Get ready for World Read Aloud Day 2016
By Robert Lyon, Communications Intern
Reading aloud holds so much value for individuals of all backgrounds and communities and so it is with great excitement that we look forward to World Read Aloud Day. On February 24th 2016 - that's tomorrow - World Read Aloud Day calls attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories. To read is to understand the thoughts and ideas of others; reading takes you away to another time and place and gives voice to the chaotic emotions of life.
"When reading, I could breathe." - Former inpatient and Shared Reading group member
To read out loud is to take the words out of a book and bring them to life, making them resonate with readers on a personal and emotional level. World Read Aloud Day does something very special in seeking to encourage everyone to take the time to pick up a book, get reading and connect with themselves and others.
"Normally when I'm reading, I'm thinking about what I'm going to have for my tea! But reading aloud really helps you to concentrate and take it in." - participant in a Shared Reading session
World Read Aloud Day is organised by LitWorld, a not for profit organisation that aims to promote global literacy and has had a lot of success doing it. With projects in places like the Philippines, Haiti and Africa they seek to give all children the ability to be a reader no matter their social or economic backgrounds. Their work in many ways reflects The Reader's passion for literature and a desire to use it to help others.
One of our current projects that utilises reading aloud and encouraging it amongst a younger generation is the Off The Page project, commissioned by Liverpool Families Programme at Liverpool City Council.
“With a book it’s not like telly ‘cos it’s your imagination” - Charlie, 12 years old
Our Off The Page team are training volunteers to read one to one with 8 to 16 year olds for an hour a week, wherever possible in their own homes, taking a love of literature to disadvantaged young people across Liverpool. As well as reading one to one the project also hosts Family Fun days where Shared Reading is enjoyed with not only the children but the adults in their lives - be they parents, foster parents or workers. You can find out more about volunteering with Off The Page on our website.
Want to try reading aloud yourself? Here are some of our top tips for reading aloud from our dedicated Group Leaders:
- Read silently to yourself first to familiarise yourself to the text
- Practice reading aloud a couple of times to familiarise yourself with how you speak the text
- Make eye contact with your audience every now and then
- Mark your place with a finger so you don’t get lost!
Now have a go! Here’s something from our new anthology A Little, Aloud with Love to sink your teeth into and get reading aloud. Why not share the love of reading aloud with someone close this World Read Aloud Day?
To A Stranger
Passing stranger! you do not know
How longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking,
Or she I was seeking,
(it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely
Lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other,
Fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me,
Were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become
Not yours only, nor left my body mine only.
You give me the pleasure of your eyes,
Face, flesh, as we pass—you take of my beard, breast, hands,
In return,
I am not to speak to you—I am to think of you
When I sit alone, or wake at night alone,
I am to wait—I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
Walt Whitman
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