Languages of Philadelphia: Slovak

Parkway Central Library is hosting a bilingual Slovak family storytime on Saturday, October 24, at 2 PM. It's part of the library's Languages of Philadelphia series, which brings together stories and songs in different languages from across the city. This particular session is for children aged 6 and under and their caregivers, so it's a morning—or in this case, early afternoon—out for the little ones.

If you're not familiar with the series, it's one of the ways the Free Library of Philadelphia handles its language-learning programming. The Languages of Philadelphia storytimes run in several different languages, each one giving families a chance to hear and play with a language they might not encounter every day. It's a bilingual format, so you'll hear both Slovak and English, which makes it accessible whether you're already connected to the Slovak community or just curious about the language.

To give you a sense of the scale, this is just one small part of what the Free Library does. They run more than 28,000 programs for all ages every year, and the Languages of Philadelphia series is one of their ongoing efforts to bring different cultures and languages into the library's public spaces. It's a low-pressure way to introduce kids to a new language through stories and songs, and it's designed for caregivers to participate right alongside them.

You'll find it in the Children's Department on the ground floor, in Room 22 of the Parkway Central Library, located at 1901 Vine Street, between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway in Philadelphia. The storytime starts at 2 PM on Saturday, October 24.