Reading Service at Local Primary School

Since September 2014, BTMUH has participated in a campaign “Fathers for Reading” run by Reading and Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven), whose mission is to improve the reading and writing skills of people with poor literacy skills in the Netherlands.

The campaign encourages fathers to read books to their children to help enhance their reading skills and increase their vocabulary, leading to better grades at school and more opportunities when they leave. The campaign is carried out with a number of local organizations and companies including the public library in Amsterdam.

On 20th March, five staff from the bank read books to children aged 6 to 9 years old at Valentijnschool, a Primary school in Amsterdam.
At the beginning the children were very curious about these adults who came from a world they are not familiar with and did not hesitate to ask questions. After the reading session started they calmed down to hear the stories. When the reader asked questions relating to the story, the children enthusiastically answered and even asked for the story to be repeated.

The school, the Foundation and BTMUH hoped that the children would tell their parents about what happened in school that day and that parents would also be motivated to read for their children.
Reading aloud to children not only has a positive impact on their language development, it also strengthens the bond between parent and child and encourages communication.
The participating bank staff were also inspired by the children who were very enthusiastic in their desire to learn.

BTMUH would like to continue to contribute and hopes to support as many children as possible to succeed in their studies and later on in society.

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(Website of Vadervoorlezen.nl: vadersvoorlezen.nl/bedrijven)