Each month, students from Northern Illinois University read stories to children at the DeKalb Public Library.
This month’s theme was “picnics.” One of the books was ‘The Three Little Pigs,’ or ‘Los trés cerditos.”
Victor Becerra Cano is pursuing a degree at NIU. He’s also a member of HABLA, a bilingual student group studying speech and language pathology. HABLA has been doing the story times for about a year.
“It's just to expose [children] to both languages and to show that bilingualism is okay,” he said. “What I've learned in class is that parents tend to think that bilingualism might delay children from improving in their language, but the whole point of having these events is to show that both languages can help the child grow.”
The students also do crafts with the children. The monthly story time is geared toward families with children who want to learn a second language or the children of caregivers who are bilingual.
Viviana Cortes is also a member of HABLA.
“Everyone you know is bilingual for a reason, and they kind of have different people who they communicate with in that second language,” Cortes said. “I think it's really important that kids are exposed to their languages and just learning about different cultures. It's really helpful with their language development overall.”
That’s the reason Elizabeth O’Brien brought her children to the event for the first time.
“[It was] great exposure for them to another language,” she said. “They're having a lot of fun with the students and doing the craft.”
For Cortes, she finds a personal passion for the project.
“Coming from a Hispanic family myself, I think it's really important to provide these resources to families of kids of all ages.” Cortes said. “I think it's really important for kids to be exposed to literature in both Spanish and English and to increase their vocabulary and understanding of different topics that they may not have access to at home. So, the fact that we come here to the library and do this in the public I think it's, it's pretty awesome.”
Classmate Victor Becerra Cano likes that he can apply the skills he is learning in the classroom.
“HABLA gives me the opportunity to either read articles or scientific reports that I wouldn't necessarily get that chance to if I just practice at home or with friends,” he said. “As for the community, it helps me share the knowledge that I'm getting in school. That, I think is very valuable, because sometimes that language barrier — or just a translation error -- doesn't give accurate information to the Hispanic community who might not be able to speak English.”
For Cortes, she enjoys how the event can connect families with local resources.
“I think it's really amazing that we are able to have events like this that are open to the public in a location that is relatively close to everyone,” she said. “They can come out with their kids and spend some time reading, getting to interact with other kids, definitely getting them out of the house, especially when it's nice outside or on rainy days.”
The bilingual story time continues one Wednesday per month at the DeKalb Public Library.