Listening to Stories Over the Phone

Listen to Stories Over the Phone

Hi Everyone,

How is your school year going? For me it has been a crazy seven weeks of starting my doctorate, finalizing my first research study as an actual doctoral student, and of course, trying to squeeze in as much reading as humanly possible at the same time. If you and your child are like me with a busy schedule and a veracious appetite for the written word, you already know how valuable audio books can be, particularly when students cannot see print. It’s not always feasible to read Braille or print 100% of the time for anyone, regardless of vision, but it is usually possible to listen to an audio book while multi-tasking. You and I listen on our commutes, while cooking and cleaning, or during any number of other activities. Your child might play with toys while an audio book is playing, perhaps making believe that the toys fit into the world of the story.

There are a number of reputable sources for obtaining audio written material. Some time ago, I highlighted the Colorado Talking Book Library and many mainstream sources of audio books are also available. What may come as a surprise however is that your phone (yes, the actual phone part of your phone, not an app in this case) can give your child an additional opportunity to hear stories. Phone-A-Story is a free service offered by the Denver Public Library system which anyone can utilize.

Phone-A-Story offers audio listening experiences for children in all the elementary grades from preschool through fifth grade. They also make rhymes and songs available in each language which has stories available. Stories, songs, and rhymes are offered in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Amharic. This diversity of language allows you and your child to have choices about how you listen to stories, and can reinforce multilingual literacy, whether you speak more than one language at home already or just want to introduce your family to a new language you don’t quite know yet.

I recently received an email newsletter from the Denver Public Library which informed me for the first time that there is a similar service that the library provides for adults.

Stories are changed every week, and my own childhood experiences with Phone-A-Story convince me that they are always interesting. Reach this amazing service at: 720-865-8500. Happy reading!

Best,

Emily

Emily Romero was born in Denver, CO in 1995 and attended Anchor Center from 1996—2000 and an Anchor Center contributor. She received a B.A. in Spanish along with a B.S. in psychology in 2018 and an M.A. in applied psychology and creative writing in 2020 from Regis University, and is currently working on her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. She acts as a Spanish instructor for five private students as well as freelance writing. Emily Romero enjoys reading (especially science and historical fiction), creative writing, playing board games, cooking, and trivia. She lives in Northglenn, CO with her parents, sister, grandmother, two crazy dogs and two sneaky cats. Find her on Linked In.

Read Emily’s other posts: Learning During Uncertain Times: Remote Resources for You Highlighting the Colorado Talking Book Library and the BARD Mobile App, Braille in Spanish and and Screens Aren’t Just Visual.