North New Zealand Conference

Back to News

Importance of reading

Posted on Feb 01, 2009

Imagine a life where you couldn’t read or count! You wouldn’t know how many coins to give to pay for your shopping when you go to the market each day. When the doctor gives you medicine for the baby, you wouldn’t be able to read the instructions or measure out how much medicine to give. For people in developed countries, this is a hard thing to imagine because they have good access to education. However, developing countries do not have the same opportunities to learn to read, write and count.

ADRA New Zealand funds programs that teach basic life skills that include literacy, in places like Bangladesh.  In 2008, 1130  women attended small group that included training in literacy, numeracy, health and nutrition and income generation.  This training will give women a greater ability to care for their families (see website - http://www.adra.org.nz/international-projects/) .

Interestingly, the 1996 Adult Literacy in New Zealand survey suggested that even in a developed country like New Zealand, not everyone has strong literacy skills. *The survey suggested that 66.4% of Maori were below a minimum level in their ability to understand and use information from texts. For non-Maori participants the figures suggested that 41.6% were below the minimum level.

Reading is a valuable gift. It opens up a world of understanding and opportunity and helps us to live our daily lives. It is a gift we often take for granted but an important gift that we desire to pass onto our children. We often think that reading will happen naturally because children go to school. However, every aspect of a child’s life can work towards building their literacy skills.

Mem Fox, author of children’s book such as “Possum Magic” and “Time for Bed”, actively campaigns and encourages parents to participate in building literacy skills in children by the simple act of reading aloud. In her book “Reading Magic: Why reading aloud to children can change their lives forever” she suggests, “The more our kids love books, the more they’ll pretend to read them and the more they pretend to read, the more quickly they’ll learn to read.” Learning the mechanics of reading is important but if you can add the passion and joy of reading and the practical use of this skill to a child’s life, it then enhances their motivation to learn.

On her web site http://www.memfox.com/ten-read-aloud-commandments.html, Mem Fox outlines what she calls “ten commandments” for reading aloud She suggests that we read to our children with animation and energy and read to them every single day. But what do you read, you might ask? What better stories are there to assist a child in life than stories from the Bible. It seems logical that the two essentials for life are reading and God. So why not put them together and build both passions at the same time?

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says:
6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

There are some great easy to read versions of the Bible that can assist you. The New Living Translation has put out a Bible specifically for 8 – 13 year olds. It was a version written to be read aloud and so flows nicely when you read. Zondervan has produced a range of Bible story books that are graded for children’s reading level. These are stories that you can read together and then work your way up the scale to “Read alone” books.

Read the Bible to your children. Read to them every day, even if it is for 5 minutes. Choose an easy to read Bible version. The time taken to read to a child now will help build the blocks of faith in a child’s life.

We have included a Bible reading guide for primary and juniors that can take you through the entire year! These guides follow the Gracelink curriculum taught in Sabbath School and goes through all the Bible stories in a four year cycle. To download click here

If your children are smaller than primary age, then follow the primary guide and read to them rather than with them. The system is called “I can read”!

For more information check out their website at www.Icanread.com or http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/Kidz/Index.htm?QueryStringSite=Zondervan .

Investing time in the life of a child builds their future and the futures of a generation of children who need to know God.

*Figures provided by Statistics New Zealand.