Parent-Child Mother Goose Program
a success by any measure
(Excerpted from article in the Vancouver Sun,
Wednesday, September 24, 2008)
By Karen Gram, the Vancouver Sun
The patrons pushing through the doors of Burnaby's Metrotown library on Friday mornings don't come for books. They don't want newspapers or computers either. What these parents and grandparents want is something that takes place kind of loudly for a library. All new immigrants from China, they show up like clockwork for a program that teaches them songs, nursery rhymes and oral storytelling so they can go home and singsong them again to their children. Most of the parents can't yet read in English and can't afford to buy many toys, so the program relies strictly on the spoken word. As such, it teaches the parents new ways to interact with their children one-on-one. The program is called Parent-Child Mother Goose, but it has been modified by S.U.C.C.E.S.S., an immigrant services agency, to suit three immigrant groups- Chinese, Korean and Farsi. Eighteen 10-week programs for parents or caregivers and their children 18 months to five years run in venues all around Metro Vancouver. The program was launched in 2005 thanks to the financial support of Raise-a-Reader, Canwest-Global's literacy charity. Susanna Ma, a facilitator with the program who emigrated from Hong Kong herself, says nursery rhymes and stories help develop the language skills of both children and parents. The program teaches the rhymes in English, but explains them in the group's first language. It tells common children's stories, like the Three Little Pigs, in both English and the first language and encourages the parents to use their first language to retell it. In so doing, it honours both languages. “Because we don't use any props or books, the parents pick up our words and it helps them to memorize the stories and sing the songs with their kids,” says Ma. The songs and rhymes come from Mother Goose, so the toddlers will encounter them again and again as they grow in Canada. But because they learn them as babies and toddlers from their own parents and caregivers, it enhances the bond between them, says MA. Parents also learn to use the songs and rhymes to calm cranky children or to help them fall asleep. A happy by-product of the program is that new immigrants meet and become a support for each other.