" On Saturday, February 14th 2009 we had Mrs. Uschi Erlewein as story teller in our library. She told the kids some American Indian stories with Coyote as the main feature. Upon our request she told the stories both in German and English. It was interesting because she was able to switch skilfully between German and English in a way that bilingual kids were able to understand her and follow up the stories.

In the last two years our Library had started a series of events for children between 3 and 6. It is called “Kids in Wonderland” and it contains children program in form of story telling, theatres, puppet shows and concerts. This series which take place almost every two weeks, is bilingual and the participants are Germans as well as Non-Germans.

The world is changing and the now emerging New World is very different than the Old World: Many families have to wonder from one place to another place, from one country to another and they have to take their children while on move. The world is becoming more colorfull, the future world is more hybrid. Nowadays more and more children are raised between two cultures and English is used as the main language for communication. Bilinguality is on the march! Children learn this language very easily as they are very young, and it would remain in their mind as they grow up. 

We wish Mrs. Erlewein more success in her bilingual children programs. "

With best regards,

Dr. Mehdy Naficy

Library director

Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Sofienstr. 12, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany