Multi-lingual neighbourhoods, like the Montreal borough of St. Laurent, have to act creatively to be the village that can raise a child.
“We speech pathologists often say that reading is essential for the development of language”
And one woman’s initiative in St. Laurent, is going a long way to bridging the cultures and the places that many children and their parents are navigating.
Sabah Meziane, is a PhD candidate in speech therapy in Montreal and a resident of St. Laurent.
She watched the growing community of new Syrian refugees arriving in 2016, and realized she could help.
“I saw that there was a need for refugee families to share moments of reading with their children but unfortunately, they had not yet mastered the French language,” Meziane told the CBC’s Sarah Leavitt.
“We speech pathologists often say that reading is essential for the development of language.”
Multi-lingual book box: Sabah Meziane had the idea that’s been a big success since it was launched in July. (Sarah Leavitt/CBC)
So Meziane teamed up with Au Coeur de L’Enfance (At the Heart of Childhood) to install the book box and ensure there is a constant supply of bilingual books, and those in the language of the residents.
St. Laurent, in the northwest of Montreal, is considered one of the most diverse communities, where one in two residents were not born in Canada.
So the box is also filled with stories written in Tamil, Arabic, Mandarin and more. And the bilingual books provide translations of these languages into French and English.
Christine Durocher is the director of Au Coeur de L’Enfance. She told CBC the book box has been a big hit since it was set up mid-July.
“The best feedback that we get is the speed at which the books disappear and come back,” she said.
“The beautiful thing about it is that we add books, but the families have been adding books too. This morning, I came and there were at least 10 new books in the box.”
It’s not always easy finding books that are written in different languages in Montreal, so this initiative helps tremendously.
“The parents are happy to have the books here,” said Meziane.
“There was a Tamil-speaking mother who came specifically for a bilingual book in English, so she could share the book with her son.”
(With files from CBC)
