Rona’s racing to get youngsters reading

Babies need to read to succeed that’s the message Rona Fatuleai gives to new parents. The preschool outreach co-ordinator is on the go all the time getting books to parents and babies around Christchurch. She’s full of energy, and her enthusiasm for her subject shines through as she details her day.

“Today I had a parenting session with a group of mums in Belfast. I talked about what they can do to encourage language and literacy development, a little bit of babytime, singing. It’s a very interactive session.”

“Then I hooned over to Prebbleton Playcentre for a book day lots of Thomas (the Tank Engine). I did a reading session with them, and how to take care of a book. It’s fun ways for the kids to learn.”

On the way back from Prebbleton, Rona dropped into Christchurch Women’s Hospital to deliver Books for Babies. “Our books don’t go into the Bounty packs I actually deliver them. I go into each individual room and say ‘Hi, library lady’s here I’ve got your free gift from the library’.”

Some parents are unsure about reading to newborns and infants, but Rona says the earlier a child starts having fun with reading, the better off they will be.
“The message is that learning should be fun language and literacy development should be fun. The library has books and programmes that can assist you.”

Rona is running several public sessions for parents and babies during NZ Book Month to tell people about language and book selections for under 5s. Her work demands constant energy but the effort is appreciated, she says.

“Especially by first-time parents. A lot of the parents that I’m seeing are career women who are having their first child, so really, they don’t know a lot about literacy and most of them assume it’s later on when the children are about 3 or 4.

“Research has shown that zero to three years of age is the essential age to stimulate the brain and get it going. So if we encourage language and literacy development by using lots of repetition, talking, reading, signing and rhymes, that’s the start of your child’s education.”

A parent’s ability as a performer doesn’t matter in the slightest Rona says.
“I don’t know how to sing, I can’t carry a tune.”
“It’s really important to just talk about every day things, about what you are doing. Some mums it’s not part of their culture that you just talk naturally.”

'Fantastic' service

Rona deals with parent groups, grandparents, teen parents any group where there are under fives and parents. Freda, her co-worker, handles pre-schools, kindergartens doing read-alouds for teachers and children.

“We provide a crate of resources that’s the priority of the service. The resources that I have selected read-alouds, one-on-one books, CDs, DVDs large books, Māori language it’s fantastic for our centres that don’t have funding to buy new books.”

The service is in demand, and low decile organisations with little or no government funding are the major users. “I can tell you that Freda’s providing a service to 65 groups in Christchurch. There’s always someone knocking on our door.”

Tips for parents

At the end of the session Rona shares tips about age-specific books that are useful starting points for parents.

“You are doing all the work no child can read under the age of 12 months. It’s giving (parents) the message that one, they have to like the book, enjoy the theme of the book. Two, don’t make it wordy; don’t worry about the text. Worry about what you enjoy, and your expression and how you are going to present it. I give them examples, and show them voice and facial expressions, and give them the opportunity to see the book. It’s little things singing and dancing around the room. It’s all part of introducing literacy and language to your baby.”

“If your child reads, they succeed.”

After 18 months children can deal with “messier” picture books, Rona says.
“You can start reading them the words, following through on what’s happening in the pictures. Ask open ended questions: ‘What’s on this page’; ‘what’s rabbit doing?’; ‘What colour’s rabbit?’; that kind of thing.”

Being flexible and not forcing a child to read is crucial, she adds. “You don’t necessarily have to go by the storyline that the book says. There’s so many rigid ideas out there you have to read the book right through; you can’t go to that page yet”

“If your child walks away after two pages let them walk away. Don’t sit them down and say you have to finish the book. We don’t want reading to be a horrible thing for children to experience, we want it to be a thing that they can come back to over and over.”

Involving the whole family in reading is also important, especially for boys, Rona says.
“My husband doesn’t read at all, but I buy magazines that he will enjoy sports magazines or music magazines, and I make him read out loud to our son. It’s your child hearing you read, and that model. If you want long-term readers, especially boys, it has to be modelled by a male.”

“Usually by the time boys are 9 to 12 boys stop reading for recreation. It’s common, but you finds that boys have had a model a father or grandfather that has read to them they will continue reading it’s part of what they do and have seen.”