My goodness, 2016 has arrived with a bang! There are so many exciting things happening already. The Pura Belpré award turns 20, I'm serving my second term on the Pura Belpré award committee, my bilingual storytime manual (co-authored with Jamie Campbell Naidoo) comes out from ALA Editions in May, and I'm working on a second title for 2017! More information about all of these things will be coming soon, I promise, but for now, I just want to quickly let you know that I'm teaching a new session of "Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca" through Library Juice Academy in February.
I love teaching this class! It never fails that the group is dedicated, passionate and loves to share. I am always inspired by the ideas that come forward and heartened at the way children's librarians and other library staff involved with children's services are truly committed to serving ALL members of their diverse communities. If you are thinking about adding or updating a bilingual program in advance of your DIA celebration or summer reading program, now is a great time to learn some new techniques and find some new materials to share with your community. Though I stress here on the blog and in the workshop that you must be able to communicate with ease in both languages if you want to offer a bilingual storytime on your own, this class is not limited to those who speak Spanish. Options are included for all language skill levels, such as working in tandem with bilingual partners and/or being intentional about using materials that positively include Latino cultures in your English storytime programs. I hope you will consider joining us!
For more information and to register, please visit Library Juice Academy. You can also contact me if you have any specific questions. ¡Hasta luego!
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9 years ago
2 comments:
Hi Katie!
I love following your blog. I run bilingual programs as a Sr. Library Assistant in CA. I started about a year ago and have read many books, blogs etc, and figured it out along the way. I am interested in taking your course but was wondering what skill-level it is aimed at. I have "full professional proficiency" in Spanish already. Is this course targeted at people who do not know any Spanish? Or is that irrelevant? From what little I've said here, does your course seem appropriate for me?
Thank you so much for the work you do for the library community and the Spanish speaking community.
Regards,
Molly
Hi Molly! Thanks so much for your comments and question. I am replying here rather than responding to you individually because I think this is a great question and it may benefit others to read the answer.
The course is designed to be useful to anyone who is currently offering a bilingual storytime program, or who is interested in starting one in the future. Language skills are irrelevant. Those who are not proficient in Spanish themselves will come away with an understanding of how to design programs in tandem with others who are bilingual and/or make efforts to make their English-language storytimes more inclusive of Latinos and Spanish-speakers through their materials used. Those who are bilingual themselves will come away with ideas that they can immediately put into action on their own. Everyone (regardless of language skills) will be exposed to high-quality books and music appropriate for bilingual storytime, different strategies for designing storytime for different age groups, early literacy information for speakers of other languages, and resources for further information.
One of the greatest benefits of the class is the conversation and idea exchange that occurs between participants. You all share as much with each other as I do with you, and I learn a lot from each group. I have created a Facebook group for past workshop participants in order to have a place to continue this idea exchange. Everyone who completes the course gets invited to join.
My next session of the four-week workshop "Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca" is set up through Library Juice Academy for August. I also have a six-week course being offered through the Library of Virginia (participants outside of VA will be able to join) that covers both bilingual storytime and outreach to Latino communities set up for October/November. Participants in that workshop will receive a copy of my book included in their registration fee.
Hope that this helps address your concern, Molly. I'd love to see you in a future workshop when your schedule allows!
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