book reading tips & tools for culturally & linguistically diverse families. Mr Potato head shows the way!

Introducing Nisrine El Choueifati!
I am a speech pathologist who has worked with Diversity Kids and with children and families  in Sydney, Australia, and, as a tri-lingual child, I was able to enjoy stories in French, Arabic and English.

The limiting rules of book reading:
As a new children’s author and a speech therapist working with children, families, and educators, I have often observed that adults often consider two main ways for children to join in with story time by “listening” or “responding”. I have observed that adults often have rules that children should keep their hands and bodies still, eyes on the page, no talking to ensure they are “listening” to a story.
These rules can exclude many children from connecting, understanding, enjoying and learning language from books, including children who:

• don’t understand just listening, but need to hold objects, use their hands and connect the book to real life experiences;
• listen when they move;
• are learning a new language and can’t speak the language of the preschool environment and have another language to share;
• have vision and hearing problems;
• have limited interests and who find it hard to interact and engage with adults and children.

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Mr Potato Head providing bright opportunities to engage and involve all children in book- reading.

Mr Potato Head recently inspired me to think and consider how we can engage and include the whole body in book reading to include all children by:

• Acting and moving
• Touching and playing
• Seeing and understanding
• Hearing and understanding
• Connecting and loving
• Speaking and saying

My commitment to supporting the participation and communication skills of all children inspired me to develop the information sheet from many years of problem solving and responding to the needs of different learners and communicators.
It was wonderful to partner with Diversity Kids to support in translating this Information Sheet sheet in several languages including Arabic, Nepalese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese.
This information is supported by Diversity Kids as I am pleased to work with them in their commitment to  to enable true inclusion of all children within early childhood settings.
Check out the Diversity Kids website for copies of these translated information sheets, and feel free to download to share with your Educators & families. 

​“I have a magic ball”- Nisrine’s vision to engage the whole body in book reading
I have always believed that when children enjoy interactions with books, they will be motivated to learn language. The vision behind I Have a Magic Ball was that it could be read with groups of children and with children who may not engage with books just by sitting and listening. I wanted to create a story that comes to life, allows children to imagine and interact by throwing, catching and passing a ball while they read this story. Check out my website at www.nisrineelchoueifati.com to purchase the book or find out more.

CLICK ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD TRANSLATED INFORMATION FLYERS