Population Served:
362,312 Project Contact: Cheryl Garrison Project Title: Storytime Ambassadors Project Description: Kent District Library’s American Dream project involved using bilingual volunteers from the community,to offer four week storytimes series in Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish at six branches throughout our county. The goal is to provide ELL parents and their children exposure to the library and an opportunity to practice their English language skills. The Storytime Ambassador program has also provided native-born children with the opportunity to explore other cultures and languages. |
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Notable accomplishment,
promising practices, or human interest stories: Our bilingual volunteers were thrilled to have the opportunity to share their language and cultures with the community. Our Storytime Ambassadors wrote:
“It’s important for kids, and of course adults, to learn about other cultures. Parents can enjoy these lessons as much as kids.”
“People love to do educational stuff for the kids FREE! I’m a mom of two and I know exactly how parents feel when they can spend one hour of the morning with their kids learning and playing. Besides, people are very enthusiastic about bilingual stuff. Thank you for the opportunity and for believes in us, great people in Kentwood Library. I hope I can continue help them in someway.”
Parents were equally enthusiastic about the program: “Alyssa did a great job!”
Excellente!” “I really like this program and hope it continues.” “Great Job – my 3 ½ year old son loved it!”
Key lessons learned: Developing relationships with organizations and agencies serving adult English language learners takes time but is crucial to reaching new audiences. Our ethnic media contacts were very enthusiastic in helping us get the word out.
Advice for other libraries serving adult English language learners: Don’t get discouraged if attendance is light at first. The program attendance grew as the word spread among friends and family. Consider offering programs in the evening to meet the needs of working parents.