We have often heard about research that shows children having a better chance of becoming fully literate adults if reading is encouraged from an early age.   But what happens when the parent cannot read English?  Are these statistics based on English-literate families only?

I recently heard a comment from a parent who would love to read more with her child but feels her english language acquisition is not strong enough to support her child’s literacy.  She raised frustration over the lack of diverse reading materials in her native Spanish language.

Another member of a book group commented on his realization that India was raising highly-educated illiterate kids.  I had to re-read this statement just to make sense of what he was trying to say.  He felt that because all reading materials provided in private schools in India were in English, children were losing their native language comprehension and thus becoming illiterate Indians.  I thought this was an interesting sentiment because I suppose, when we discuss literacy, it always seems to be in the “literate-in-English” guise.

This member may also have been referring to critical literacy.   He goes on to say that although newspapers written in English cost less than a Big Mac in India, nobody reads them because they don’t understand the language.  Entertainment is viewed in the native language and casual conversations with families and friends still take place in the native language and so, critical understanding of English is based solely on academic learning.  A valid concern then for including more diverse reading material in the curriculum, especially at the grassroots level.

The value of bilingualism is merited.  Research shows that native language acquisition can transfer to a second language with ease.  With my own son, we started with Panjabi until we discovered that our son was hard-of-hearing and then we switched to American sign language.  We found his language acquisition developed naturally with the right tools and are forever grateful to the Signing Time DVD’s that helped us as much as him.  Now, a few years later, I am attempting to introduce Panjabi to him once again and am not finding it as easy.  A lot has to do with the literature and resources available.  I have bought some bilingual books for him but I find that the language does not translate well when the stories are not authentic to the culture.

Including global words has become a sort of trademark of my own titles now.  Both A Lion’s Mane and Dreams of Hope include Panjabi words within the stories.  It is another way for children of this community to feel represented and engaged with reading.

So, although summer is upon us and many Summer reading Lists have already been prepared and distributed, I wonder now of the validity and accessibility of these suggestions.  What are the parents who want to read to and with their children but have no access to relevant and culturally-authentic resources to do?  Diversity in publishing is evolving, albeit slowly, but conversations such as these highlight how far we still have to go.

Before talking about family (il)literacy, consider some of the following factors:

• Primary Language spoken in the home
• Adult literacy levels in the home
• Accessibility to culturally-relevant resources and organizations (I found one called HIPPY Canada that are doing a great job to support the needs of new immigrants and low-income families)
• Hidden biases – if children are only exposed to certain genres/styles, are they displaying low literacy rates or low engagement in text rates?

Another site I would love to highlight in a post of its own is Literacy Head.  As a teacher, this is a site I could spend countless hours exploring.  I will use some titles featured on this site amongst others to create a Diverse Summer Reading List for Children.  It won’t be complete this year but maybe we can collectively create a fabulous resource for the future?

Here are a few links to start off this list:

http://www.languagelizard.com

http://www.mantralingua.com

http://www.diversebooks.net

I welcome your contributions and look forward to your thoughts on this discussion.

Tags: ASL, bilingual books, children's books, diversity in publishing, panjabi, punjabi, Signing Time, summer reading list, teacher resources

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 3:30 am and is filed under Soch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.