DAPHNE, Ala. — Children can learn Spanish during a new program at Daphne Public Library. Spanish story time will be the second Monday of each month from 10:30 to 11 a.m. for preschool and the fourth Tuesday of each month from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. for older children.

The program includes children’s activities, music and story time in Spanish, Veronica Scarbrough, Spanish story time director, said.

“I like music and movement,” Scarbrough said. “I get them up and moving.”

She said that preschoolers use blocks and cards to learn numbers and colors in Spanish. They also listen as she reads familiar stories in Spanish.

“It helps to familiarize them with the words,” she said.

“I use the ‘whole language approach,’” she said. “I let them see the whole picture first and then I break it into pieces.”

For school-age children Scarbrough uses games to teach Spanish terms for anatomy, she said.

She lets them hear songs by native speakers to emphasize pronunciation.

“In our brains, you lose the ability to reproduce sound if you don’t use that form of speech. That’s why adults that learn a new language keep their accents.”

The program is beneficial because many people go to college and have to take a second language, Tonja Young, library director, said.

“Also, we thought it would be nice for patrons with Hispanic heritage (to have access to this program for their children),” Young said.

“Spanish is a global language and the hispanic population is growing,” Cathy Chandler, children’s librarian, said. “Kids are like sponges when they’re young; it’s a great time to introduce them to a second language.”

Scarbrough grew up in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Both her parents are bilingual and she is a certified teacher for elementary bilingual classes in Texas. She taught English to Spanish-speaking students there.

The Spanish story time focuses on greetings every meeting and adds something new to each class, Scarbrough said.

“I just have fun with them,” Scarbrough said. “Parents can come and have fun and soak up some vocabulary with their children.”