Read & Play: Bilingual Storytime

Multilingual Storytime

You guessed it -- the Brooklyn Library offers multilingual storytimes! They are a great way to introduce your young child to new languages, or enforce languages already spoken at home. Beyond that, multilingualism in young children has shown to be positive for brain plasticity and executive function.

Click here for a list of our multilingual storytimes! Our multilingual storytimes are generously supported by the City's First Readers, an initiative of the New York City Council.

Interested in some multilingual books for young children? Try checking these out from your local library:

Say Hello written by Rachel Isadora

A little girl greets people in her neighborhood in many different languages.

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Everywhere the Cow Says Moo! written by Ellen Weinstein

Easy-to-read text reveals the different words for animal sounds in four languages--English, Spanish, French, and Japanese--and the one that remains the same.

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If you like music, mamalisa.com is a fantastic website for finding children's songs in other languages. The songs are sorted by continent and then by country. Here are a few noteworthy examples:

Multilingual Children's Songs
Aserrín, aserrán (Spanish - Mexico) See-Saw Aserrín, aserrán, los maderos de San Juan, piden pan, no les dan, piden queso, les dan hueso y se les atora en el pescuezo! Piden vino, si les dan Se marean y se van.	Sansa Kroma (Akan - Ghana) Roaming Hawk Sansa Kroma Ne na wuo ɔkye kye nkokɔmba ɔse ɔnnkɔ ye edwuma Ne na wuo ɔkye kye nkokɔmba ɔe kyin kyin, e kyin kyin, e kyin kyin ɔse ɔnnkɔ ye edwuma Ne na wuo ooo Ne gya wuo ooo Sansa Kroma Ne na wuo ɔkye kye nkokɔmba
Moe Moe Pepe (Samoa - Somoan) Lullaby Moe moe pepe, Tumutumu le la'au A agi le matagi, E lue atu ma toe sau A gau le lala, Pau le moega Malie oe pepe Lau fa'aluega.	Sapo Jururu (Brazil - Portugese) Sad Frog Sapo jururu, na beira do rio Quando o sapo canta, ó maninha é porque tem frio. A mulher do sapo deve estar lá dentro, fazendo rendinha, ó maninha para o casamento.
En elefant kom marcherende (Denmark - Danish) One Elephant Came Marching En elefant kom marcherende Hen ad edderkoppens fine spind, Fandt at vejen var så int'ressant At den byder op endnu en elefant. To elefanter kom marcherende hen ad edderkoppens fine spind fandt at vejen var så interessant, at de byder op endnu en elefant. Tre elefanter kom marcherende hen ad edderkoppens fine spind fandt at vejen var så interessant, at de byder op endnu en elefant.	Ай бөпем (Kazakhstan - Kazakh) Oh My Little One Аулым көшiп барады-ау Алмалыға кiм көнбейдi тағдырдың Салғанына-ай. Көрмегелi көп айдың Жүзi болды ата-анамның хабарың Алмағалы-ай. Припев: Ай-ай бөпем кейiн қалған елiмдi Көрер мекем-ай. Игигай-игигай -оу. Көрер мекем-ай. Туған жерден сағыным Топырағың көз алдыма келедi Cол турағым-ай. Ата-анамның аяулы Аңсағанда ақ бөпемдi аялап Отырамын-ай.

See you at the next storytime! Ciao for now!

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Say Hello written by Rachel Isadora

Everywhere the Cow Says Moo! written by Ellen Weinstein

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