Jasmine Baker loves to tell stories, but it wasn’t always that way.
“I speak Arabic and English. I come from a background where my parents speak five languages,” she tells SBS.
The 29-year-old is studying early childhood education and works part-time performing stories to children in more than one language.
Jasmine Baker tells stories to children in English and Arabic. Source: SBS
The daughter of Lebanese parents who migrated to Australia in 1970, Jasmine was born in Sydney’s south-west and attended a local high school. But fitting in was a challenge.
“It was hard growing up because my nationality was seen as a stigma, and we were encouraged to assimilate culturally,” she says. “So I was never very proud of my nationality.”
“Yet as I get older, and I appreciate storytelling, it makes me be proud of who I am and where I came from.”
“Being a storyteller has empowered me to embrace my language and share that with children of all backgrounds.”
Local pre-schoolers and their families enjoy multi-lingual story time at Lost in Books. Source: SBS
The suburb is one of Australia’s most diverse, with more than 70 per cent of residents speaking a language other than English at home.
When SBS visits, Jasmine is dramatising the hide-and-seek story 'Mama, Baba Waynkon' ('Mummy, Daddy, Where Are You?') in a Lebanese dialect, for a group of bright-eyed pre-schoolers.
The bookshop offers titles in more than 40 languages and caters for young children up to teenagers, with a space for families to read and play together.
Connecting to culture
The shop's nine storytellers are all local women who speak a range of languages including Arabic, Spanish, Assyrian, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Korean. They start as volunteers, with Jasmine now employed by the shop.
Payam Gouya and Mahwaz Giahparwar are volunteer storytellers. They are refugees from Iran.
The couple speaks the Persian language Farsi as well as English.
Refugees Payam Gouya and Mahwaz Giahparwar enjoy sharing Iranian stories with children. Source: SBS
“I love telling traditional stories to children,” Mahwaz says.
“Today we told a story about spring celebrations in nature, a time when my people are happy to dress up and prepare special foods.”
Payam and Mahwaz fled Iran in 2010 fearing for their safety.
"Many people are arrested in Tehran, the situation is very bad," Payam says.
Fairfield has resettled more than 12,000 refugees in recent years, including a large proportion from Iraq and Syria as part of the Australian government’s additional settlement program in 2016.
Lost in Books founder Jane Stratton aims to help new arrivals settle in Australia and help families retain a connection to their cultures through the multilingual books.
Jane Stratton started Lost in Books in Sydney's Fairfield to keep languages alive in one of Australia's most diverse communities. Source: SBS
Some of the books are in dual languages, and some popular titles are also in Australia's Indigenous languages.
The shop runs its multilingual sessions, known as 'forked-tongue storytelling', every Tuesday morning.
“We also run multilingual homework support, and then we see the long-term benefits for kids in terms of increased confidence using English. It gives them an ability to decode languages and switch between one language and another.”
Ms Stratton also sees the ways it encourages the storytellers to use their language skills.
"There are a lot of programs that have an appreciative approach to difference, but the missing piece in puzzle in the multicultural landscape is multilingualism," she says.
"It is a key that unlocks so much - participation, equality, and feeling a sense of worth and legitimacy - and then later on, having an asset that no one can take from you."
"If you are bilingual, that’s a gift."
Access to reading
The bookshop grew from an outreach social literacy project run by Ms Stratton’s development agency Think + Do Tank Foundation.
And from next year, a mobile multilingual outreach vehicle will travel to resettlement hubs and new estates.
“Transport is a barrier to participation in this area and south-west Sydney generally,” Ms Stratton says.
And with many local families having little or no English skills and possibly feeling isolated, she adds, "storytime is also a way to make new friends in the community."
“It’s something that’s good for the parents and also for their children, who see their parents engaging with a wider group that celebrates their culture.”
The shop's bestselling titles are picture books and stories in Arabic, Chinese and Indian languages, as well as English. Ms Stratton also cites The Hungry Caterpillar in Vietnamese, Arabic and Korean as a favourite.
Bookseller Jay Lansdown says more parents are buying hard copy books for their children this year. Source: SBS
Book vendors are also currently reporting an upswing in children's book sales across Australia.
President of the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) Jay Lansdown says sales are up by five per cent this year, across the top 5,000 titles.
“Kids book sales are incredibly strong, picture books and junior fiction are very strong,” he says.
Harry Potter, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Possum Magic remain popular children’s titles after many years, according to the Dymocks Kids Top 51 list.
ABA CEO Robbie Egan adds: “Where is the Green Sheep? remains in the top 10 pre-school titles after more than a decade.”
“I read it to my own children for many years. It has beautiful illustrations and rhyming verses which are key to ongoing sales.”
Parents are buying more hard copy books for children this year. Source: SBS
“My daughter sits down at the bookshelf and will spend an hour taking books out,” Alison Windsor a customer at the 'Constant Reader' bookshop in Sydney's Crow's Nest says about her four-year-old daughter.
“She will run her fingers over the page, and explore pictures with her fingers, and that’s an important way to make a connection with the story.”
Local school librarian Rosie Maher agrees.
“Children's book illustrations can be so beautiful and aren’t always replicated as well in e-readers.”
“Children also love to learn to turn the pages and pre-empt the words in a book. It’s a really strong aspect of visual literacy development”
“People still prefer that idea of a physical book, and knowing where they are up to. It’s a joy to know you’ve only got a little bit left, it’s a physical thing.”
Jasmine Baker feels empowered as a multi-lingual storyteller. Source: SBS
For storyteller Jasmine Baker, reading stories to children in English and Arabic has changed her life.
“It gives me an upper hand. There’s an amazing advantage in being able to speak a second language, and share culture through stories,” she says.
“Being a multilingual storyteller, I hold that role with pride.”
“I am so honoured and happy to share my culture with young children, and to show them that you should feel proud, no matter what nationality you are.”
The SBS National Languages Competition 2019 aims to encouarge and celebrate a love of learning languages in Australia. We are calling out to language learners of all ages to enter, including those learning English and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Click here for details:
