{Guest Post by Language Lizard}

 

Have you ever walked through a park and thought, “Wow! This reminds me of a book I read when I was a kid!” but you can’t be sure which one? With a StoryWalk®, you don’t have to rely on nostalgia because the book joins you on your stroll. You can even expose yourself to a new language with a Multilingual StoryWalk®.

What is a StoryWalk®?

The StoryWalk® program, created by Anne Ferguson in Vermont in 2007, involves taking pages from a children’s book and posting them around a park or nature area. By creating a short route to follow, families are able to explore nature and develop their children’s early literacy skills. Anne wanted to promote, “early literacy, physical activity, and family time together in nature.” With the support of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, she was able to put this idea into motion. 

Since 2007, over 303 libraries around the country have implemented StoryWalk® programs. Another organization, The Children & Nature Network, created a model for Nature-Smart Libraries. They operate in a similar way, helping libraries connect their communities to nature via storytelling. 

Most recently, the City of Boston featured Language Lizard’s bilingual books in their Multilingual StoryWalk®. The program ran from April 20th until May 10th and concluded with a giveaway. In fact, The Multilingual StoryWalk® was such a success that Boston hopes to have another one in the fall.

These programs are organized by community partnerships. In the case of Anne Ferguson, she was able to collaborate with the Vermont Arts Council and her local library. In Boston, the StoryWalk® resulted from the cooperation of both public and private organizations. If you are interested in putting together a StoryWalk®, consider connecting with state and local parks, schools, nature centers, child care centers, farmers markets, walking path promoters, special event promotions, and most of all, libraries.

Multilingual Children’s Books

A StoryWalk® is most successful when the book connects with the community. According to Anne, these books must be elementary yet interesting, so families of all ages can engage in the activity. Books with simple language and beautiful illustrations ensure that you can fit a StoryWalk® into any busy schedule. 

In Boston, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department collaborated with the Boston Public Library and the Highland Street Foundation, the New England Patriots Foundation, and Xfinity to create their Multilingual StoryWalk®. This is an exciting expansion upon the traditional StoryWalk® program because it affirms the diverse communities within Boston. Multicultural families can enjoy nature walks while reading in their native language and native English speakers can learn a new language at the same time. 

For this particular Multilingual StoryWalk®, Language Lizard provided bilingual stories in six different languages:

Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner 

Augustus goes on a journey to find his lost smile and discovers so much about the natural world: shiny insects, birds, mountains, fish, and even a rainstorm. This beautifully illustrated story celebrates a great connection to nature.

Let’s Go to the Park by Kate Clynes

This multicultural board book lets young children explore the area in which they live. The bold illustrations show the people and animals they will meet, and objects that they will see and hear. The simple text is just right for young readers who are starting to recognize words. 

Errol’s Garden by Gillian Hibbs

Errol loves gardening and has filled his home with beautiful plants, but he does not have a real garden. He dreams about an outdoor space where he can grow things.

Listen, Listen by Phillis Gershator

This beautifully illustrated story explores the different seasons, and the amazing sights and sounds of nature. The effective use of rhyming, alliteration and onomatopoeic words makes this book especially enjoyable to read aloud.

All these stories connect with nature while also exploring multicultural themes. Not only can families enjoy nature, but they can learn a new language at the same time!

Language Lizard provides educators, librarians, and parents with resources that develop literacy skills among language learners, build inclusive classrooms, and celebrate cultural diversity.

Language Lizard offers bilingual books and audio resources in 50+ languages, multicultural book sets, posters, and other culturally responsive teaching resources for diverse classrooms. Educators may download free multicultural lesson plans at LanguageLizard.com/LessonPlans.htm.  In addition, the company’s blog and free newsletter provide valuable information and special offers to educators and parents working with diverse children (sign up at LanguageLizard.com/Newsletter).

The company is running a giveaway of bilingual and multicultural books to newsletter subscribers and has already given away over $3,000 worth of bilingual books. Anyone interested in supporting multiculturalism can enter their current giveaway at LanguageLizard.com/Win-Bilingual-Books.

Bilingual Books are available in English with Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cherokee, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Karen (Sgaw), Korean, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Malayalam, Nepali, Norwegian, Oromo, Panjabi, Pashto/Pashtu, Patois, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Shona, Slovakian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, and Yoruba.