Teachers and learners of Laudium Heights Primary School celebrated ‘World Read Aloud Day’ in style, last Thursday, February 1, by wearing various comic costumes to encourage all learners in their school to read more.
Learning support educator, Helen Kruger, from the Tshwane South District, who was in attendance, told the Laudium Sun, that according to departmental stats, 8 out of 10 grade 4 pupils in South Africa still cannot read at an appropriate level, for their age.
She added that South Africa was disappointingly placed last in a survey conducted with 50 countries, when it came to reading literacy. "This really paints a bleak picture of an actual reality in South Africa. I am therefore urging all parents to assist us with our reading initiatives by encouraging their little ones to be a part of it," she added.
Helen explained that every year, on ‘World Read Aloud Day’ people all around the globe read together and share stories to advocate literacy, which is believed to be a human right that belongs to all. "This year we have decided to get even more involved in this initiative.
"‘World Read Aloud Day’ is celebrated on February 1 and during the build-up and closing of this event, every child will go home with a story printed on orange paper. All parents need to do is listen attentively. Afterwards they can be creative.
The child can answer questions, draw a picture, act out of the story or make something related to the story. Once you have seen how excited your child is, this initiative can become a daily or weekly activity. In this way we can try our best to ensure that our children become better readers which would then lead to better learners," Kruger concluded enthusiastically.
The Grade 7 learners with teacher, Nabeela Ahmod (Snow White).
Caption Grade 4, 5 & 6 learners with teacher, Shamiela Bahadur. Notable characters in this play are teachers (right) Sadia Vanjaria (Pocahontas), Faiza Majiet (Red Riding Hood) and Faryle Mohamed (Mad Hatter).