Accelerating children’s reading by training teachers and non-literate parents on activities to do at home to improve their children’s language skills
Project Name
Tiwerenge Ndi Ana Athu (TiANA)
Location Implemented
Malawi
Competition Entered
Grant Competition 2011
Reading Skill Targeted
Pre-Reading
Status
Winner
The Challenge
A 2010 Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) study found that 72 percent of grade 2 learners in Malawi could not read commonly used words in Chichewa. This has been attributed to a variety of causes including over-crowded classrooms, limited or non-availability of teaching and learning materials at school and at home, inadequate instruction time for reading, lack of awareness about the role of parents and community in children’s learning, and teachers’ limited skills for teaching early grade reading.
The Big Idea
TiANA accelerated children’s acquisition of reading in 20 schools in the Zomba district through promoting cost-effective, community-driven, extra-curricular reading activities using low-cost, community-generated reading materials. Teacher training was provided on the core reading skills (letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension). TiANA also trained non-literate parents on simple activities they can do at home to improve their children’s language and oral vocabulary skills.
Results
Learners improved their reading skills within one and half years of project implementation. Teachers reported that the training sessions helped them develop skills on how to approach the teaching of phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. At baseline only 13.5% were able to read with fluency in Chichewa and 1% in English. At endline, 43% of learners were able to read with fluency in Chichewa and 18% in English.
Blogs and Media
Research and Resources
Save the Children Malawi / Lexon Ndalama
Save the Children Malawi shares their ACR GCD-funded innovation to develop low-cost reading materials and engage families to improve child literacy in Malawi.
Connect with the Innovator
Website
http://malawi.savethechildren.net/Organization Type
Non Profit
Headquarters
Fairfield, CT, USA
