After the success of READ's Red Reading Box as part of last year's Readathon campaign, it was difficult to imagine an encore that could be as innovative, interactive and exciting. But this year's is exactly that.
As part of READ's relentless pursuit of improving literacy in South Africa and raising the levels of reading and writing, the 2014 Red Reading Box with the Under the Sea theme will be launched nationally as part of the Readathon campaign from August with 11 workshops in schools around the country, and will conclude in September during International Literacy Week. Intermediate phase learners will be the prime participants.
Each Red Reading Box captures the Readathon campaign theme perfectly, "Adventures in other worlds" and has a magical quality with creative posters, a clever and fun selection of interactive books and hands-on activities. Everything is geared to promote reading and writing while developing creativity and increasing general knowledge. And what wonderful knowledge can be gleaned from under the sea.
Workshops will comprise of three two-hour sessions each, facilitated by a READ trainer. Teachers will also be involved since the Red Reading Box is an effective multi-purpose learning tool. Each box provides enough activities to keep a whole class involved for many hours, with books, fun games and posters designed to interest and develop creativity.
Activities are specifically designed for fun - not for homework or tests. Having fun reading about new and interesting facts and playing memory and fact games that can be adapted for different grades or ability groups will broaden any horizon. If used at home, parents can select age-appropriate games to play with their children. Parents, too, will get great pleasure from reading and talking about the books - and will enjoy the MiniMag magazine given freely with each box.
Parents can also join in helping their children create their own Under the Sea journals, kick-started by using cutouts in the Sea Scapes magazine they will find in the box, which include ideas for writing, lots of stories to fire the imagination and word games for all to participate in.
This year there are again 3,000 Red Reading Boxes which have been sponsored by Reading Matters and supported by Clyson printers and MiniMag magazine.
One of the reasons for getting youngsters to read hit home when author Neil Gaiman mentioned in a recent talk on the importance of libraries, the fact that prisons in the US could predict future expansion requirements based on current literacy levels of youngsters. They found that they could predict this easily by asking what percentage of 10 and 11 year olds couldn't read now and certainly couldn't read for pleasure. The figure would then give them an idea of how many prisoners there would likely be, 15 years from now. Sobering thought...
Gaiman is passionate about the importance of libraries, a passion shared by READ since literacy is vital to individuals and to our country. To many, libraries are the only source of freely available books, which gives everyone an equal chance in life by helping them become confident and enthusiastic readers.
The author also strongly advocates the reading of fiction for numerous reasons. "Fiction drives you to know what happens next, to want to turn the page, even if it's hard, because you have to know how it's all going to end. And it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know...to discover that reading is pleasurable," he says. "Today words are more important than they ever were," he adds. "As the world slips onto the web, we need to follow, to communicate and to understand what we are reading. People, who cannot understand each other cannot exchange ideas, cannot communicate."
Gaiman emphasises that the simplest way to make sure we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. He also warns against adults turning children away from what they love to read - science fiction, for instance, giving them worthy but dull books instead. Anything they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy.
These thoughts pretty much echo READ's philosophy and the Readathon slogan this year, The more you read, the more you know, which is why the books chosen for the Red Reading Box - Under the Sea are highly entertaining and involving. It is by following these basic, yet sound precepts throughout the last 35 years that this non-profit organisation has helped thousands towards literacy. Since its establishment in 1979 it has been READ's mission to develop South African's reading, writing, learning, information and communication skills so that they can become independent lifelong learners and productive citizens of our country.
The public is also invited to become part of the annual Readathon campaign by sponsoring a Red Reading Box for a child or they can purchase one and for every one purchased, READ will donate one to a needy child. Visit www.read.co.za for further details.
