Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network 

Show Name: Beyond a Bedtime Story

Episode Title: “Being Bicultural” Discussion & Book Review

Episode #7

You are listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story the podcast with your host Emily.

In this episode of Beyond a Bedtime Story the Podcast I will discuss my experiences growing up in a bicultural family, review the multilingual alphabet book A is for Bee by Ellen Heck, and explain how my bicultural identity has impacted decisions as an author. 

Segment 1: Bilingual? Barely 

Hi, Welcome back, I’m your host Emily, and you’re listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story: A Parent’s Guide to Children’s Reading! With this episode you’ll be one step closer to taking your bedtime stories to the next level, so let’s get into it! 

Today, my podcast is inspired by my childhood, growing up in a bicultural family as a Colombian American. 

My mom immigrated here from Colombia when she was 10. My dad is white and has always lived in NJ. 

• Wasn’t taught language as a child
• Stuck in the shower story 
• Having my hispanicness be questioned 
• Growing into my identity: spanish linguistics, work, understanding fluently  

Segment 2: Book review  

• Book = A is for Bee by Ellen Heck 

Alright, I’m back and ready to dive in! Now, instead of referring to specific page numbers, I’ll be identifying page numbers by letter, as this is an alphabet book. So, as always, if you have the book, definitely feel free to follow along

I don’t have a rigid set of strategies for this book as I feel the content’s importance speaks for itself. 

• Goals: 
• Introducing your child to the idea of a global world: languages, cultures 
• Expanding their viewpoint to include languages they’re not familiar with, are not regularly exposed to
• Increase engagement by looking out for words embedded in illustrations

Segment 3: The Dreams of a Bicultural, Debut Author 

• Discussion of my own writing process: attempt to include bicultural characters + images 
• Realizing that as an author I have the opportunity to present the stories that I was missing growing up 
• Normalizing being bicultural in everyday life and seeing culturally significant objects 
• Done so by providing a twist on an alphabet book

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch the next episode!

Get reading and remember: you are never too old to love picture books!

Music Credits:  

• Lawrence by TrackTribe
• Palace of Roses by Aakash Gandhi
• The Urban Groove by Hanu

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