Imagine this: you’re a 7-year old, in Grade 2, sitting in a classroom surrounded by 39 of your classmates. Although the teacher is trying hard to control everyone, there’s a constant buzz, and because you’re always curious and easily distracted, you find it difficult to follow the lesson on reading that she’s presenting. You don’t have books at home because your parents don’t read and books are expensive, so you’re not too sure about this reading thing.
Unfortunately such stories are a little too prevalent and sadly, a lack of reading skills is detrimental to a child’s development. Studies have shown that children with below grade-level reading abilities who don’t have positive role models in their lives are more likely to develop aggressive anti-social behaviour. Such behaviour then increases the likelihood of dropping out of school at a later stage and in adulthood, unstable work patterns and low job skills (Maugh, Gray and Rutter: 1995, cited on Ripple Reading’s website).
According to a report titled “The Joy and Power of Reading”, released by educational publishing house Scholastic, “reading provides us with a cognitive workout that transcends not only our inherent abstract problem-solving abilities, but also our levels of education. Reading makes us smart.” Now this is not to say that those who don’t read aren’t smart – not at all. Reading does however, enable a child to exercise certain capacities from an early age. If a child enjoys reading, these skills can be acquired with minimal effort.
In addition to acquiring cognitive skills, the Scholastic report confirms that “reading also educates the imagination “… kindling the spirit of creativity in every human heart” (Jago, 2010). And reading fiction, in particular, expands the heart, making us compassionate (Oatley, 2014).”
Enter Ripple Reading, an NGO that provides already-overburdened teachers with support in addressing literacy problems of learners that require extra help. Ripple Reading helps learners get to a literacy level where they are empowered to perform to their full potential. This is done by providing remedial intervention to small groups of learners, with the focus being on the learners’ individual strengths. In addition to focusing on the improvement of literacy skills, motivation and development of self-confidence is also emphasised.
We’re excited to be partnering with Ripple Reading and look forward to bringing telling you more about what they do. Click here to visit the project page.
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