BETT 2015 saw the launch of Literate Times, a free newspaper (read by the 80% who can) which we produced with some of the partners we’re working with, all doing our bit to help children (and adults) exercise their right to read.
It was one of those ideas that come from nowhere, enough people gave the ‘go on then’ nod to, and that had happened before we’d blinked, so a big thank you to everyone who helped get it written, printed and out there.
By the end of the week at BETT, over 5,000 copies had been given away which was fantastic as sometimes, amidst all the talk of touch screen tech, big data servers and smart wifi whiteboards, it’s easy to forget what education is all about.
ReadingWise English is go
Literate Times coincided with the launch of a completely redesigned ReadingWise English at BETT 2015, after a year’s exhaustive trials and included an overview of the programme as well as case studies of it being used in three key areas:
- Inner city primary school – EAL and socio economic issues make literacy a particular challenge in these schools. Here a teaching assistant at Heathbrook School describes how they’ve used ReadingWise English.
- Year 7 secondary – many secondary schools tell us that their big challenge is ensuring a base standard for literacy among incoming pupils to ensure they’re able to access the curriculum down the line. This case study describes how two ‘tough case’ children gained the confidence that they really could read and boosted their reading age by over 3 years!
- Special school – with extremely diverse learning difficulties, special schools can present the biggest challenges to literacy. Two teachers from Billing Brook described how they trialled ReadingWise English before rolling it out across the while school.
The theme of a talk we did at BETT was grounded in the fact that the ReadingWise story started in a visionary literacy initiative in India, which was beautifully illustrated in a short animated film we commissioned from world-class production company Cognitive Media, and included in Literate Times.
Building on that, it was fantastic to be able to include a short article about an orphanage in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) where author and philanthropist Feroze Dada is working under the guidance of the Dalai Lama to introduce ReadingWise English.
Literacy Partners
Many thanks to all our partners for their support for Literate Times with some really compelling contributions:
- Beanstalk – shared a beautiful film showing the impact their volunteer readers have on young readers.
- National Literacy Trust – wrote about how their Premier League Reader Scheme and included a film showing how footballers are working as role models to encourage hard to reach children to read
- Save the Children – included the viral film that supported their ‘read on get on’ campaign to encourage parents to spend just ten minutes a day reading with their children.
- Learn with Pip – shared feedback they’ve received from teachers about their app which helps children master the skills of reading by mirroring how phonics is taught in the classroom.
- Jaz Ampaw-Farr – a highlight of last year was seeing this ‘Phonics Ninja’ (and ex Apprentice candidate) in action on stage at the ISC SEN conference. Having since realised it was in fact serendipity that brought us together, we were delighted to be able to include a short film of one of her lessons in the paper to demonstrate her unique style. Book her while you can.
Films in a paper
If all the talk of ‘films in a newspaper’ has got you in a bit of a tizz (is that a BETT word? - Ed) this is a perfect time to point out that Literate Times has been ‘augmented reality enabled’.
This means that when you view some of the images in it, using the Aurasma app on an iOS or Android device, the images on the page literally spring to life and play films.
Get your own copy!
From the feedback we’ve had, sharing really isn’t caring as Literate Time is a newspaper like no other and to see it really is to believe it.
So to get your own copy of Literate Times, with a couple of extra copies thrown in for colleagues email us via our contact form.
