The Reading Project

Hospitality is a hallmark of Benedictine education and is a value cherished by all Bennies girls. It guides us in all that we do. Our relationship with the House of Welcome, a refugee and asylum seeker support service, grows out of this. A report from the Refugee Council of Australia indicated that literacy is one of the main challenges that refugees face when settling in Australia. Home-based learning during covid lockdowns over 2020 and 2021 was challenging for everyone. Staff and students reflected that it must be especially challenging for children whose parents have limited literacy in English. Acting Dean of Mission, Kerry Bailey, and the Social Justice and Mission captains workshopped ways to help meet this need and The Reading Project was born.

The Reading Project is a College initiative which will provide practical support to help refugee parents to improve their children’s literacy in reading English. Students from the College will be recorded reading along to a book and the digital file and a hard copy of the book will be gifted to each of the children in the program. The books that have been chosen for the first stage of the project are Annie and the Waves by Louise Lambeth, Rohit and the River by Louise Lambeth, and A Trip to the Hospital by Freda Chiu (2022 CBCA New Illustrator Award and IBBY Australia Ena Noël Award Shortlist).  As well as being texts for learning to read and improve understanding of English the books also a way of learning about the children’s new home, Australia. Louise Lambeth wrote Annie and the Waves, (supported by Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club and endorsed by Surf Life Saving Australia) and Rohit and the River as water safety initiatives. Many refugees come from countries where swimming is not as culturally relevant as it is in Australia and they are less likely to be familiar with the water safety message. A Trip to the Hospital tells the stories of Momo, Rani and Henry and the three different reasons they are visiting the hospital. The book shows children the interesting things that happen in hospitals, introduces them to how things work and helps them to feel safe and secure before they visit.

Earlier this year Emma Dircks and Louise Lambeth ran a workshop for some of the students who have volunteered for the project. Students learned about literacy and the specific challenges of literacy among refugee groups. They also learned about picture books and how so much of the story happens outside of the text in the pictures, colours, textures and negative space on the pages. This will help them to read the books engagingly, to comment on their favourite pictures and to ask questions that build connection. They asked insightful questions and many of the things they learned during the workshop have been integrated into the program.

The videos will be individually recorded for each child and the student reading the story will use the skills learned during the workshops to comment on the book and to ask a few questions directly to the child. Readers and recipients will be linked so the recipient will have the experience of being known and developing a relationship with their reader. This connection is an important part of the project as we aim to develop a bond between the reader and the child which will be continued over several books. This literacy partnership between our students and the children

In partnership with authors Louise Lambeth and Freda Chiu and The House of Welcome, the College is giving each child a copy of a book and a digital recording of the book they can view as many times as they like. We are very grateful to the authors for donating their books, or foregoing their royalties to make this project possible.