There is a common ‘misinformed’ saying among Kenyans, that if you want to hide something from a Kenyan, you put it in a book. In preparation for the International Literacy Day, we held an #EnezaChat to find out success stories of instilling a reading culture in children from a young age.
it turns out that Kenyans actually do read. There is a crop of book lovers who are cultivating the habit in their children. We therefore sought to demystify this half truth that Kenyans don’t read, albeit in a tactful way. below is a sample of how the conversation went on Twitter.
Join us today 2.30-5pm for #EnezaChat & share the successes of instilling a reading culture in kids. @Storymoja pic.twitter.com/HgDrd1wXV9
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
You are all welcome to #EnezaChat. Thanks @GirlChildN https://t.co/gzuNSRsC5P
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
This year’s International Literacy Day theme is Reading the Past, Writing the Future. How can we help kids become better readers? #EnezaChat
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
Remember Ben Carson’s book Think Big? His mother noticed his failing grades & gave them a target of two books to read weekly. #EnezaChat
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
Ben Carson in his book Think Big, talks of how he used to fail at school. His uneducated mother, Sonya Carson, had him together with his brother Curtis to visit the library and pick two books weekly. They would read the books and come up with book reports, which they would present to their mother weekly. Now, if you read the book, you would know that reading so much contributed to Ben loving the routine and his grades improving.
#EnezaChat Are there enough kids literature in Kenya? #EnezaChat @SimuLiaApp @KKombani @TheReneeissance @Kytabu https://t.co/WCroLQ9mzM
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
@SimuLiaApp @KKombani @TheReneeissance @Kytabu How then do we engage the kids to make them more interested in reading? #enezachat
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
This reminds me of 13yr old Joseph- published a book because he couldn’t find one that interested him. #EnezaChat https://t.co/U6fBE2AVpO
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
#enezachat #Gamification a good place to start engaging kids in reading https://t.co/jfnyQ21PSl
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
Children’s literature needs to be age appropriate, relevant and captivating #enezachat @EnezaEducation @SimuLiaApp @TheReneeissance @Kytabu
— Roźzy Awili (@enrozzy) September 2, 2016
#EnezaChat Do schools have a reading time set aside on their timetable? @GirlChildN @SimuLiaApp @TheReneeissance https://t.co/OtYVqzLbEN
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
Yeah, I agree with you. A primary school teacher once told me that they don’t read much. #EnezaChat https://t.co/4gvcTm95WF
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
#EnezaChat Does reading for kids bedtime stories help in kick starting the love for reading? @MumsVillage @Afro_Mum pic.twitter.com/sqStTAdadI
— Eneza Education (@EnezaEducation) September 2, 2016
Reading with and for kids is a sure way to instill the culture into our children #enezachat @EnezaEducation @ReadingGCD @Storymoja
— Roźzy Awili (@enrozzy) September 2, 2016
There are lots of initiatives seeking to instill the love of reading in children. One of them is the Read Aloud initiative which has been adopted locally by Story Moja publishers. They have reading ambassadors go to primary schools and read with children out of a selected storybook. Maybe we will feature them here one day.
You can follow the conversations on twitter under the hashtag #EnezaChat and if you are in the education field and are interested to be featured on our weekly chats, feel free to reach out on juliet@enezaeducation.com