I have been writing a series of small books in
A5, font in size 16 for teenagers that are
having difficulty reading. There are four main
characters, Mykel, River, Christine and Maria.
Each book tells their story interacting with
children from diverse backgrounds.
Each book is approximately 100 pages with
pages of exercises at the back to see how well
the child remembered what they were
reading. I have kept the books short on
purpose as children who find reading difficult
are often overwhelmed by size and small
print.
The books cover every day experiences and
how the children deal with them. A lot is
written from the child’s point of view and will
be a learning experience of life as well as an
aid for reading more proficiently. The sub title
is Easy Reading for 12 to 15 year-olds. My
aim was for them to be accepted into the
Public School System, either as remedial
reading or as part of the curriculum. Finding
out the best way to go about this has been a
challenge.
I have been astounded to find out that every
school buys their own books. I thought
curriculum would be nationwide. What
happens when a student leaves one school to
go to another?
At this point in time I have had ten books
printed each of Mykel and River. Christine
has just come back from the proof-reader and
Maria yet to be proofread. One book each, I
sent to my grandson who is a very mature
twelve-year-old, as I dedicated these two to
him. I’m sure he does not need help with
reading. The other nine are samples.
It must be appreciated that the smaller the
quantity printed, the higher the cost. I haven’t
written this series to make money, but I have
to cover my costs and a little for my effort.
If I can market what I have written, I plan to
write another eight in the series, keeping
Mykel, River, Christine and Maria in every
book, but adding characters from diverse
backgrounds, and taking them through grades
8, 9 and 10. The four main characters are
Caucasian. Why you may ask. Because it is
this group that appears to have the most
difficulty reading.
Here is a little background about myself and
family. I taught my eldest daughter to read at
three years of age. She could read small print
at four and was also writing cursive and
doing simple math. She started
Correspondence Home Schooling in January
just after her fourth birthday. By the time she
was five and ten months she had completed
grade three. After her sixth birthday, she
asked to go to school. I told Barry Lofts, the
headmaster, that she had completed grade
three and that I didn’t mind if she had to
repeat that grade. Mr Lofts rejected my
request and placed her in grade one. GRADE
ONE!
I begged him to at least let her go into grade
two, but NO, it had to be grade one. It
destroyed all the hard work we had both put
in. She hated the classroom and concentrated
on sport, she left school in grade eleven.
However, she put herself through university
and got a degree in a Bachelor of Business.
The disappointment prevented me from
teaching my youngest daughter to read, as she
showed no interest to learn. I discovered
when she was eight years old that she could
not read even simple grade one books. The
kick up the backside I needed was when Brian
Hammel asked my daughter to read in class
and when she put her head on the desk and
cried, he threw a book at her head. This
devastated both my daughter and me. I was
determined to teach her to read over the
Christmas holidays. I put her through the
Ladybird Key Word Reading Scheme. She
read and understood twenty four books in six
weeks. We also tackled simple math and
writing.
There is definitely a skill to teaching reading
and I acknowledge that it is easier to teach
one person than it is a group. My method is
for the child/student to sound out each word
in the sentence, and then read the sentence
again and even again if they stumbled and
then question the child for comprehension
before going on to the next sentence. When
the book is completed, the student must then
reread fluently the same book before going on
to another. One book well read is worth ten
barely comprehended.
It is shocking to hear on the news how badly
Australia is doing regarding reading and
comprehension: Singapore being the highest.
Surely we can learn from Singapore. We must
improve in this regard. It is an
embarrassment to be so far down the list of
countries rated from high to low.
The book that is used to teach reading, is also
critical. Whilst I taught both my children to
read with The Ladybird Key Word Reading
Scheme, they were lacking the necessary
ingredient to make learning easier. For
instance, read and read are spelt the same, but
one is present tense and the other past tense.
So a child must learn this as part of their
reading skill, eg: I want to read this book, but
I have already read that one.
Notice that I have sub titled my books Easy
Reading, rather than For Slow Readers, or
Reading for Dummies. If you put a child
down, they lose incentive to try. The child
needs to look forward to learning. It is no use
getting exasperated when the child
mispronounces a word. Don’t help them
either until it is obvious they will never get it.
Praise goes a long way. Explaining the need
to read well in life is very necessary as well.
I have offered to volunteer at Tyalgum
Primary School several times. Every time I
have gone there they have told me the
principal isn’t in that day. I went on the first
day of the term in January and the principal
was not there. Each time I left my name and
phone number, but was never contacted.
When I finally went to administration to ask
why, they told me that I must not have a
Background Check for working with children.
But was I ever asked to get one? I volunteered
there before when Mr Cosgrove was
principal. When there is such a shortage of
teachers, why not use a free resource? Some
things cannot be explained adequately.
Some publishers handle curriculum, but this
series is not textbooks, so I doubt they would
be interested. I hope I haven’t done all this for
nothing. I want to make a difference
somewhere, somehow. Hiranya Sun
Hiranya Sun 