Reading Champions are reading role models and advocates for the importance of reading. They are passionate about reading, well informed of the research and benefits of reading, and are highly motivated implementers of activities that spread awareness and give early literacy a boost.
Most children learn to read by 6 or 7 years of age. Some children learn at 4 or 5 years of age. Even if a child has a head start, she may not stay ahead once school starts. The other students most likely will catch up during the second or third grade.As you read you will learn the patience to read and your vocabulary will increase. One thing to note is that different books have different difficulty levels. You will likely to better with a straight forward plot and few characters to keep track of.
Lack of access to reading material and textbooks are two of the main reasons that 78% of South African children in grade 3 still can’t read for meaning. And education expert Professor Mary Metcalfe says fixing this national literacy crisis will take time and hard work.
According to Stellenbosch University economist Nic Spaull, there are three explanations: Foundation Phase teachers (grades 1-3) do not know how to systematically teach reading; the poorest schools in the country are extremely text-poor and there is wasted learning time during the school day.
South Africa: Literacy rate from 2007 to 2015, total and by gender
- 2015 – 94.37% Males – 95.4% Females
- 2014 – 94.14% Males – 95.29% Females
- 2012 – 93.73% Males – 94.96% Females
- 2011 – 93.1% Males – 94.25% Females
The main cause of illiteracy is lack of books at home and lack of stimulation as to the importance of reading; Doing badly at or dropping out of school—many have not completed high school; Difficult living conditions, including poverty; Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dysorthographia, etc.
Children may struggle with reading for a variety of reasons, including limited experience with books, speech and hearing problems, and poor phonemic awareness.
What is level R in reading? Your child reads independently, or on his/her own, at a level R. Readers at a level R can read many different types of text including biographies, mysteries, series books, books with sequels, short stories, diaries and logs. They read both chapter books and shorter informational (nonfiction) texts.
To try and assist the government with reading in schools and give a positive reaponse to a program called Champion Readers, Melotong Primary in Bojanala District, Moses Kotane Sub District,Mogale Circuit has developed one Educator Assistant(Ms Masuge) and trained her as champion Reader and she works under the leadership of Sifa Tema( Mentor/Library Educator).
Learners at least get to read daily and effectively. Such initiatives like drop everything and read, read to me day are observed. Learners not only develop the love for reading but they also learn to read for meaning. A library is being established since this is a small school in the deep rural and remote place called Mopyane in Rustenburg.