Somali Lullabies Project Preserves Language & Culture, Provides Educational Training Tools

In her Minnesota Somali community, author and educator Marian Hassan has long been a proponent of oral language preservation: She has interviewed Somali grandmothers and led sharing circles to hear the grandmothers’ stories and lullabies. But she was becoming aware of a growing problem: Somali children in Minnesota were rapidly losing their home language, and Somali elders—the keepers of the language and culture—were aging. Since the Somali language is largely an oral one, Hassan was determined to capture the elders’ songs, voices, and life stories to help young Somali Minnesotans reconnect with their home language and preserve the oral culture for future Somali Minnesotans.

“Losing the home language can make everything harder for young people, for adults. It has the capacity to affect children’s thinking, emotions, and family connections.” –Marian Hassan, Minnesota educator and Sing Again project lead

In fall 2024, she was awarded a Minnesota Legacy Cultural Heritage Grant, which supported her project, Sing Again, a first-of-its kind bilingual Somali lullaby book and playlist of the lullabies as recorded from the grandmothers. Sing Again then began a collaboration with Martha Bigelow, a faculty member in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. The partnership with the University under Bigelow’s vision and leadership allows the use of the collected material in different learning settings and the use of lullabies to support biliteracy in the most critical years of language acquisition. Over the summer, Sing Again also benefitted from the work of Mohammad Naghavian, a PhD student in the Multilingual Education Program and research assistant, whose involvement was made possible by the University’s Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA).

Hassan brought her experience with sharing circles to interviews with 61 grandmothers, during which she recorded their stories and lullabies. Next, she transcribed the lullabies and created a bilingual manuscript of the songs. Her team then reviewed the manuscript for content and accessibility.

Not only has Sing Again begun to preserve Somali lullabies, it’s also providing material for language learning, teaching, research, and cultural engagement. Hassan, Bigelow, and Naghavian worked with educators, storytellers, and community members to design training tools aligned with the Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIP). The training tools—designed for educators without formal language-teaching training—enable language education based on the recorded stories and lullabies. For example, in one activity, educators play children a Somali lullaby, ask them to compare it to an English language lullaby like Rock-a-bye Baby, discuss bedtime routines at home, locate Somalia and the U.S. on a map, and talk about love and comfort across cultures.

The Sing Again project is ongoing and continues to evolve with educator and community feedback and research. Learn more about the Sing Again project by viewing CARLA’s webinar featuring Hassan, Bigelow, and Naghavian.