Why Dual Language Programs at the Chicago Children’s Museum?
Alexandra Pafilis and Liz Rosu-Rosenberg
As a Lead Arts Educator and Developer at Chicago Children’s Museum I want to ensure that my visitors bring their most comfortable selves into our museum. One way we do this at our museum is through translating exhibit signage thoughtfully throughout the museum, but I admit I did not always translate text in our program spaces. We also know we have a large population of Latinx families in Chicago and as stated in the comic, it’s a predominant language used all around the world! It also strengthens our abilities to teach families intergenerationally.
Personally, I’ve seen language challenges firsthand. My husband is from Romania and his family would try to avoid speaking Romanian around me because it was perceived as “rude.” These courtesies carry over into all spaces, even museums. I’ve spoken to other multilingual friends and guests and they have stated the pressure they feel in public spaces to only speak English. Our cues as museum workers and programmers can help dispel this!
To make museums a more inviting and safe place we have to find ways to communicate that we wish to serve all audiences, no matter what language they speak at home, as who they are. The American Alliance of Museums’ Latino Network (2013) report echos this:
There are practical and symbolic reasons. Studies have found that the presence of bilingual materials has multiple impacts on visitors. On an emotional level, they make visitors feel more comfortable, more valued, and they can change how visitors feel about the institution they are visiting. On a practical level, they help visitors access content in their preferred language, help those who are learning a language, and help adults facilitate museum experiences for their children.” (Aldaba et al., p.50)
When my colleague Alex Pafilis, Director of Early Learning and DEAI Chair at the Chicago Children’s Museum, and I started creating our virtual programming during the pandemic we first explored what other programs were out there. She found that while some museums were offering Spanish virtual programs or recordings, they were either a completely different program than what the English Speaking families were receiving or, offered as an afterthought in the form of a “translated” video. I did find one video at a children’s museum that was in Hindi and English with an activity that reflected the language, but unfortunately I have yet to be able to find it again. This truly sparked our idea to create a bi-lingual program translated in both Spanish and English. There are many schools that are set up in this manner and in-person programs at some museums, but we did not find many virtual examples.
As a lead Art Educator, I wished to use drawing as our theme to guide us through the bi-lingual program conversations. Alex and I led a drawing challenge where you close your eyes and do a drawing from memory– our topic was breakfast! Then we both looked at each other’s drawings and had a conversation. So, visual language reinforced our verbal language.
As listed in “The 2013 report Bilingual Exhibit Research Initiative” we know creating thoughtful dual language programs increases access, an emotional experience that makes guests feel more comfortable and “connected to culture. Participants reported that bilingual text gave them an opportunity to reconnect with their culture. For many Latinos, language is intrinsically linked to their identity” (p. 51–52).
Also as a Children’s Museum, we want to serve entire families therefore we wanted our program to be inter-generational. We know that bike programs are not as strong when only the children are offered a bike, but flourish when the parents are also provided a bike. We don’t speak only to children but to their caregivers as well. In our virtual programs we have always encouraged adults to participate so again, having both languages makes it more accessible to all! Findings from a report from The Latino Network of Museums (2013) state that some families may not have any tradition of going to museums, to begin with, and a child may not visit a museum if their caregiver does not like going, whether it be parent, cousin, or grandparent. In my experience, museums are such a comforting and enjoyable place for me that visiting them is a part of my personal culture. How do we introduce and facilitate this experience to others to whom it may be foreign?
My entire teaching practice has transformed due to my experience practicing, creating, and designing a dual language virtual program with Alex. I’m so grateful to Alex for sharing her first-hand experience coming to the US in her early 20s, learning English, and how it felt entering new spaces. To this day she still observes whether or not a museum has easy access to translated signage. It shook me out of my self-centered fear of disrespecting families by not being “perfect” at communicating in languages not native to me. I have had much richer conversations with families from around the world than I have in the past. I used to shy away when a caregiver said “sorry, we don’t speak English.” Now I take the moment to listen and find a way to communicate. I recently met a family who was from Catalonia and I spoke Spanish with their toddler who only spoke Catalan and we played with words back and forth. She pretended to cook me food and I pretended to eat. Such connections would have been inhibited by my invisible boundaries around language before the pandemic.
We wish to create more dual language programming, and we will, but as others have experienced we have been a bit distracted by the pandemic as we were closed for over a year. We had to say goodbye to beloved staff, and completely reorganize how we do things. A bright spot was getting the opportunity to develop this program and deeply reflect on how we are serving all families in Chicago and beyond.
