80 European Organizations Start Unique Literacy Network

From the 24th until the 27th of February 2014, 80 organizations from 28 countries officially marked the start of the European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET) in Vienna, Austria. One in five European 15 year olds, as well as nearly 75 million adults, lack basic reading and writing skills, which makes it hard for them to get a job, and increases their risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Digital Footsteps to Early Literacy

The topic Early Literacy seems to become more and more important amongst literacy advocates. However, knowledge about the role of early language exposure to academic success is not a new one.

New Media for Reading Resource Page

There seems to be a huge interest in how new media can be used in order to promote reading amongst children and teenagers. Many devices are being used such as the kindle or the iPad, and more and more apps and e-books are being published. However, there are many questions such as: How to best implement new media for reading development? What works? How do children and their parents use new media? We have found some great resources for you.

How Books Help to Open Up the Mind

Born and raised in Hunan, China, Lisa Bu emigrated to the United States where she started a new life. In her talk with the now famous TED Talks initiative, she reveals how her love for books and reading helped her to open her mind and to find a place and role she liked in a new world.

Lesestart in Germany – Three Milestones for Reading

Lesestart, the nationwide literacy program for children funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and carried out by Stiftung Lesen, continues for three-year-old children and their parents. The Federal Secretary of Education Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka herself handed out the second Lesestart pack to toddlers and their parents at the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin on November 15, 2013.

New E-Book Features Innovative Early Literacy Approaches

Finally published for immediate download: The e-book Prepare for Life! Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education (PDF) is the result of the same-titled international expert conference that took place in March 2013 in Leipzig.

How Copy Shops Make Up For Lack of Books

30 percent of students in South Africa appear to have no adequate access to textbooks they desperately need for school. According to an article in the South African Mail and Guardian, educational publishers think reasons are mainly because of a poor infrastructure with regard to libraries and traditional book distribution in rural areas. But it is not only textbooks. Social entrepreneur Arthur Attwell claims on his blog that indeed most South Africans do not own a book their entire lives.

Asian Countries Outperform in PISA Survey 2012

The 2012 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that Shanghai as well as Singapore were top performers in mathematics. Students in Shanghai scored the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above most OECD countries. Hong Kong, Taipei, Korea, Macao, Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Netherlands were in the top-performing group, too.

Low-Skilled Adults Are Being Left Behind

The new OECD Survey of Adult Skills, also known as PIAAC, shows that low-skilled adults are more likely to be unemployed, have bad health and earn much less compared to their peers.

Study on Reading Aloud 2013

Representative study – One third of parents do not read to their children enough

In 30 percent of the families with children between the ages of 2 and 8, the parents do not read to them enough. This was the finding of the representative study Neuvermessung der Vorleselandschaft (roughly translates to Review of the Situation Regarding Parents Reading to their Children) with regard to the behavior of Germans when it comes to reading to children.

AlfaSol Has Weaved a Unique Partner Network in Brazil

Despite a rapid economic growth and a primary net enrolment rate of 94 percent, Brazil features high rates of adult illiteracy. According to the Brazilian non-governmental organization Alfabetização Solidária, or AlfaSol, this country has an average of 13.6 percent of adult illiteracy.

Basic Literacy Skills for Adults Via Video Clips

A lease, an atlas, a newspaper article, instructions in work settings, campaign posters – all those quite important reading materials might be a struggle to comprehend for adults with basic reading skills day in and day out.

Karaoke Reinforces Reading Skills

Most of us know the effect: As soon as a subtitle appears on a TV screen, we find it quite impossible to ignore it – whether we understand the language or not. Brij Kothari, an Indian PhD student at Cornell University in the United States watched a lot of Spanish movies in order to learn Spanish in 1996. However, he found the English subtitles coming along distracting and thought that his Spanish would improve with Spanish subtitles more easily.

Vending Machines Sell Books in Montréal

What do vending machines sell? If you are not Japanese, you might come up with just a limited range of answers such as "chocolate bars", "cookies", "something to drink", "sandwiches" – all things that might nourish our body. What might be missing then? Nourishing the mind!

Goethe-Institut's Library Bus on Its Way to Nile Delta

If you are going to school in Egypt and the next big city is far away you may have trouble finding good books. This is why the Goethe-Institut Cairo has started its Library Bus to give kids and teens the opportunity of diving into the exciting and fantastic world of books. So far the bus visits schools and social clubs in the Nile delta, packed with books for children and youths in Arabic and Haytham Shokry, project manager and storyteller.

Warrior For Books in Homes

In an epiphany, Once Were Warriors main character Beth Heke realizes: "Bookless. Bookless. We're a bookless society. And I live in it, don't I? And my kids."

However, a bookless family does not stand a chance in a world that, according to Alan Duff, the author and creator of Once Were Warrior's Beth Heke, operates on the written word.

Happy Meal Books Put More Books in Homes

The British National Literacy Trust reports that, in the United Kingdom, one in three children do not own a book. On the other hand, eight out of ten families with young children visit a McDonald's Restaurant at least once a year.

Teaching Students to Distinguish Fact From Fiction

Promoting reading might just be the first step in literacy work. Learning to read – critically – might be the next crucial step as we all seem to be bombarded by news, information, opinions, advertisements, PR and misinformation many hours per day via websites, blogs, social networks, television, radio, print and other media.

Stiftung Lesen – 25 Years of Reading Promotion in Germany

The German Reading Foundation Stiftung Lesen has been promoting reading for 25 years and is going to celebrate its successful work with a Lesefest, a reading festival, the 10th of June 2013. The Lesefest takes place at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin with the German Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck, many prominent Reading Ambassadors, friends and supporters as well as all those being involved with the foundation's work. However, reading promotion still remains important and crucial in Germany's modern society.