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The overwhelming reaction to Reading for Life programs has been positive. Some children and a volunteer buddy share their thoughts.
From the children
“I want to do it the rest of my life. Even if I’m in Year 6 I’d still do it.”
“It’s fun, best thing in the world at school. Oh no, second best, sports better.”
“When I go out of school I’d like to be a reading buddy.”
“I feel different and I feel good because I can read a lot faster and I can also read long words. He’s helped me and you know how you get a long word and can break them up into things, well he’s helped me with that.”
“From the start of the year I wasn’t a good reader and my teacher said I went up four levels.”
“Thank you for helping me and other people do the work. I hope she (her R eading Buddy) still remembers me. I will always remember her.”
“That was the best time ever, I really enjoyed it.”
“The teacher has to teach in our classroom 34 other kids. You’ve got like your own teacher.”
“He helped me move up a reading level.”
“I could only read 4 words of the first bit, then I would go through all of them.”
“I went from watching TV to reading books.”
“I’ve learnt more vocabulary.”
“I sort of used to like reading but now I really like it.”
“I wish I could do it next year and I wish they could come back for the rest of the term.”
A volunteer’s thoughts
David volunteered to be a reading buddy in the Reading for Life trial because he thought it was a worthwhile thing if it could help a child.
“I felt confident that I could do it because I’d had experience reading to my three children when they were young,” said David. “I also teach part-time and with my teaching experience, I didn’t have any apprehension about whether I was going to be able to do it.
“The program was extremely flexible and well put together. You had all the resources there.
“There was no problem going to the school every week. I would go down to the playground and I think John felt rather special because he would always call out my name and run up to me. He was very happy to see me.”
Like all the buddies, David met John at a special morning tea at the school before the program started.
“There was no problem feeling comfortable with one another and we’d met at the morning tea,” said David.
“When we started, he found concentrating a little difficult. He tended to wander a little bit. We tried to take the distractions away and put him in an environment where there were less distractions – that made a difference.
“At the start (of the program) John could only read one word. In 12 weeks he went from reading one word to 70 or 80,” said David. “There was absolutely no doubt that he improved.
“His confidence also improved. His Maths' teacher, who was not involved in the program, said to me on more than one occasion that he had noticed a difference in how John approached and was doing his mathematics.
“I assume that comes from knowing a few words and understanding them. I think the program teaches comprehension, which is very important. It’s all very well to know a word but to put it in the context of understanding it - that’s important.
“Sometimes I felt that I was making a difference but on a couple of occasions he was frustrated and so was I,” recalled David.
The time out from work was not a problem for David. “It didn’t affect my
work. 45 minutes or an hour a week – I could leave for that amount of time.”
As for how the program made him feel and if it taught him anything, David said that it took him back to the days when he read to his children.
“My kids have grown up and it took me back in time to when my children were very young and I can’t remember how I approached reading in those days. I think the buddy program has taught me patience because John was very slow. It’s been a long time since I had to deal with young
children.”
As an employee, David felt that the reading program was a good thing for Unilever.
“The program is very commendable on their side. A lot of people don’t know the extent to which Unilever helps others. I think they’ve done the right thing and they are trying to make a difference.”
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