UND CONNECT project brings Spanish Storytime to life
Spanish Storytime at GF Public Library immerses children in culture and active learning
There are leones, gatos grandes, osos — ¡Y NIÑOS! — running through the Grand Forks Public Library, but UND Assistant Professors Christie Cole and Elizabeth Suazo-Flores say there’s no reason to worry.
The niños (children) are perfectly safe because these “lions, big cats and bears” are only colorful illustrations chasing through the crisp, bright pages of a Spanish-language storybook.
The animals and children are part of the new Hora del Encanto, or Spanish Storytime, that’s held at 10 a.m. every third Saturday of the month on the second floor of the library. The free program — designed for families with children ages 1 to 8 — was made possible with the help of a UND CONNECT grant.
Spanish Storytime a hit with ‘native and never’ speakers alike
Cole, who teaches Spanish language and literature at UND, says the program that began as a pilot project only last fall already is a hit with Grand Forks families of all Spanish-speaking abilities — including those with one or both parents who are native speakers to those who don’t speak a lick but want their children to experience other cultures.
The program has been equally popular with students in Cole’s “Spanish 308: Conversation” course. At least 10 of the 15 students enrolled in the course this past semester volunteered to participate in the program.
“It’s been so much fun to watch the reactions of the children,” Cole said. “And the feedback from the families and students has been tremendously positive. I think a lot of UND students want to do something positive for the community, but they don’t always know how to make that connection. This provides a great opportunity and space for people to interact with others who may differ culturally and linguistically from yourself.”
A culture mash in the city center
And this Saturday, the Spanish Storytime program will make a special appearance in downtown Grand Forks for the season opener of the Farmers Market in Town Square.
“We’re excited to see everyone there,” an enthusiastic Suazo-Flores said. The native Spanish speaker from Chile and mathematics educator with UND’s Teaching, Leadership & Professional Practice said she jumped at the chance to partner with Cole.
“When Christie offered me the opportunity to read books in Spanish to kids, I thought, ‘That’s great. I’m happy to be with you,’” Suazo-Flores told UND Today. “I have two children who are bilingual — and I want them to keep learning about speaking and writing in Spanish — so it’s a win-win for me. But I also want people to know that this program is evidence of how much UND values its place in community. It’s connecting students and celebrating diversity to keep North Dakota growing.”
Once upon a time . . .
Cole said the idea for the collaborative Spanish Storytime program evolved quickly and “pretty organically” after colleague and UND Director of German Studies Thyra Knapp first chatted with the library’s Assistant Children’s Services Director Kirbie Sondreal at an outreach event last year.
At the time, Sondreal had shared that the library had experienced a significant increase in requests for Spanish materials and said organizers there were interested in starting a Spanish Storytime but were still “trying to work out how to make it happen.”
Knapp was certain her language cohorts at UND would have some ideas, so she connected Sondreal with Cole and Languages Department Chair Melissa Gjellstad.
They immediately jumped on board. It also happened to be great timing because their proposal aligned perfectly with the goals of the recently established UND CONNECT program.
The mini CONNECT grants — provided by the North Dakota Economic Diversification Research Grant Fund — aim to “inspire a sense of wonder, a love of discovery and a commitment to serve” while collaborating with partners to meet the “evolving needs of our people, tribal nations and the state of North Dakota.”
The grant and program get the go
After winning the grant, Cole and Suazo-Flores were able to purchase several Spanish storybooks, along with some plush dinosaur hand puppets, simple musical instruments, a giant play parachute and other fuzzy critters to keep the storytime active.
UND Today took in the latest Spanish Storytime event and can attest to the fact that it is, indeed, very lively and active.
As the children and their big people gathered in a large circle, the hour got started with everyone singing the “Hello! Hello! Hello! How Are You?” song. Of course, they sing the words in Spanish, and one by one, the children chirp back their answers: “¡Estoy bien! … ¡Estoy estupendo! … ¡Estoy maravilloso!”
Next, Cole asked the children to choose a hand puppet to play along before she introduced the Spanish edition of the popular storybook “How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?”
Page by page, the children laughed as they listened to the tale of how the oversized, clawed and bumpy-horned classmates were surprisingly well-behaved. In English …
“How does a dinosaur go to school? Does he walk? Does he ride in a busy carpool?
“Does he drag his long tail? Is he late for the bus? Does he stomp all four feet? Does he make a big fuss?
“When he gets to the school, does he roughhouse and punch? Does he make a big grab for a classmate’s packed lunch? …
“No … A dinosaur carefully raises his hand. He helps out his classmates with projects they’ve planned.”
