Join participants worldwide on World Read Aloud Day, 5 February 2025, and be part of building literacy in South Africa with Nal’ibali.
what is it?
World Read Aloud Day is celebrated annually. Nal’ibali (isiXhosa for “here’s the story”) – a national reading for enjoyment campaign seeking to embed a culture of reading in South African children from birth to 12 years of age – is asking South Africans to participate by reading its selected special story aloud to as many children as possible this year. Reading aloud with a child improves their literacy.
special story
Each year, Na’libali celebrates World Read Aloud Day by writing a special story in all 12 South Afican languages. The organisation requests parents, teachers and caregivers to download and read the selected story to children.
This year’s special story, What is that?, is written by Baeletsi Tsatsi and illustrated by Rico. Tsatsi is a skilled storyteller who crafts engaging stories for entertainment, education and enlightenment.
here’s what you have to do
Make your pledge to participate here, then download the special story, gather the children and read aloud. Most importantly, challenge others – colleagues, friends, family – to do the same.
By making your pledge on the Nali’bali website, you assist the organisation in tracking the campaign.
read aloud to build children’s skills
Literacy experts say storybook reading and storytelling benefit children cognitively and emotionally. Cognitively, storybook reading and storytelling contribute to developing literacy through building vocabulary and reading for meaning. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The benefits:
- Vocabulary helps children to think, problem-solve and learn about the world.
- The extent of a child’s vocabulary at the start of school predicts their ability to learn to read.
- Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information.
- Vocabulary growth even extends to subjects not based on written text.
According to a research paper by MDR Evans, Jonathan Kelly, Joanna Sikora and Donald J Treiman, children growing up in homes with many books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation and class.
In a low-income family where parents have little or no education, but there are more than 25 books and parents who relate stories or make them up, children will likely gain two years more schooling. A literary home doesn’t need adults to be literate if they can listen to and tell stories.
Read more about the importance of reading aloud with a child.
read aloud from early childhood
In their research paper, Clara Hoyne and Suzane Hagan from the Department of Psychology, Mary Immaculate College at the University of Limerick, report that storybook reading and storytelling in a safe, familial promotes family cohesion and intimacy. It also boosts a child’s self-esteem and contributes towards making them confident students.
They write: ”The most significant individuals in a child’s early life are typically their parents, playing a vital role as both a caregiver and teacher. In most cases, parents are their children’s first language and literacy teachers and the first adults to engage in shared reading with the child.”
They continue to explain that in early childhood shared reading is an interactive experience of an adult and child reading together at home with the adult reading aloud and guiding with questions.
Make it a daily activity
As well as parents, older siblings and other significant role models – grandparents, teachers – may also regularly read aloud to a child.
Regular reading, be it daily story time or at bedtime is important, it offers the reader the opportunity to engage and interact with a child who can turn the pages, ask questions and often retell the story in their own words.
Dads, find out how reading with your children impacts their wellbeing.
get on board
So, this World Read Aloud Day we urge you to get on board and read to your child(ren), you’ll not only foster a lifelong love of reading, but also bond with them and leave them with lasting memories.