Reading more important than ever in the e-world

The internet has changed the way we gather information and the access we have to information. Now, from a computer in Gilgandra, I can hear from someone in Tehran about what is happening in Iran after the elections, see exhibits in the world’s leading museums, find the information I might need for an assignment, or discuss a complex issue with a community of interested people from around the world. But guess what skills all of this depends on? The ability to read, to understand what I have read, and in turn, to be able to express my own views clearly and unambiguously. Reading and being able to express oneself clearly are skills that are of ever-increasing importance in our world, just as they always have been.

So, what can we do to help children acquire these skills? Children need a language rich environment, right from birth. They need to be read to, sung to, talked to and played with, from the day they are born. This will give them the language building blocks they need to help them learn to read when they get to school. These building blocks are: knowledge of lots of words (vocabulary), familiarity with the idea that letters represent sounds (the alphabet), an ability to identify sounds (phonological awareness), an understanding of the idea that you read a page from left to right, top to bottom, and, most importantly, an understanding that reading is a fun thing to do! By reading to our little ones and showing how much we love reading ourselves, we are giving them that precious gift- literacy.

GREAT Day last Wednesday was a big step in the right direction. It was so much fun for everyone involved, and it was truly inspiring to see so many people of all ages celebrating the joy and importance of reading. Congratulations to the organisers of GREAT day. Thanks to them, Gilgandra is becoming a great place for reading!