"What an educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves" - Paulo Friere
About Dr Ruth
B.A. (Education & Linguistics)
DipTESOL
M.A. (Applied Linguistics, with Distinction)
Ph.D. (Applied Linguistics)
Dr Ruth has over 17 years’ experience in a range of academic, professional, and research roles in higher education and educational consultancy, specialising in curriculum, literacy and learning resource development, academic literacy and learning skills development. As Fellow in Curriculum and Literacy at the USP Institute of Education from 2013-2019, Dr Ruth published, wrote, and/or edited over 40 children’s books as well as teacher and classroom resources specifically designed to support vernacular and ESL literacy and language development in the Pacific region.
Thoughts about
Books are important. Reading and writing are important.
Print literacy influences most aspects of our lives.
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For balanced cognitive and socio-emotional development as national and global citizens, children need to see and learn about the world around them and engage their natural curiosity. Books play an important role in this, as windows on the world and mirrors for our souls.
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Fostering positive attitudes, habits, and experiences of reading is vital for ensuring children enjoy reading and choose to do it. This is especially important for boys in the Pacific, whose performance on regional tests of literacy continue to show a lag behind their female counterparts. Parents and teachers play an important role in instilling and supporting a love of reading.
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As well as the obvious benefits of developing reading fluency, vocabulary development, building spelling and grammar knowledge, writing development and knowledge growth, developing a liking for reading directly facilitates academic achievement. Books can be the catalysts and fuel for lifelong interests and personal development. Later in life, print literacy skills open up career possibilities, life pathways, and equitable access to healthcare, further lifelong learning, civic engagement, and other beneficial opportunities.
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As learning tools, books can be designed to accomplish multiple learning goals. And reading does not have to be a solitary experience. Shared and guided reading are a means of creating positive encounters with text. In the hands of a skilled educator/caregiver a storybook becomes a powerful tool for creating meaningful and impactful dialogue and a doorway to extension activities that develop a whole range of other learning opportunities for content and life skills learning.
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Another crucial role that books can play is in language maintenance and strengthening, as well as cultural preservation and the safeguarding of indigenous knowledge and wisdoms of the Pacific for future generations.
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Words are beautiful. A language - and its vocabulary, idioms, metaphors and oral traditions - is the storehouse of a people's collective wisdoms, beauty and strength. Through words our children can learn to harness and express the innate creativity, intelligences and potentials of the Pacific.
And, words are powerful. When we give our children the ability to confidently and effectively wield words, to access and transmit knowledge, and to walk with confidence in their multi-lingual and multi-cultural real and virtual worlds, we give them power.
There's no doubt literacy is a vital life skill.
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But 'literacy' is about so much more than print literacy. Life in today's world requires multiple and complex literacies, intelligences, and habits of mind. In addition to print literacy, to successfully navigate daily life, schooling, training and the workplace, children and young people of the Pacific will need digital literacy, information literacy, mathematical literacy, visual literacy, cultural literacies, and other important knowledge, skills and characteristics including emotional intelligence, interpersonal, communication and social skills.
Every Pacific child should have the right to read fiction and non-fiction books in their mother tongue, their language of education, and to experience bilingual (even multi-lingual!) books for learning, growth and just pure enjoyment.
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Today, books can come in many forms. Advancements in technology and print present the opportunity to produce, distribute on a scale like never before. We can make books talk, we can view them on our phones, we can even make books waterproof!
What are we waiting for?
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Let's partner to get more window and mirror books into the hands of our Pacific children, and let's learn together how to make sure this generation develops a love of reading, and fluency and confidence in their print literacy skills for life.
