la importancia de la lectura en la casa

Today Noemí and I presented for the 4th time a charla we developed last year about the importance of reading in the home. It is part of our big town reading project, and we got ourselves invited to present it in Planta 2, the asentamiento 5k away where we didn’t present last year (the teachers at this school tend to be political and generally resistant). I was excited for this charla because it seemed to signal a change in the wind in this school, and because work has been oh so slow lately, and also because I thought with it fresh in her mind, Noemi would be way more likely to continue replicating this charla in the 15 other schools after I’m gone. It went really well (as it always does – parents who come to parents meetings are a self-selected audience who already want to be there and learn stuff and support education – but it’s still important) and my guarani was as sharp as ever.

The agenda went like this:

Icebreaker, where me and several parent volunteers do a story chain, where I start a story and then the second person continues it, etc. This shows the importance of listening and speaking and imagining, all of which are crucial in the reading process and can be developed at home without a single book (or a literate parent)

Explanation of the reading project in general by Noemi and in that school specifically by the principal

Explanation of why reading is important (expands your knowledge, helps with oral communication, improves written communication, improves quality of life, etc.)

Demonstration of how to read a book to kids (showing the pictures, using gestures and funny voices, asking questions, talking about the cover, making predications, etc)

Explanation of what kinds of books are appropriate for what level (esp. to point out that even babies can look at pictures and that little kids can’t sit still for long books)

Reminder of how to care for a book and how important it is to teach kids this (the teachers borrowed this poster to copy it and hang in their new school library)

Closure with teachers asking for parents support of 1mil to help buy materials for book making, and one teacher reminding parents that they can support their kids by not expecting them to be reading perfectly in first grade and to help raise their self-esteem – which was the charla I did with them last year!! Hooray!!!