The Children's Library/Youth Library website, Jeugdbibliotheek.nl, has added read-aloud videos in Papiamentu and Farsi. Previously, videos in Syrian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Turkish, Polish, English and Spanish were available to watch. The Children's Library/Youth Library is a service provided by the KB.
Read-aloud videos
The pilot for multilingual read-aloud videos was launched in 2022. In the videos, a picture book is read aloud while you look at the illustrations. Music plays in the background. Targeted at families who speak multiple languages, the videos not only increase the enjoyment of reading (aloud) but also allow children to practise reading in the language they speak at home.
Over 2.5 million people in the Netherlands grew up speaking a language other than Dutch. Research shows that speaking the language you speak at home helps with learning a second language. As part of this, it is important to have a wide variety of learning materials, such as books. Reading aloud helps children learn a language quickly.
Youth membership
Anyone with a library membership can watch the videos at Jeugdbibliotheek.nl. Public library membership is always free for those under the age of 18. This allows members to borrow books from the library and provides access to services such as the online Library, Yoleo and Junior Einstein.
Toolkit
In addition to the videos, a toolkit has been developed for libraries and partners. It aims to support reading promotion in multilingual families and includes things such as posters in different languages, a fact sheet and a guide full of useful tips and links for working with multilingual families. The videos and toolkit were created thanks to a collaboration between De Voorleeshoek, KB, Stichting Lezen, SPN, the Letterenfonds, Stichting Pica and Rijnbrink. They fall under the project Reading Promotion in Multilingual Families.
