At the inaugural session of Amigos story hour at the Edgartown library, children wearing pajamas and slippers crowded around a group of high school students who read to them in Portuguese and English. Parents joined in, too, sometimes singing and acting out the words in both languages.
The teens read from picture books that are new to the library’s collection, and part of an effort to promote bilingual literacy.
“It’s part of our mission to serve everyone in the community and the Brazilian community is an underserved population at the Edgartown library,” said library director Jill Dugas Hughes as she set up for the event on Wednesday evening.
She is beginning to develop a collection of Portuguese books, magazines and movies, and plans to expand it as usage increases.
Jose Fabio Alves has already tapped into that resource. He reads Portuguese books to his six-year-old daughter Sophia at home, where Portuguese is the primary language. “I don’t want her to lose the Portuguese language,” he said over pizza when the read aloud was over. “She has relatives in Brazil, and it is very important to have both [languages].”
He said the evening’s program was just one example of how well the Island supports children. “Martha’s Vineyard is so wonderful for kids,” he said.
The idea for Amigos story hour developed through conversations Ms. Dugas Hughes had with Leah Palmer, who coordinates supports for English language learners in the public school system. Initially, Ms. Palmer said they hoped to form a bridge between adults and children of each cultural group. Later, they thought to expand the bridge to include high school students, whom the organizers have hired to lead the program.
Following a lengthy application process, the library held two orientations for the students, one on multicultural awareness and another to discuss read aloud techniques. The teenagers chose the books for the series and also organize a craft for each of the eight weekly sessions.
“The high school students have taken on a big leadership role,” Ms. Palmer said. She hopes the program will encourage friendships between the two teens whose primary language is Portuguese and the four native English speakers. “We wanted to foster relationships between students who would not necessarily hang out together at school,” she said.
The program is designed as a pilot that can be replicated at other libraries.
Emily Santana, one of the facilitators, knows the advantages of speaking two languages from her own experience. A high school junior, Emily has spoken Portuguese and English her entire life. “It’s a big benefit,” she said. “You can communicate with more people and you can get job opportunities.”
Among the 20 kids who participated in the story hour, Kai Size, who is eight months old, was one of the youngest. “I like the idea of being social with him and exposing him to different languages and cultures,” said his mom Amy Size, who attended the story hour with Kai and her husband Paul. “We’ve never done anything like this before.”
Funding for the program has been provided by the Friends of the Edgartown Library, the Rotary Club of Martha’s Vineyard, and the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank.
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