WorldStories is a website created by KIDsOut. It has free storybooks for children in a large number of the languages (currently 31 different languages), spoken by children in the UK. It is a set of interactive, illustrated stories shared in many different languages. The stories give all children, no matter what their first language may be, the opportunity to read, enjoy and understand the same stories as the rest of the children in school.
“WorldStories is a growing collection of traditional and original stories from around the world shared in the languages most commonly spoken by children in the UK. Currently, one child in every seven in the UK has a first language that is not English. Children often struggle to learn in an unfamiliar language and environment.” (WorldStories)
The books are presented with two different fonts. The first I would describe as having child friendly letters, the round a, plain g etc. The second is the more adult style font with the curly a and gs. Children can alter the size of the font presentation from about the usual 12 points to very large, just like some paper books. Children can also choose a different background colour and if they need high contrast, or for some reason, black on white does not suit them, it is easily adjusted.
On the front page of the site, there are selected stories and above the selections, there is a row of photographs of children who have reviewed the books they have just read – they also inform the reader how the story was used in their class:
“I read bits of Adam i Smoczy Skarb (Adam and the Dragon’s Treasure) to my class. It’s a story from Poland and that’s where I’m from. It was good to be able to talk to the other children about Poland and even teach them some words in Polish. Before that, I don’t think anyone really knew much about my country but now they do.” (Jakub)
