"Awakening" reading culture in children

Children reading books at the Provincial Library.

Right from the beginning of the school year, Nguyen Van Troi Primary School (Nam Dinh city) launched a movement to build a "Classroom Bookshelf" for all classes. The school encourages students, parents and teachers to contribute books to the classroom bookshelf. Books can be reference textbooks, reading stories, science books... suitable for the age of students in the spirit of "learning while playing, playing while learning". All grades build 2-4 Library Reading Periods/month; at the same time, organize activities: telling stories based on books, writing articles to send to Children's Newspaper, Literature Magazine, and Mathematics Magazine to help students love reading more, be eager to learn and have extensive knowledge. In addition, the school has organized activities to give students the opportunity to access useful and meaningful books, such as coordinating with the Provincial Library to bring a mobile book cart to open aneducational farm at Ngam Mountain, Goi Town (Vu Ban) so that students have a space to read books and listen to speakers share about the benefits of reading, inspiring a passion for reading. These activities have contributed to spreading the reading culture, inspiring a love of books and forming reading habits for students.

Nam Cuong Primary School Library (Nam Truc) is arranged in a friendly, scientific space, suitable for the age of students. With an open space, no partitions, taking advantage of natural light. All kinds of equipment are fully equipped such as: book baskets, tables and chairs for reading, foam carpets for the room to create a friendly, close and lively feeling. In particular, in the school yard, many bookshelves and newspapers are reused from many old recycled materials, neatly arranged, serving the needs of students to read on the spot. The school periodically adds books every year in accordance with the actual teaching and learning program. In addition to adding textbooks, reference books, books for children such as: comics, literature, fairy tales, English learning books, etc., the school also calls on students and parents to donate old books to the library to supplement the bookcases, serving the reading needs of students, contributing to spreading the reading movement in the school.

To develop a reading culture for children, many schools have joined hands to create open, lively and attractive reading spaces to connect the love of books and form lifelong learning skills. To date, 100% of schools at all levels in the province have school libraries with more than 10,000 classroom bookshelves. In addition to traditional libraries with thousands of books, many schools have invested in smart libraries and modern electronic libraries to meet the needs of studying, researching, searching for books and reference materials of staff, teachers and students. In addition to the school library system, the province also has many reading spaces dedicated to children.

In particular, the Provincial Library has focused on increasing the number of books and genres of books and newspapers for children; promoting book display and introduction activities; rotating books to basic bookcases, school libraries... In particular, to best serve the reading needs of readers in general and children in particular, the Provincial Library has minimized administrative procedures, and is flexible in issuing and exchanging cards to ensure convenience and speed. With simple procedures, waiting time is minimized, along with the enthusiastic guidance and caring attitude of library staff, book lovers and children no longer hesitate to step into the Provincial Library. Currently, the Provincial Library's children's reading room has more than 18 thousand books. Every summer, an average of 100-150 children come to read books each day. In addition, the library system in districts, cities and many private libraries, thousands of family and clan bookcases... are ready to serve children. These are unique and creative spaces maintained to spread and develop reading culture among children. Every year, many agencies, units and localities in the province have organized activities: building libraries in schools and residential areas; organizing Book and Reading Culture Day; reading culture ambassador contest; drawing pictures and introducing good books... Many schools have joined hands to create open, lively and attractive reading spaces to connect the love of books and form lifelong learning skills.

However, in addition to creative reading spaces, in many localities in the province there is still a lack of reading environments for children; the rate of children reading regularly is not high, and reading promotion activities in many places are still just movements. The main reason is that libraries have not been invested properly to effectively exploit activities serving children. Libraries at the grassroots level and libraries in schools have not kept up with the pace of development of science - technology and practical requirements in general.

Therefore, to continue to form the habit of reading and develop a reading culture for children, units, schools and localities need to further strengthen propaganda work, replicate reading promotion models, and child-friendly reading spaces. In particular, focus on developing and replicating the model of family bookcases, clan bookcases, school bookcases, family reading - connecting love models. In addition, it is necessary to promote socialization to invest in modern equipment, have diverse copyright data sources, attract children and adolescents, contribute to promoting reading habits, improving reading skills, building a learning society and lifelong learning.

Article and photos: Hong Minh

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202505/danh-thuc-van-hoa-doc-trong-thieu-nhi-63a7312/