8 Dubai schools sign up for Reading Dogs
DRIVE AIMS TO RAISE CHILDREN’S CONFIDENCE TO READ ALOUD
new programme, launched in Dubai in September, is encouraging the culture of books among children by reading to dogs.
Eight Dubai schools have signed up for the ‘Reading Dogs’ programme, with the aim of raising the confidence of children who might otherwise be nervous when reading aloud.
“There are a number of emotional and social benefits of reading to a dog rather than out loud to classmates or a teacher. Studies have shown that many children feel reading aloud becomes less difficult because the children do not feel they are being judged if they mispronounce a word,” Louise Dawe, operations director, Reading Dogs UAE, told Gulf News.
She pointed out that studies have also shown that reading fluency has increased up to 30 per cent in children after participating in Reading Dogs sessions.
Trained dogs of all breeds and sizes have been carefully selected to go in to schools to be ‘read to’ by children in small, supervised groups.
“We have a maximum of 12 children per reading dog session and one dog. The sessions are 20 minutes long, so keeping the groups to this size allows time for all the children to read,” said Dawe.
All dogs have passed a full assessment with the dog trainer in order to qualify as a reading dog, and are accompanied by their owners in all the sessions, with other staff members from the Reading Dogs team also present at the sessions.
The programme was launched by Karalynn Thomson, founder of The Animal Agency, the UAE’s only professional animal talent agency. Thomson, who had owned dogs all her life, was inspired to start the scheme after hearing about the success of similar programmes in the USA and the UK.
When 2016 was named the UAE Year of Reading, Thomson felt it was the ideal time to begin the process of setting up her own educational programme, and has since partnered with Careem and Dawe to make Reading Dogs a reality. “Not only do the dogs help children relax, they also help them try that little bit harder, and most importantly, have fun,” said Thomson.