As part of its ongoing community campaign to promote sustainable reading habits, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), in collaboration with the College of Education at the United Arab Emirates University, launched the "Child Reads" event on Thursday, June 12th, at the Abu Dhabi Children’s Library at the Cultural Foundation.
The event offered children a delightful reading experience that reflected the spirit of the Year of Community and aligned with the campaign's objectives of promoting the Arabic language and emphasising the importance of reading in nurturing a generation that embraces it as a daily habit.
The initiative, which hosted around 70 children, accompanied by their parents, aims to instil a love of reading in young minds, encourage family engagement, and equip teachers with the tools, strategies, and resources to foster early reading skills. It featured immersive reading sessions designed to stimulate imagination, enhance language abilities, and promote meaningful family interaction, underlining the vital role of shared reading in early childhood development.
Fifteen female students from the College of Education participated in delivering the activities, divided into two groups. Each student led a storytelling session and guided a related activity in small groups of five children. Each session ran for 45 minutes, with additional time allocated for transitioning between complementary activities. The students accompanied the children during these transitions, ensuring a smooth and well-organised experience in an inspiring environment that encourages reading and interaction.
The event featured interactive oral storytelling sessions followed by enrichment activities led by students specialising in early childhood education and special education. These activities aim to highlight the importance of reading in daily life, strengthen bonds among children, families, and educators, and nurture curiosity and a love of learning, as well as an enduring passion for books.
The event consisted of seven themed stations, each presenting a different story with a unique setting tailored to the nature of its accompanying activity. Each story was supported by visual aids and interactive materials to help reinforce the story’s educational and moral messages in the child’s memory.
Following the storytelling sessions, children had the opportunity to explore the books on their own, examine the illustrations and interpret each story from their own perspective. This activity was designed to encourage engagement with non-verbal narratives, enhancing visual storytelling skills and enabling children to create and record their own stories based on the images using iPads.
The Centre selected a collection of stories written by accomplished female authors specialising in children’s literature. These include "My Trait, Not a Monster", and "Where Did the Black Chicken Go?" by Amal Nasser; "Dad & The Box of Happiness" by Reem Al Gurg; and "Zack le maniaque" (Saroj Alghanoj), "Salomé la pressée" (Sula Al Ajula), and "Cassandre la gourmande" (Fola Al Akola) by Odile Bailloeul. The latter two titles were published by the Kalima Translation Project under the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.
In addition, the event featured an intensive workshop for parents and participating educators, focusing on key guidelines for reading to young children and fostering a love of books. Led by experts from the College of Education, the session offered practical advice and strategies to attract children to reading and establish it as a regular and cherished habit.
