LIDA Stories Canada

Frequently asked questions

What makes LIDA Stories Canada unique?

LIDA Stories Canada is unique in that it offers stories in a large number of languages with both text and audio. The audio recordings help people to learn to read because they connect sound to symbol. The website also allows users to toggle between two languages so readers can easily see the translation one page at a time.

How can teachers use LIDA Stories Canada to improve reading fluency?

The only limit is your imagination! For example, teachers can assign stories that all students can read regardless of their reading ability or primary language. LIDA Stories Canada offers stories in both text and audio format so students can listen and read simultaneously, and/or toggle between two languages. One story can be used for as many languages as are present in a given classroom.

Can more stories be added to LIDA Stories Canada?

LIDA Stories Canada is designed to be a carefully curated collection of 30 stories with text and audio. Other websites, like Global Storybooks, African Storybook, and Storyweaver offer multilingual stories for children. If you already have or wish to write and illustrate a new collection of stories, we may be able to assist with making a new website if you contact us.

Can I reuse the content on LIDA Stories Canada for other purposes?

LIDA Stories Canada is an open source project, and all content on this site has been released under an open license. The story texts and images are openly licensed (either CC BY or CC BY-NC-SA — see the information provided on each story page for details), which allows them to be freely reused under the terms of the individual licences.

Are the stories on this site translated by a machine?

No, there has been no machine translation involved in preparing the material for this site. All of the stories on LIDA Stories Canada have been translated individually by human translators from around the world. The translations are then carefully proofread and edited by multiple speakers of the respective languages before being audio recorded and added to our main Change language dropdown menu.