I walked into the classroom one afternoon and saw a child reading to a dog. The dog was laid there, quite happily watching the child read. What I noticed most was how well the child was reading! I had to enquire about the programme, and I was told it’s part of an initiative called Read 2 Dogs. When I got home, I went straight onto the internet to find out more.
We all know how awful it can feel when having to speak and read in public. We can probably all remember reading out loud in school and how it used to make us feel. A lot of the time, the biggest worry tends to be what if I read something wrong? Or what if I don’t know how to say a word? Or even what does my voice sound like?
When reading to a dog – all of those issues can start to go away. The dog isn’t going to correct you, or make fun of the sound of your voice or laugh when you don’t know how to say a word. The dog is there, sitting, listening quietly to everything that you say.
By having a dog come in regular, it gives the children something to look forward to – and also get them looking forward to reading, making it a win-win situation. You can either have it as 1:1 sessions like I witnessed or as whole class situations so everyone is still taking it in turns to read to the dog. However, from what I witnessed, the 1:1 sessions looked a much better idea.
