LIBRARY WEEK IN TURKEY 2010

Turkey celebrates Library Week this week – an event that will go by unnoticed by most people .

First let me relate a conversation I recently overheard when I was in a stationary shop buying something .A parent and her son came and asked a shop assistant for some help to choose a book. The parent said that her son needed a novel for school. She said they wanted an adventure book about 300 pages long .The shop assistant offered the parent an Agatha Christie book . (The parent mentioned that the child’s teacher had recommended Agatha Christie ) .The parent flicked through the book for a second and then asked if there was any other alternatives.The shop assistant said there wasn’t anything, after which the parent went off to pay for the Agatha Christie book….

The child himself didn’t get the opportunity to browse through the other books, or at least the chance to read the back cover or the first page of the Agatha Christie book.

No thought was given whether the book would interest the student .
No mention of whether Agatha Christie would appeal to a young boy.( I have my doubts).
Of whether the book was suitable for his reading level ??..
I just wonder if that child will exactly read the book from cover to cover … ???

The majority of parents and teachers in Turkey unfortunately don’t usually know how to select an appropriate book for a child .The teachers generally suggest pupils should read book titles from the Ministry of Education's recommended "100 Classic booklist" . This list takes no account that children may have different reading levels. Most of the books on the list are long and quite hard books . The majority are completely unsuitable for a child with dyslexia or learning disabilities.

It must be remembered that the majority of parents do not know about the importance of reading to their child at an early age since most have had no experience of it themselves.As a result children sometimes have very little if no contact with books at an early age.

In addition for many people buying a book is a luxury item , especially for those more concerned with how they will feed their family !!!! If they do purchase a book generally it will be a cheap reprint of a classic book. Dyslexic children of course, if they are given an unappealing and boring book will be even more de-motivated to try to read it !!

This is why the Turkish Government needs to invest money into funding proper libraries with well- trained librarians so that they can :

encourage children to love and enjoy reading.
To help students and parents alike to guide them how to select the right book.
To assist pupils with learning proper research skills - which they are sadly lacking.

To give all people rich or poor the opportunity to read good literature.

My son recently went with his class from school to visit the neighbourhood library . My son who has seen libraries in the UK said that the library he visited was crying "Please paint me !!! Please fill my shelves with some modern books !!
Please blow my cobwebs away “

Happy Library week to all in Turkey !!!

NB Agatha Christie - Is reputed to have been dyslexic....

LIBRARY WEEK IN TURKEY

Libraries and Dyslexia

Due to the fact that I have worked in a library and that it was library week in Turkey recently , I decided to write something about libraries and dyslexia !!.

If your child is dyslexic they will generally try to avoid reading because it is something they find difficult.This is a normal human reaction as we generally prefer not to do something we are struggling with !! Of course, we as parents must encourage our child to read on a daily basis, in order for them to improve their reading skills.In fact ,this is even more important in the long school holidays.!!

In countries ,like the UK, in every neighbourhood their are well- stocked public libraries where you and your kids can borrow books. In fact many libraries are “dyslexia –friendly with easy to read books and talking books etc available for loan.Childrens librarians read stories to children and many libraries run events to promote childrens reading.Some schools in the UK carry out “Paired Reading Projects” in the school library to help struggling readers. (I have talked about paired reading in an earlier article.)

Unfortunately when we look at Turkey – libraries are few and far between and also poorly stocked. School libraries are non-existent except for some mainly at private schools. My son’s school has a room with “library” written on it but it doesnt function as a library.Its quite sad I think !!!!

Though I am lucky and I can go and buy books which will interest my son , many other people in Turkey can not afford the luxury of purchasing books !! This is why librairies SHOULD be an important priority in Turkey. If there were decent libraries then children could at least borrow books…… !!!

Due to the lack of a well- stocked library near me I resort to spending time with my son looking around book-shops and browsing.This is a helpful exercise to do with your child to encourage a liking for books. Also make sure you read to your child – especially books which are perhaps too hard for them to read by themselves. Yapı Kredi often hold events to promote new childrens books where you can meet the author of a book. These are also useful to take your child to.

Interesting statistics :

In Europe there are 7.500 people for every library but in Turkey there are 51.000 people to every library !!

In Turkey every 6 people read 1 book in a year !!

Only 19 – 25 % of children own books in Turkey

Only one mother/father in 4 shows some effort to encourage their children to have good reading habits .

40 % of the population have never visited a library. Another 31 % have been occasionally.

In 2006 the Childrens Foundation wrote a report about the reading habits in Turkey.This is where a lot of the statistics I quoted have come from . Go to the site to see the report:

http://www.cocukvakfi.org.tr/
Not a very good picture does it paint !!