If you would like to try this type of programming, I’d suggest having an extra person on hand virtually to manage the virtual room. We also found value in letting children be on camera so you might want to make sure they know how to give them permission to access the camera: Practice, practice, practice! Make sure you and your co-host practice conversing in both languages; a lot of our success came from the genuine fun and natural feel of the way we spoke back and forth. We met for half an hour slots of time to practice the flow of talking back and forth. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to make mistakes!
Liz Rosu-Rosenberg (she/her/hers)
Liz is the Lead Art Educator and Developer at Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM) and was the Digital Content Composer during the museum’s Covid-19 related closure. Liz has worked at CCM since 2009 in capacities including illustration, concept design, and exhibit development. Previously, Liz was a Middle School and High School Art Teacher for 5 years in Chicago Public Schools. Outside of the museum, Liz creates comics and is working on a graphic novel based on her experiences growing up with Learning Disabilities.
Alexandra Pafilis (she/her/ella)
Alexandra is the Director of Early Childhood and Strategy Lead of DEAI Initiatives at the Chicago Children’s Museum. She’s an anti-bias anti-racist educator, content developer, consultant, and advocate for play equity. Her work centers and values the lives of BIPOC and ALAANA children and families to support healthy identity development. With over 25 years of experience in the field, she leads the development, implementation and evaluation of experiences offered to young children and their caregivers. Grounded in culturally responsive and culturally sustainable pedagogy, with a strong foundation in progressive education, particularly influenced by principles and practices of the Reggio Emilia Inspired Approach to Early Childhood Education. She oversees her museum’s equity and social justice efforts to define, understand, and promote equity to eliminate opportunity gaps and systemically interrupt institutional bias. Along with a team of colleagues, she’s charged with optimizing the museum’s DEAI efforts in all aspects of museum life. A bilingual educator of Puerto Rican and Greek heritage, Pafilis is a skilled relationship builder, developing and nurturing partnerships and collaborations locally and nationwide. She’s co-chair of the Program Committee for the Association of Children’s Museums, the world’s foremost professional society supporting and advocating on behalf of children’s museums.
References
Aldaba, A., Espinosa, N., Munn, D. X., Sandino, M., & Reyes, S. (2013). Strategies for Engaging and Representing Latinos in Museums. American Alliance of Museums. https://www.aam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AAMLN-Strategies-for-Engaging-and-Representing-Latinos-in-Museums.pdf
Robledo-Allen Yamamoto, A.(2021). Dime Que Me Ves: Facilitating Bilingual Programs for The Community. Museum Education Roundtable. https://www.museumedu.org/dime-que-me-ves-facilitating-bilingual-programs-for-the-community/
Yalowitz, Steve, Cecilia Garibay, Nan Renner, Carlos Plaza. Bilingual Exhibit Research Initiative: Institutional and Intergenerational Experiences with Bilingual Exhibitions (BERI Report), 2013. https:// www.informalscience.org/ sites/default/files/2013–10–01_ BERI_Research_report_Final_ Sep_2013.pdf
Endnotes
Alt Text for Illustrations are listed below:
Panel 1. TItle: Dual Language Programs lets make it happen Ahora! 2 women have their arms around each other. One says “Hey Ya’ll” The other says “¡Hola Mi Gente!”
Panel 2: Text Box: Alex Pafilis is my museum colleague y mi amiga. Alex in a computer screen says “We want translations to be equal in size & side by side!” and “It’s about feeling welcome and safe to be you.” A woman with Purple hair looks in awe at the computer screen.
Panel 3:Text Box: A Fact she taught me. Purple haired woman head is exploding says “Did you know Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world!”
Panel 4: Text Box: So we decided to team up to create a virtual program designed for 2 languages. Both women are in computer talking to viewers and each other. Purple haired woman says “I drew oranges for breakfast” Alex says “ Oh! ¡Se Ve deliciosa Y dibije panqueques!
Panel 5: Purple haired woman says “Now lets draw our fave dinner food using a pen!” Alex responds “¿Puedo usar un lápiz? Purple haired woman responds “Definitely!” Text Box: It was designed for BOTH languages not just English or a translated program.
Panel 6: Text Box: Participants loved it! Group chat shows a participant saying “We speak Italian, Spanish & English at home!” and another saying “My family also speaks Arabic!” Purple haired woman responds “Wow! So so many languages!”
Panel 7: Text Box: We will bring back our Dual Langauge Program but por ahora…Picture of playlist with international children’s music shows a young boy with tan skin and curly hair counting with purple haired woman in Spanish.
Panel 8: Text box: The Pandemic has been rough but the shut down allowed us to reflect & to do more for ALL our guests! Picture of purple haired woman and Alex high fiving and smiling.
