Bildergalerie

There is much to discover in the world of books: whether it’s stories about pirates, princesses or knights – children who listen to a story embark on a journey of the imagination while at the same time training their power of concentration and becoming acquainted with a language and its possibilities of expressions. However, children with a migration background are often barred from this world of learning as a result of deficits in the national language of their country of residence. Starting in October of this year, six Munich district libraries will be launching a new program to put things right: “BilderBuchZeit mit KIKUS“ (StoryBookTime with KIKUS) invites multilingual children between the ages of four and six to come by every two weeks for an hour and playfully develop their language skills by fairytale readings, singing, painting, talking and of course have a lot of fun.

The Siemens Stiftung has embarked on a cooperation with the Munich Municipal Library and the initiative Lesefüchse e.V. to better support this project. The biggest regional reading initiative, Lesefüchse e.V., has been conducting fairy tale readings in many Munich district libraries since as early as 2003. For the project “BilderBuchZeit mit KIKUS“ (StoryBookTime with KIKUS), the volunteer readers even took special additional training classes: in a two-day basic seminar funded by the Siemens Stiftung they were given the opportunity to get acquainted with the KIKUS language acquisition method. KIKUS (Kinder in Kulturen und Sprachen – Children in Cultures and Languages) was developed by the Zentrum für Kindliche Mehrsprachigkeit e.V. (ZKM - Center for Multilingualism in Children) specifically for the requirements of early language development in child daycare facilities and preschools. The Siemens Stiftung and ZKM have for some time been collaborating on the propagation of this language teaching method. For the district libraries, the language acquisition concept was adapted specifically to the requirements of an open offer. That way, even children visiting the libraries in the afternoon will be given the opportunity to playfully acquire the German language with storybooks and KIKUS. With their project, the Siemens Stiftung and ZKM have gotten one important step closer to their common goal: to support as many children as possible as early as possible.

Click here to find out more about the work of ZKM

Click here to find out more about the commitment of Lesefüchse e.V.

Click here to find out more about what the Munich Municipal Library has to offer