Cape Town - To celebrate the annual World Reading Aloud Day (WRAD), The City of Cape Town has partnered with a number of organisations, including Nal'ibali, to host a storywalk at Nantes Park in Athlone this week.
The City’s librarians from Athlone, Bridgetown, Bonteheuwel and Rylands will gather with Nal’ibali, Book Dash and Mikhulu Trust to take 90 children on a storywalk through the park.
Community and health mayco member Patricia van der Ross said: “The day aims to shine a spotlight on the benefits of reading aloud to children. This activity, which can help parents and children bond as they share words, has an immense impact on the child’s development.”
The storywalk will include an interactive storytelling experience where children will be able to live the story as it is played out by librarians with pictures, art and the most important resource, their voice.
Nal’ibali spokesperson Sally du Preez said: “There is a common misconception that reading is something that is taught at school and used in the classroom for learning.
“By taking the read-aloud session outside and sharing a leisure story that is fun and culturally-relevant, we are demonstrating to adults and children that reading and story-sharing is something that can happen anywhere,” du Preez said.
She said reading aloud is beneficial for children of all ages: “For very small children, regularly hearing fun and engaging stories in languages they understand will equip and motivated them to learn to read and write when they reach school as they build their vocabularies, general knowledge and understanding of how books and stories work; and for older children, it will inspire them to keep reading.”
Nal’ibali hopes to reach more than 3 million children this year, with the aim of signing up 1 million families to join the initiative.
“Research has shown that families who sign up for the Nal’ibali’s World Read Aloud Day drive keep up a regular habit of reading throughout the year, and when members of the public pledge to participate, they can choose to keep reading with Nal’ibali,” Du Preez said.
WRAD takes place on Wednesday, February 2, and is a global initiative to promote a culture of reading aloud with children of all ages.