Thursday, September 29, 2011
As restless toddlers spin chairs, chew on nametags and wander around the children’s section of the Lawrence Public Library, Marita Nelson prepares for storytime.
Volunteers, including Nelson, rotate leadership of the children’s Spanish storytime called “Hora De Cuentos,” at the library every Saturday morning.
Nelson said the table is not just for Spanish-speaking children, but also for those whose parents wish to expose their children to the language early.
University of Kansas alumni Abel and Lydia Leon took over the program last year. As the parents of 2-year-old Alia, they have the same interests for their daughter as many of the other parents at Spanish storytime.
“We wanted to our daughter to speak Spanish outside of our home, with different environments with different kids,” Abel Leon said.
Hora De Cuentos, meaning “hour of stories” in English, is structured much like children’s storytimes in English. Learning tools catered to the different senses making meaning of the Spanish words clearer.
“Buenos días, a todos cómo están?” a song to the tune of “If You’re Happy And You Know It” introduced each child, followed by more songs and stories with puppets and felt board animals to practice numbers and vocabulary.
“They start getting a little bit of the basics of the language,” said Abel Leon.
Lydia Leon, the current coordinator for the storytime, has been a part of the program from early on, and has helped shape the program into what it is today, reaching the growing Spanish-speaking community in Lawrence.
“We thought one of the resources in the community is the library,” Lydia Leon said. “We wanted to try and do outreach to families to let them know what’s available in the community, how they can be involved, what they might have access to.”
These thoughts formulated Hora De Cuentos.
“We get to celebrate Spanish and we also have other people learn Spanish,” Lydia Leon said.
Although he realizes it would be difficult for a non-Spanish-speaking family to build on and continue with the language elements learned at the storytime, Abel Leon still finds value in Hora De Cuentos.
“What you end up having is either one of the parents speaks Spanish or some connection to the language,” said Abel Leon, “Otherwise, it’s harder. But we still have fun.”
— Edited by Mandy Matney
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