Family Literacy Day is an annual initiative that takes place on January 27 to encourage families to learn together all year round. The theme this year is Play for Literacy. Playing games creates a strong family bond, promotes language comprehension and improves reading skills.
Literacy starts in the home. According to a recent national survey, children raised in literate households are likely to enter grade one with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them. This is why it’s especially important for parents to encourage literacy at an early age and to take time to show children that learning can be fun.
More than a million British Columbians have such a low level of literacy that they have trouble comprehending anything but the simplest text. That means 21 per cent of the province’s population doesn’t have the skills necessary to fill out a job application or read a newspaper. Studies indicate that low-level literacy leads to low self-esteem, unemployment, poverty and, in some cases, crime.
Family Literacy Day is a good reminder to keep literacy in the forefront all year.
