How Narrations Make a Difference
By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president
Unite for Literacy has a free online library of 600+ picture books written and designed specifically for new readers to enjoy with their families and friends.
The books are (currently) displayed in English, Spanish, and Ukrainian. In addition, readers may select to hear these books read by native speakers in 60+ regional and indigenous languages. These narrations* are designed to enhance participation in literacy development by families and children everywhere, including those who may speak languages other than English in their homes. As often as not, the narrations of our books come from generous individuals and groups who see a chance to make a difference for others and they do just that.
Sometimes we find folks like Professor Sinan Akilli, teaching a class of English Literature students in Ankara, Turkey, who wanted every one of the eight million children in the globally dispersed Turkish language community to have over 100 books in their mother tongue. Sometimes our books are discovered by people like Kathryn Ohle, a professor at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, who works with indigenous peoples like the Cup’ik speakers who live in a remote village. Those folks saw an opportunity for native language “revitalization” for the children in their exceedingly small community. And a teacher in Kolding, Denmark, led his 8-year-old students in translating simple Unite for Literacy picture books from English into their native Danish language to help them learn English in a meaningful way.
Then sometimes we meet people like Rhoya Wei, a single mother of a young child who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. She was delighted to get the opportunity to narrate many of our books in Mandarin Chinese in her spare time.
Her bilingual son can now hear his own mother speaking their home language in our books using any smartphone, tablet, or computer. And in deciding to make a difference for her little boy, Rhoya also has made our books a resource for as many as 95 million children around the world who speak Mandarin.
Unite for Literacy is always on the lookout for native speakers who are eager to do something that will have a lasting and wonderful impact for children living everywhere in the world. We hope to eventually serve every child in their language communities.
What will that take? We will accomplish that by collecting narrations of our books in the “official” languages of every country and in every indigenous and regional language.
Won’t you join us? If you are fluent in English, and a native speaker of a language we do not yet have, or if you know someone who is fluently bilingual, we encourage you to contact us about narrating books for that language community. You could begin by browsing our library for 10 titles you think will resonate with the children from your community and consider how you might narrate them for our readers. A university class, social group or family might take on a larger number. The books are short, and the process is simple and rewarding. It can be accomplished with a laptop and a microphone or headset. We will teach you how. Email us to learn more.
*Go to www.UniteforLiteracy.com and click on the globe icon to view a list of our current language offerings.