Literacy begins in the home. Parents who begin to read to their children from a very young age make great strides in the child’s educational and social evolution later on. Reading to a child promotes successful outcomes for literacy even before they start their first day of kindergarten. This is true for families of all languages, backgrounds and cultures. For English learners, where a different language other than English is spoken, being exposed to the core concepts of literacy in ones home language is a prerequisite component to learning a new language.

Unfortunately, not all parents have reading materials at home for their children. For parents who do not read in the English language, but who want to read to their children, they may not know which types of books to read or where they can find books. Parents may not know that their home language is key to learning a new language, simply by using extensive oral language and by reading to their children regularly. The solution to to some of these obstacles lies in bilingual children’s books. Until recently, this was a highly underserved segment of the book-buying community; but with 25% of the U.S. school population and 53% of the student body in California classified as Latino, that is a large portion of children who don’t have adequate books to help them improve their literacy skills. Bilingual books can also provide parents with the opportunity to develop their own literacy skills as well, particularly if parents have completed only a portion of their schooling and may have limited reading abilities themselves.

Providing families with books that support parents in their first language and their children who are currently learning English in school can help both develop their reading skills together. This also promotes healthy parental engagement in the educational process and encourages parents to seek out and communicate with teachers as responsible and concerned stakeholders who want their children to succeed. Bilingual books incorporate text in both Spanish and English, so that parents who have a limited English vocabulary can learn more while also understanding the story in their native Spanish. Children can practice English skills at home which has been shown to be beneficial in the learning of the language. For both parents and kids, literacy becomes an easier and more enjoyable process.

The Latino Family Literacy Project provides an award-winning family reading program that strategically trains school staff to implement a family reading program using bilingual books. This program will guide teachers step by step to work with students and parents to develop language and vocabulary skills by using bilingual books. If you’re interested in finding out more information about this program, schedule an online training.

Whether you need to purchase bilingual books or if you need to attend a webinar training for cultural competency, we look forward to hearing from you.