Bilingual Storytime Beyond the Basics
Description
Storytime opens the doors of the library to the next generation of library users and welcomes back caregivers who want their children to enjoy rich educational and social experiences. But what if your storytime offerings lack the linguistic and cultural components necessary to connect with your Latinx and Spanish-speaking community?
This 6-week course will show you how to create and market high-quality bilingual storytime programs that are relevant to Latinxs and Spanish speakers.
We’ll begin by discussing concepts from pedagogy and Latinx critical theory that create the foundation of bilingual and bicultural storytime programming that is intentional and inclusive—repositioning the library as a multicultural and multilingual space. Then we’ll move on to the nuts and bolts of assembling a multifaceted bilingual storytime program, including storytime design, how to work with texts, bilingual facilitation, marketing, and outreach.
Each session will blend lectures, readings, and discussions focused on weekly topics along with dedicated time to develop two graded assignments: a translated song or rhyme for use in storytime and a fully developed bilingual storytime session, complete with supporting materials and promotional assets.
Learning Outcomes
- Examine how critical pedagogy and Latinx critical theory can inform and enhance your approach to designing and facilitating storytime aimed at Latinxs and Spanish-speaking families.
- Design storytime programming that is rich in early literacy practices, linguistically sound, and culturally affirming.
- Evaluate and prepare texts for bilingual storytime, ranging from books to songs and rhymes.
- Implement various types of bilingual storytime structures and facilitation styles tailored to the demographic and linguistic makeup of the community and the strength of the presenter.
- Apply basic translation methods to produce translations of texts aimed at children.
- Assess how culturally competent branding, marketing, and outreach can impact your bilingual storytime.
Course Outline
Week 1—The Agenda: Theory and Fundamentals
- Critical pedagogy and Latinx theory
- Culturally Competent Program Model
Week 2—Texts: Selection, Evaluation, Preparation
- Finding texts
- Evaluating texts
- Preparing texts
Week 3—Translation: Methods and Applications
- Basic translation methods
- Case studies
- Translation workshop
Week 4—Design: Storytime Structure
- Storytime themes and flow
- Working with twice the text
- Early literacy in two languages
Week 5—Delivery: Bilingual Facilitation and Staging
- Storytime staging
- Code-switching and transitions
- Dialogue en dos idiomas
Week 6—Promotion: Branding, Marketing, and Outreach
- Branding your storytime
- Promotional campaigns
- Outreach
About the Instructor
Sheridan Jay Cazarez is a librarian in the Exploration & Creativity Department at the Los Angeles Public Library. Before LAPL, he worked in youth services at the Long Beach Public Library, where he conducted a weekly bilingual storytime program called Cuentos y Cantos in tandem with his colleague Luisa Leija. He has presented on bilingual facilitation, translation practices, and cultural competence in early literacy programming at the REFORMA National, California Library Association, and American Library Association conferences. He also translates songs and rhymes for bilingual storytime, which he’s presented at the Seguimos Creando Enlaces Conference through California Libraries Learn (CALL) Academy and with PCI Webinars. He also runs Bibliocuentos.com, a bilingual storytime website he launched with Luisa Leija in 2022. He serves with the Los Angeles Chapter of REFORMA.
He’s a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumnus and is a 2021 ALA Spectrum Scholar. His graduate studies examined culturally competent services to Latinxs and Spanish speakers as well as bilingualism and early literacy in library spaces. Sheridan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, completed at California State University at Long Beach, where he studied the histories, literatures, cultures, and politics of the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as basic translation and interpretation methodologies.
If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.