At one point during the story, 7-year-old Bryza Hernandez points to the picture of a scowling teacher and admits with a giggle that she can relate to the dinosaur who must “race up the stairs right ahead of the bell.”
Bryza is one of the regulars at the monthly storytime. She says she loves the songs, the books, the chicken egg maracas and making new friends.
Her mother, Susy Hernandez, loves it because “Bryza is speaking her native Spanish and interacting with other kids in Spanish.”
Suazo-Flores stresses that the purpose of the program is not to teach Spanish or English, but rather to expose one another to the spoken word while enhancing learning in a community of multiple languages and cultures.
“The books change, but the songs stay the same, so they become familiar over time,” Suazo-Flores said. “It’s experiential learning for the UND students, but for the families, it is a way to get exposed to another language while having some fun.”
Hands-on learning that can’t be beat
Enslie Schwan seconded that. The UND sophomore who’s majoring in Political Science and minoring in Spanish says participating in Spanish Storytime is great for people at any experience level.
“For those who are fluent, it’s a fun environment where they can speak and play games with others in Spanish,” Schwan said. “And for those who are trying to learn Spanish, it’s truly an experience that cannot be replicated in the traditional classroom.”
Some of the children, more fluent than others, spoke back and forth easily in both English and Spanish. Two of them were fast friends Nora Fernandez, 7-year-old daughter of Mary Fernandez and Marcos Fernandez-Tous, and Maia Herrera Suazo, 8-year-old daughter of Suazo-Flores and Max Herrera.
The girls became close friends first through the friendship of their parents, who all have UND connections. Max Herrera is married to Suazo-Flores. Mary Fernandez is a doctoral student in Educational Foundations & Research while her husband, Marcos, is an assistant professor in Space Studies.
The fathers explained that while plenty of other childhood activities — such as going to the playground or swimming in the pool — often compete for the girls’ attention, the families still like to encourage them to come to Spanish Storytime in the service of helping other youngsters learn and for another very important reason.
“In general, we speak mostly Spanish in our home, but it’s also important to us as a family that Maia and (3-year-old) Eitan learn how to listen to other kinds of Spanish,” Herrera said. “When we talk about Spanish, it’s about more than just the language and grammar rules. For example, we have at least three different kinds of Spanish represented here today. We have Spanish from Colombia, Spain and Chile. So, this is a chance for our kids to discover not just the nuances of the language — but also the culture, the songs, the literature and all the rest of our diversity.”
Turning the page
Before the hour is out, the children listen to two more books — one a rhyming riddle where they guess the animal being described, and the second, a tale of a stolen octopus who escapes the aquarium to find its way back home to the ocean.
The children shake egg maracas to the beat of a soothing bedtime song about an adoring mama chicken who comforts her chicks, and they sing a rousing Spanish version of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”
But probably the children’s favorite activity of all is a counting song about elephants balancing over a spider web. With each number and verse, another stuffed elephant gets tossed into the middle of a bouncing parachute before one final whoosh and the children all run under the billowing chute.
First-timers to Spanish Storytime get to take home a swag bag filled with a “Spanish Is My Superpower” storybook, a super-fat “My First Big Book of Bilingual Coloring: Animals,” along with Crayola crayons and markers.
And all children take home another colorful bag filled with surprises — this time, a Very Hungry Caterpillar stuffie, a loopy pencil, stickers, Play-Doh, a bookmark and egg maracas.
But no matter what the theme or what new books are shared, Cole and Suazo-Flores say the message of Hora del Encanto is always the same:
‘¡Todos pertenecemos a la biblioteca!’
(‘Everyone belongs at the library!’)
Just the facts . . .
>> Did you know the equivalent of a bookworm in Spanish? It’s a ratón de biblioteca — a library mouse.
>> Don’t miss Spanish Storytime this Saturday at the Farmers Market. The group otherwise meets regularly the third Saturday of the month in the Grand Forks Public Library.
>> Spanish is by far the second-most-requested language for materials at the Grand Forks Public Library, according to Sondreal. Over the past two years, she says she has made it a priority to update the children’s collection, adding more than 300 new Spanish and Spanish-bilingual materials. Among the selections are picture books, board books, graphic novels, chapter books and nonfiction books. Also popular are the Spanish-bilingual audio readers, which are picture books with built-in readers that allow patrons to read the text in both English and Spanish while also hearing it read aloud at the same time.
>> Follow the links to Spanish Storytime on the library calendar and at Facebook events. Sondreal also created a handy list of most of the children’s Spanish book titles available in physical form.
>> Library cards are free for Grand Forks County residents, but patrons outside the county still can obtain a card for a fee.
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