REAPing the Rewards of Family Literacy: DeKalb County PL's Program for Immigrant Families Goes beyond Teaching English-Language Skills

Porter, Melody, American Libraries

At Project REAP (Reading Empowers All People), even the traditional nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie" is not what you'd expect. Rather than circling to the traditional American singsong pace, parents and children from southern Sudan, Somalia, Vietnam, and Iraq clasp hands around a new beat, lifting legs high as they swirl to a step-STEP rhythm all their own. Toddlers can hardly control their excitement as they anticipate when "all fall down!" Preschoolers, mothers, and children's librarians fall to the floor with shouts, clapping, and giggles.

Refugee and immigrant families turn to DeKalb County (Ga.) Public Library's family-literacy program to learn English and their ABCs, but they often end up showing each other and their teachers something new, whether it's a measured description of cooking "back home" or an improvised dance step. "One of …

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Publication information: Article title: REAPing the Rewards of Family Literacy: DeKalb County PL's Program for Immigrant Families Goes beyond Teaching English-Language Skills. Contributors: Porter, Melody - Author. Magazine title: American Libraries. Volume: 34. Issue: 8 Publication date: September 2003. Page number: 46+. © 1984 American Library Association. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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