The classes are intended for adults, but young people may attend. Teens can benefit from Beginning Spanish and Spanish II sessions to reinforce and build on their high school lessons. Even primary curriculum often includes a foreign language. Songs and games keep language classes and storytimes fun for kids.Įxposure to language and culture helps give kids a more balanced world view, as well as a leg up as they begin taking language classes at school at a younger age. “They have the opportunity to interact and participate not only in the program but afterward, children can play and interact with toys,” Parks says.
The classes include families who are at ease with the language and those who are unfamiliar. “And it exposes them to a different language and a different culture,” says Mary Beth Parks, children’s services coordinator at Carnegie Library. Studies have shown a second language helps increase a child’s mental dexterity, sophistication, and comprehension. The language programming is terrific for bilingual households, who want their kids to retain a link to their ethnic homeland, but English-speaking families benefit, too.įirst, at the youngest age, early literary skills are developed through storytime activities. The weekly program operates at the Beechview branch. Storytime: English and Spanish, geared for kids ages 3-5 years, incorporates both languages through books, singing, and rhymes. Let’s Learn Chinese explores the country’s language and culture through games and other activities. A more rigorous class, Storytime: American Sign Language & English, is aimed for kids from babies to 5 years at the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The class is a short one in deference to a baby’s attention span. American Sign Language is part of the language classes offered through Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.Īs one of several language experiences for kids and their families offered through the library system, Sign Time: Baby Talk teaches through songs, play, and books in an informal setting. Her experience with a baby struggling to communicate in a new language translated easily to little ones as they learn to speak. “And while it wasn’t perfect, it did help.”Īs a senior librarian in the children’s department of Carnegie Library, Wood began teaching a weekly class called Sign Time: Baby Talk at the Oakland library. “We found that while she wasn’t proficient, it did help quell the frustration of not being able to tell us exactly what she wanted,” Wood says of her now 17-year-old daughter. The Woods began to teach the baby simple signs: “more,” “again,” “Mommy,” and “Daddy.”
“But we found there were times when we knew she could understand us, but she was frustrated by not being able to respond to us.” “When we got home, of course, we started speaking English to her,” Wood says. Their sign language skill gained a new significance when the couple adopted a 14-month-old baby girl from China. “He would often sign to me, and sometimes I would sign back,” she says, laughing. When Kathy Wood became intrigued by sign language, she and her husband took classes through Community College of Allegheny County.
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