "Who helps you?"
Don't hurry them. A child may not want to talk. Reading the book again, or drawing, can be enough.
Keep the link. Where it's safe and possible, help children stay in touch with the parent they miss, through calls, drawings or letters.
Watch and listen. If a child seems very sad or worried for a long time, talk with the school, a counsellor or a health worker.
About the Niger Delta and the Ịzọn people
The Niger Delta is in southern Nigeria. It is where the great River Niger spreads out into many smaller rivers and creeks before it reaches the sea. There is water everywhere: creeks, rivers and swamps, and thick mangrove forests whose roots stand up out of the water. Many people travel by boat, and many families fish.
Port Harcourt, where Tari lives at the start of the book, is a big, busy city in the Niger Delta.
The Ịzọn people, also called the Ijaw, are one of the larger ethnic groups in Nigeria. Most live in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States. Ịzọn is also the name of their language. Many Ịzọn communities are built close to the water, like Auntie Yengi's village.
Glossary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| basin | A wide, open bowl. People carry basins on their heads, and old Koko scrapes hers on her step. |
| compound | A group of houses and a shared yard where a family lives together |
| creek | A small, narrow river. Auntie Yengi's village is on a creek. |
| headtie | A cloth tied beautifully around the head. Auntie Yengi wears one. |
| jetty | A wooden platform built out over the water, where boats stop and children jump in |
| kerosene lamp | A lamp that burns kerosene, a kind of oil, to give light |
| landing | The place at the water's edge where boats come in and people meet |
| mangrove | A tree that grows in salty water along the shore, with tangled roots above the water |
| outboard engine | A motor fixed to the back of a boat to push it along |
| planks | Long, flat pieces of wood. The jetty is made of planks. |
| wrapper | A long piece of cloth wrapped around the body and worn as a skirt or dress |
| Yabi | What Ebiere and Doubra call Tari: the grown-up cousin who looks out for them. In the story, Tari doesn't know what it means. Not yet. |
The Ịzọn words in the story, with their meanings, are on the book's last page.