Reading literacy

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Lubuto’s efforts to finalize and provide online access to our All Children Reading Grand Challenge-winning LubutoLiteracy lessons, an extensive series of computer-based reading lessons in each of the 7 major Zambian languages that extend the government reading curriculum beyond the classroom and have been especially valuable in providing a path to reading for out-of-school children. These computer-based early grade reading lessons have been used in Lubuto libraries over the years by some 7,000 children to develop literacy in Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Tonga, Nyanja, Bemba, and Kaonde. When the coronavirus shut down schools all of Zambia’s children were out-of-school, and none could use the lessons in our libraries, we worked hard, in partnership with World Vision Zambia, to make them available online and for nationwide distribution, for families to download and use offline on their devices.

Literacy acquisition and improvement and a love for reading is furthered in Lubuto Libraries by daily read-aloud story times, twice weekly Zambian Sign Language story time for deaf children, Family Literacy program sessions, and book talks. Library staff also facilitate school visits, support curriculum tie-in activities, and provide teachers with guidance to select and use library resources.

The Family Literacy program offers a supportive peer group environment for adolescent and young mothers who have dropped out of school to improve their English language and literacy skills. Mothers attend the program sessions with their young children between the ages of birth and eight, who participate in a separate early childhood program while their mothers meet for adult literacy instruction—thereby eliminating the barrier to access that finding childcare can pose to vulnerable young mothers. The adult literacy program, conducted in English, focuses on phonics and includes both face-to-face, classroom-style instruction as well as use of a self-paced online software that offers in-depth data on the progress of individual learners.

Together Lubuto library collections and literacy programming allow vulnerable children and other aspiring readers to develop and improve reading skills in their mother tongues and English.

Stories