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News from The Reading Agency on its work with adult learners
Join in the Six Book Challenge 2010 ... Give us feedback on our Quick Reads ideas packs ... Add some book recommendations to our database ... And help us reach thousands of new readers.
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Welcome to a new-look eletter about The Reading Agency's work with adult learners and emergent readers. This reflects the fact that our activity for this audience, although based on the principles of The Vital Link developed with the National Literacy Trust, now encompasses a much wider range of policy and practice.
This eletter is being sent to 2500 people currently on the Vital Link eletter list. Please pass this on to colleagues who might be interested and ask them to sign up too by contacting resources@readingagency.org.uk
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9000 people took part in our annual incentive scheme for adult learners and emergent readers through libraries, colleges, adult education, prisons and workplaces - an increase of a quarter on 2008. 90% of participants surveyed said they feel more confident about reading after taking part, and tutors say that the Challenge improves learners' confidence, increases their motivation and helps them develop a reading habit. And the Six Book Challenge was named as a finalist for this year's CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award. |
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We marked completion of the second year of the Six Book Challenge at a celebration event on 24 September at Free Word attended by librarians, literacy tutors and learners. Author and Six Book Challenge patron Mike Gayle talked about his own passion for reading and his recent experience of writing a book for emergent readers that will be published as a Quick Read title in 2011. Learner Mary Jervis from West Sussex told us that doing the Six Book Challenge 'gave me the focus I needed to go on and do everything else'. |
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We also launched our new logo and materials for the Six Book Challenge 2010. These are available for immediate dispatch from our Shop with an Early Bird discount. Please also see our new website and Six Book Challenge blog. We'd like to get Challenge participants contributing to this so please let us know of any learners who would enjoy sharing their reading journeys in this way. |
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Training
If you're new to the Six Book Challenge, we still have places at two training days open to staff working in any organisation that is interested in running the scheme. These will equip you with knowledge about the policy context for the Six Book Challenge as well as practical tips and case studies. Book now for Running the Six Book Challenge on Tuesday 10 November at CILIP in London or Tuesday 24 November at the Priory Street Centre in York.
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In 2010 The Reading Agency will be increasing workplace involvement in the Six Book Challenge. More than 1,000 employees across the UK took part last year through their trade unions from organisations including Corus, Royal Mail, Tesco, MerseyTravel and Warburtons. We celebrated this in Getting Reading to Work: Unions, libraries and the Six Book Challenge available free from unionlearn. Please contact mail@davidkendall.co.uk if you would like further information about running the Six Book Challenge in your workplace.
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Quick Reads have just announced their fifth anniversary list with ten great new titles for publication on World Book Day 4 March 2010 together with a new design. The new list includes books by Cathy Kelly, Andy McNab, Rolf Harris, Alvin Hall, Peter James, Bernardine Evaristo and Alison Weir, real life lottery winner stories by Danny Buckland, a collection of true stories about life and work with a foreword by Val McDermid and a Doctor Who title by Justin Richards. See the new Quick Reads website for more details.
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Give us some feedback and win a set of the 2009 Quick Reads!
Each year The Reading Agency creates learning resources to support use of the new Quick Reads titles. Our two packs published in March 2009, Quick Reads 2009 Guide and Quick Reads: How do you use yours? have been downloaded more than 15,700 times. To help us make the learning resources for the new titles as effective as possible, we'd welcome your feedback on using reading for pleasure with learners. Please fill in our short survey. Send us your answers by Thursday 29 October and we'll enter you into our prize draw to win a set of the 2009 Quick Reads.
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Chatabout
We had a very positive response to our consultation about the new Chatabout emergent reader group network with feedback from libraries, colleges, adult education, prisons and workplaces. We also know that reading group activity linked to the Six Book Challenge in libraries doubled this year. This has fed into our plans for launching the network in November with free guidance, case studies and online access to other practitioners running groups. Look out for an invitation to join!
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Reading for pleasure with Entry Level learners
We're delighted to report that we have a year's funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to undertake a study into the use of reading for pleasure with Entry Level learners. We've been aware for some time that this is an area that urgently needs to be addressed now that work with readers at a slightly higher level has become so established. Our aim will be to identify a sustainable model for injecting new approaches and new materials into regular teaching practice for this audience with the support of libraries. This will involve action research with tutors, library staff and learners in three locations (Warrington, Hampshire and the London Borough of Brent), followed by dissemination and a report to be completed next summer. Please contact genevieve.clarke@readingagency.org.uk if you have particular experience of introducing reading for pleasure to learners at the lowest level of literacy and let us know what materials, printed and online, have proved successful.
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What have Strictly Come Dancing, Harry Hill and Pam Ayres got in common? They all feature on our First Choice Books database along with Quick Reads, books from Barrington Stoke and New Island Press written for emergent readers and hundreds of titles specially selected for this audience. We're constantly looking for more recommendations from learners, tutors and librarians. Submit your choices now or contact genevieve.clarke@readingagency.org.uk and you'll be eligible for a bottle of champagne in our Christmas draw! |
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Gaming for adult literacy learners
Are any of you using online games with your learners? We're about to undertake a feasibility study into this work and would love to hear from anyone already using interactive games to get new readers into the world of words. Please contact genevieve.clarke@readingagency.org.uk
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The Reading Agency is supporting this month's Learning Revolution Festival with a range of activity to celebrate real lives through libraries, museums and archives. We're linking author events in Dorset, Bristol and London to the BBC's My Story campaign (see below) and marking the achievements of the exciting Reading Detectives initiative with events in Cumbria, Kent, Hampshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire.
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Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
This is the strapline for the BBC's My Story campaign which invites the nation to tell its true stories. Much of the support provided by the BBC is directed at the emergent reader audience so please use the support tools on the My Story website with your learners.
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Look out for The Reading Agency at the Skills for Life national conference at the QEII Centre in London on Tuesday 3 November.
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And finally... Farewell to Lynn Ludditt who worked with us for ten months on secondment from Read On - Write Away! in Derbyshire. We're grateful for Lynn's immense enthusiasm and expertise for this work and we're sad to lose her. But welcome to Michelle Treagust who will be joining us in November from BBC Learning where she is currently working on the My Story campaign.
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Keeping in touch
For information about all our projects and resources visit the website, follow us on Twitter and tell use what you think at the discussion forum. To unsubscribe click here or send an email to reading.agency@readingagency.org.uk
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