Vivien Karabinas, her mother Marina Karabinas and her young daughter Annabell Dean were among the people who enjoyed the bilingual storytelling session at the Altona North Community library on Tuesday.
The session, organised by Ms Paltridge, and librarian Soula Sapounakis, of Altona North Community library, saw both Greeks and non-Greeks gathered with their children to hear stories and songs in Greek and English. Marina Karabinas said to Neos Kosmos that she speaks to her granddaughter in Greek because it’s important to maintain the language and heritage.
Vivien, who said Greek was her first language, said exposing her daughter to the Greek language was more important from a cultural perspective.
“Even if Greek isn’t my daughter’s first language, and she may not understand it like I did as a child, she’ll still understand her Mum comes from a Greek background, and I think that’s so important. I want her to have an awareness of our family’s heritage,” she said.
Vivien said she reads Greek stories to her daughter at home, and that the library initiative is a great way to promote cultural diversity within the community. The storytelling session is part of a program which also features sessions in Chinese, Arabic and Italian.
Bilingual ‘storytime’ sessions for young children and families are a great way to enhance cultural awareness and introduce different languages to the community, according to Altona North’s Community Languages librarian, Anne Paltridge.
“Stories are stories in every language,” Ms Sapounakis said, adding that many children of non-Greek background are still responsive and interested in stories she reads to them in Greek. While there is a strong Greek community in Altona North, they do not use the library services as much as other cultural groups, Ms Paltridge said.
“We have a great selection of Greek books, magazines, DVDs and CDs, in our library, and this is a chance to promote our collection and encourage the Greek community to use the services that are provided free of charge,” she said.
“These storytimes help to maintain languages as well as providing people with access to our resources”.