A Sylmar bookstore offers bilingual reading sessions for kids on Instagram

Tia Chucha's bookstore is filled with books in English and Spanish, so they wanted to continue their efforts toward literacy using Instagram Live with their new initiative Lil' Readers.

Monday, April 27, 2020
Bilingual reading sessions for kids on Instagram
Tia Chucha's bookstore is filled with books in English and Spanish, so they wanted to continue their efforts toward literacy using Instagram Live with their new initiative Lil' Readers.

SYLMAR, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural is one of the many local businesses that has changed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The cultural center's bookstore is filled with books in English and Spanish, so they wanted to continue their efforts toward literacy using Instagram live with their new initiative Lil' Readers.

Rosalilia Mendoza, the bookstore manager, is a new mom with a baby boy named Emiliano. Mendoza said he loves to read as much as she does.

"He's turning 5 months next week so he's the one that inspired the Lil Readers...and I'm reading books to him and he loves it," Mendoza said.

Lil Readers is Tia Chucha's way of getting children excited about reading during this time by reading books on Instagram live in both Spanish and English.

"We have been hearing a lot that there's not a lot of bilingual programs right now with English and Spanish so I thought we have a lot of books, bilingual books let's share it, let's share our favorite stories," Mendoza said.

If you're interested in having your children listen in, go to Instagram then find @tiachuchas at 12pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"Thankfully we've been able to move pretty quickly and get a lot of our inventory online, so people that purchase through our website just know that that goes back to support the space and to help us keep going," said Michael Centeno, Executive Director at Tia Chucha's.

If you see a book during the Lil Readers Instagram live that you are interested in having at home then click here for their bookstore.

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