“During a reading session, we don’t talk to children about homework, or what they should or shouldn’t do. It’s a session for pleasure, we read a book together, enjoying its illustrations, and close it looking forward to the next session, with no questions that turn the joy into a lesson like any other.”
This is how WLR ambassador Marah Al-Khudur describes a read-aloud session. Marah received the We Love Reading in-person training earlier this year in Amman. She is an avid reader with a background in educational sciences. Although she used to read to children before, her approach to reading changed dramatically after the training.
She shares that she never used to read to large groups of children and see them truly enjoy the stories. In addition, the books she received after the training helped her establish the first library in her neighborhood, books that subtly encourage positive behavior and reflect the children’s own lived experiences.
In her opinion: “volunteer work nurtures a sense that we’re doing something beyond the daily routine, a feeling that we matter, and that our presence has value. A story that leaves an impact, or a book that changes behavior, can benefit an entire community without expecting any personal benefit in return.”
“To learn and teach new words, to live an experience and sense its effect on yourself and others, that’s what makes reading sessions more than just moments. They become a true culture and a lasting legacy that takes root in our neighborhoods through reading aloud.”
Marah describes reading as an inseparable part of her life. She leads reading sessions for dozens of children, determined that no child should be deprived of pages and illustrations, or of traveling through imagination to worlds they would never visit without reading. She says the training developed in her a deeper kind of reading that helped her and the children cultivate intellectual patience, curiosity, and a love for book recommendations, which has become rare in an age of fast scrolling.
Reading, she believes, grants us and our children a calm mind and a thoughtful eye, one that allows us to reflect on the beauty around us, to listen to our thoughts, and to give space to our minds away from the rush of digital platforms.