From Zero to Hero

I heard Simon Cowell said it of Anoop of the American Idol Season 8 a couple of weeks ago.

I have another child in school who is also a hero from zero.

Adam (not his real name) is known to be suffering from a reading deficiency and could hardly utter words let alone words in English. Recognising alphabets and stringed words was foreign to him and the teachers in class did not take long to notice it. In most mainstream schools where students originate from all sorts of family and learning backgrounds, it is not uncommon to discover students suffering from reading and learning disorders.

There were suggestions of various kinds and efforts were made to gain his attention and we even informed his parents of the predicament ; but the problem still stood in the way.

A visit to Northlight last August saw me suggesting to the Media teacher during one of our brainstorming sessions on the need to emulate the reading programme carried out by the teachers of Northlight in Singapore. Northlight is known to be housing students of various learning problems and finding solutions to overcome them. They started a reading programme whereby a teacher was assigned to coax challenging students to read during their free time during recess and whatever time that could be salvaged in school.

In Northlight an attractive reading ethos was created to draw the presence of the students into the room . It was hoped that each time they leave the room they would long to return. In normal mainstream schools, efforts too can be taken to emulate it for a good cause.

The brainstorming session serioulsy had us concluding that we too have a conducive reading environment in the school and all we needed was dedicating a teacher to the task.

In Northlight, I was informed that the hard work of teacher Hanis resulted in 3 students being able to read aloud in front of an audience whom they had only met for the first time.

It was heartwarming to see the principal calling them by their names and the personal touch and her concern must have played a role in their being elevated from their illiterate state. They read aloud and we applauded for their courage and success.

So to Seafield, the programme was launched last September.

Known for her persistence in the Nilam Programme, the school aims that students leave the gates of the school by the time they finish SPM by achieving a minimum reading of at least 50 books. So in tandem with the programme, the English Department worked hand in hand with the industrious media teacher to allocate a place and teacher to help Adam.

This Media teacher aims high for the school. Nothing is impossible with her.

She voluntarily supplied this series of books personally and was all out to help Adam. Of course, the teacher, Puan Chan with the insistence of the aggressive department accomodated well to the request and was on full charge for the assignment.

Just last Sunday, I received news that Adam had successfully completed 1a,1b, and 1c of the Peter and Jane series and the good news brought a new impetus to our determination to achieve for challenging students.

I could not wait to hear him read to me. I had to verify the truth of the situation and more than that my personal experience of using the series to help my children read in their early years still gave me the thrill of the magic touch of those books.

Adam came in armed with 4 copies of the series including 2a on my request.

Flashbacks. I did exactly as I would with my children when they first started to read. With a short ruler, I pointed word for word and waited for him to recognise the words and read aloud. Puan Chan was afraid he would be too shy to read infront of me and that I may be too much for him. I told her not to worry and to leave him with me. Adam , I believe was comfortable in my presence and read aloud. Peter, Jane, toys, toy shop, tress, ...oh how well I remembered those magic words. They were words which brought my girls to great heights of reading and they were words which taught them to be literate. Do not think that this is demeaning for a child of his age...it will be the start of his literate years.

Adam read on and on almost flawless with pauses in between perhaps because of the many lines and pages. But he did it well. And not only that. I took the decision to start 2a just to see if he was able to recognise some familiar words from a book which he had not started on. He did it. He managed those familiar words...from zero to hero.

To me Adam reading the first few series spell success and achievement. To me Adam with some concerted effort and help would mean him being able to answer some exam questions after this. He confessed to Puan Chan that he is enjoying every moment now and even asked for more sessions. That is the beauty of reading. Once you realise that you can read, you want to read more. You experience more self confidence and you want to prove to yourself that you can do more for your yourself. That is education...to achieve independence and become independent readers.

Thanks to Northlight. Thanks to a group of dedicated teachers. Thanks to the sincere effort for it will ultimately see to the fruition of success for the helpless. We will continue to persevere for the more challenging children and it is my recommendation to use Peter and Jane to start your reading programme with your own children.

Guaranteed Success.