By Margaret Smit; Edited by Leanna Cappiello
1 tablespoon of play,
2 heaps of therapy,
A sprinkle of one-on-one attention,
Mix it all together, and you have a reading program fit for fun, diverse reading skills.
Pella Primary School in Atlantis launched a reading project with the help of World Vision. The event attended by many children, parents and teachers, all of whom participated in reading workshops.
What they learned was clear: a good education begins at home.
The reading program is called Word4Word. Its purpose? Attentiveness to every child’s reading needs. The best part is, this project doesn’t stand still or wait for kids to go to school, the program moves toward the kids, meeting them in their own homes as well.
Word4Word goes one step beyond educational reading assistance–it aims to create a culture of reading. With this approach, kid and adults are empowered and skills are learned, giving their confidence in reading a boost.
A popular South African actress and World Vision Ambassador, Milan Murray, lead a workshop about the importance of reading to children. She also read aloud to the children from a storybook during the launch.
Become an Ambassador like Milan Murray and use your voice to bring change to children in need.
The ongoing challenge is that some parents cannot read, and so reading to their children is not an option for them. To address this reality, Word4Word brings workshops to teach parents about oral tradition (storytelling aloud) accompanied with techniques to try at home with their kids.