Multilingual magic: Story time books and videos for all kids

Abstract

Every child deserves the joy of being read to in their mother tongue—the language of their heart—where they feel confident and can express their deepest feelings. A solid foundation in their home language not only paves the way for learning new languages but also acts as a powerful lever for their overall linguistic development. This project is a joint effort by five Dutch reading promotion organizations. To encourage reading in multilingual families, read-aloud videos in Moroccan, Syrian Arabic, Polish, and Turkish were created and were made available on Jeugdbibliotheek.nl. In each video a picture book is read aloud in one of the languages while the illustrations are displayed and classical music is played. Informative videos are also available in which the readers talk about the richness of multilingualism. The videos are available for free to all children (and their parents) with a library membership and can also be viewed in public libraries. Additionally, ten public libraries participate in a pilot program to incorporate the videos into various reading promotion programs. This way, reading educators (including library staff, reading volunteers, pedagogical staff and teachers) empower parents, strengthening their skills in promoting reading and nurturing a love for books in their children.