Rocket Languages

Rocket Languages is an award winning interactive online language learning system. Cardholders at Nevada public libraries can learn conversational language skills at their own pace. Languages offered include Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and American Sign Language. This subscription has been made available with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant funds through the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Nevada State Library and Archives.

How Rocket Languages Works

• Click here to go to Rocket Languages
• Create an account by entering your information in the New Users section on the left. This includes your full library barcode number, without any spaces.
• Once you have created an account, the next time you log in as a Returning User. Rocket Languages will remember where you left off so you can continue your lessons.
• Frequently Asked Questions are available after you log-in by clicking on the Help and Support link near the top right hand side of the screen.

Brain Teaser – Nine & Ten

All the questions in this week’s brainteaser are about the numbers nine and ten. Need help? Use Credo Reference.

1. According to the proverb, which animal has nine lives?

2. What is the meaning of the phrase “the whole nine yards”?

3. Who starred in the 1979 film “10″ as a sexually obsessed middle-aged composer who marks his girls 1 to 10?

4. What is or was a “cat-o’-nine-tails”?

5. According to the Old Testament, which Hebrew leader was given the Ten Commandments engraved on two tablets of stone?

6. Who appeared in the 1980 film “Nine to Five” and composed the song of the same name which won a Grammy award in 1981?

7. In Roman numerals, what letter represents the number ten?

8. Who was the “nine days’ queen” (1537-1554)?

9. Who wrote the poem “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester” which includes the lines: “Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea?”

10. The 1919 book “Ten Days that Shook the World” by US journalist John Reed was about which historical event?

How did you do?

0 – 1 Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 – 5 A reasonable stab.
6 – 8 A good showing. But there’s still room for improvement!
9 – 10 You really know your stuff. Well done!

Questions set by Tony Augarde (www.augardebooks.co.uk)

Credo Reference contains these dictionaries of quotations, where you will find many of the answers.

• Bloomsbury Biographical Dictionary of Quotations
• Bloomsbury Thematic Dictionary of Quotations
• Chambers Classic Speeches
• Collins Dictionary of Quotations
• Rawson’s Dictionary of American Quotations
• Respectfully Quoted
• Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches
• Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations

Brain Teaser – Cons

Here are clues to ten words which all start with con-. For instance, “The director of an orchestra, choir, opera or ballet” could lead to “conductor”. Can you identify all ten words?
Need help? Use Credo Reference Online.

1. A performance given by one or more singers or instrumentalists or both.

2. The interchange through speech of information, ideas, etc.; spoken communication.

3. Somebody who is kept in prison as a punishment for a crime.

4. To express pleasure to someone at their success, good fortune, happiness, etc.

5. To give one’s permission for something; to agree to something.

6. Hollowed or rounded inwards like the inside of a bowl.

7. An entertainer who is able to twist their body into spectacularly unnatural positions.

8. A large destructive fire.

9. An index of words used in a single book or all the works of an author.

10. The state of being related by blood or descended from a common ancestor.

How did you do?

0 – 1 Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 – 5 A reasonable stab.
6 – 8 A good showing. But there’s still room for improvement!
9 – 10 You really know your stuff. Well done!

Questions set by Tony Augarde (www.augardebooks.co.uk)

How to Get Kids Reading

Parents, it’s up to you, not schools, to find books to get your kids reading. Here’s how James Patterson and his wife got their son to read:

This can often be as easy as teaching children to ride a two-wheeler or to throw a baseball. Case in point: When our son, Jack, was 8, he wasn’t a gung-ho reader. Now, I’m sure my wife, Sue, and I have made a half-million mistakes raising Jack, but during that eighth summer of our stewardship, we did something right: We told him he didn’t have to mow the lawn (hooray!), but he was going to read every day (boo).

We then told Jack we were going to help him find books we promised he would like: the Mom-and-Dad “Reading Can Be a Joy” Guarantee. We picked out “The Lightning Thief,” a book in the “Warriors” series, “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Al Capone Does My Shirts,” a novel from my own “Maximum Ride” series, and a few others. By the end of the summer, Jack had read half a dozen books that he loved, and his reading skills had improved dramatically.

Where do you find books your kids will gobble up?

ReadKiddoRead.com, GuysRead.com, and Oprah.com’s Kids Reading List are excellent resources, and they’re simpler to use than an iPhone. The American Library Association and the Young Adult Library Services Association have recommendations for terrific books, easily found by searching “ALA reading lists.” DropEverythingandRead.com has a “Favorite D.E.A.R. Books” tab on its home page.

Also check out our Hot Topic: Reading is Fun Just for Kids and Reading is Fun Just for Teens. Both are updated monthly with new reading suggestions.

Don’t forget our eMedia Catalog has eBooks for kids and teens.  Reading on an iPad or eReader may be just the spark your child needs to get reading.

Brain Teaser – Punctuation

This week’s brainteaser is about punctuation: those dots, dashes and symbols which help to clarify written or printed material.  Need help?  Use Credo Reference.

1. What is the name for the punctuation mark after “oak” and “elm” in this sentence: “The forest abounds with oak, elm, and beech trees”?

2. What is the British phrase for the punctuation mark which is called a period in American English?

3. What is an interrobang?

4. What does a semicolon look like?

5. When a full stop is used as part of email and website addresses, how is it pronounced?

6. What name is given to the accent over the last letter of the Italian word pietà?

7. Which punctuation mark is used with a noun or pronoun to indicate possession or in a contraction to show where letters have been left out?

8. What name is given to a set of three dots (…) in text?

9. A cedilla is a mark which is put underneath which letter to show that the letter has the sound of s?

10. In the German language, what is the name for the sign formed of two dots printed above a vowel?

How did you do?0 – 1 Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 – 5 A reasonable stab.
6 – 8 A good showing. But there’s still room for improvement!
9 – 10 You really know your stuff. Well done!

Questions set by Tony Augarde (www.augardebooks.co.uk)