WHERE TO FIND BOOKS

our nation’s parents lack the confidence, know-how, time or will to read to their children.

They should find it, fast. South African education is in trouble. More than half our scholars will drop out of school before they reach matric. A whopping 92 percent of state schools lack a functional library, according to activist group Equal Education. And South African students are performing very badly in international benchmark tests: “The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study scores from 2011 revealed that South African Grade 5 students scored on average 80 points below the 500 point international average for Grade 4 learners. This is an international test in which 49 countries participate,” reports Melissa Jane Cook in the Mail & Guardian newspaper (18 November 2013). A 2013 report again showed South African students lagging behind international peers.

Although our education policy dictates that children should have the option of being taught in their mother tongue at least for the foundation phase of schooling (Grades 1 to 3), chances are in an urban government school your child will be taught in English. So having to learn to read in a foreign language is an extra stumbling block many school starters face.

The US literacy organisation Reading Is Fundamental (Rif.org) says the “single most significant predictor of children’s literacy is their mother’s literacy level. The more education a mother has, the more likely she is to read to a child.” If you want your child to become better educated than you are, you must overcome any resistance you may have to reading to him. The good news is that you – yes, you – can raise a reader, regardless of whether you completed your own schooling, or your level of education. Despite an increasingly shambolic education system, with a bit of initiative and the help of NGOS and libraries you can expose your child to books and reading wherever you are in the country.

Marian Bailey, a remedial therapist and owner of literacy workshop consultancy Raising Readers (www.raisingreaders. co.za) says, “Reading is the foundation of all future learning. Learning to read is a journey that starts at birth, not in Grade 1. The more a child is read to, the more they will become a reader.” She says given good enough instruction, any child will eventually learn to read. But becoming an avid reader is a different story altogether: “Teachers teach reading – but parents can raise readers, something that goes far beyond the mechanics of learning to read.”

“A child is learning to read the moment he hears language, notices things around him, starts looking at books and so on. Reading is a multi-layered process that involves many elements, not all taught in the classroom,” says Marian. So how to start?

In her talk Nappies to Novels, which is aimed at parents of the birth to three years age group, Marian speaks about laying the foundations of reading well before your child reaches schoolgoing age. She lists the so-called Four Ls – Love, Language, Listening, and Letters – as the four keys that will unlock the reader in your child. To the under-three crowd, love, language and listening are the crucial keys; overfours will start to think about knowing and drawing shapes, the precursors to reading letters (and numbers).

Love is developed, says Marian, very simply by reading to your child every day for 20 minutes. “Share a book with your child; it provides downtime for an overstimulated child, and it is a powerful emotional connector so it helps your child form a very strong positive association with a book.”

The second key, language, is developed Children are drawn to your stories because they crave your time and attention. You have demonstrated that you have given up time for them, and that you value the activity. Your voice is engaging. “You are your child’s best storyteller,” says Marian. “So be irresistible. Put your heart into acting out and using the best voice you can.” If you feel shy, remember that everybody has a story, and yours is fascinating to your children. Go oral – especially if you don’t feel comfortable in your reading. Tell your children stories from your childhood, parts of your history, or stories you remember having heard as a child. “Remember that the oral tradition is the way humanity preserved our history before we could write,” says Marian. YB