What Are Happy Readers?
Happy Readers are a set of Learn-to-Read books developed in Zimbabwe for use in African school situations, especially where English is a second language. The books use African wild animals as the characters and are brightly coloured on durable gloss paper with large, clear, colour pictures on each page to illustrate the stories.They are currently used by nearly all the private schools in Zimbabwe as well as over 1000 rural schools in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Feedback from Teachers, Heads & Ministry of Education has been universally positive. The books work! (All books are approved by the Ministries of Education in Zimbabwe & Zambia for use in schools). The books included in our projects cover Grades 1, 2 and 3 but based on past experience will be used in grades 3, 4 5, 6 and even Grade 7 for remedial reading.
Happy Readers promote positive African values in a learning environment, as well as sensitising children and teachers to gender specific issues, best cultural practices and better world themes.
All books have instructions for use in English, Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Nyanja and Bemba.
Versions of the level 1 reading books are being developed in Shona, Nyanja and Bemba.
How Do We Know It Works?
A recent Happy Readers Literacy project in Livingstone, Zambia, supported by the Australian Embassy has seen huge increases in literacy among those children that used Happy Readers.
Children that used Happy Readers showed a literacy rate of 75 to 90% after 18 months as compared to 10 to 25% for those children that did not use the programme. The average literacy rate before using Happy Readers was 32%.
A farm school in Macheke, Zimbabwe recorded literacy levels of 88% & 91% in its Grade 1 and 2 classes after 2 years of using Happy Readers in those grades. The middle and upper grades at the same schools (who had not used Happy Readers) had literacy levels of under 10%. There are several other case studies that have shown similar results.
Versions of the level 1 reading books are being developed in Shona, Nyanja and Bemba.
All books have instructions for use in English, Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Nyanja and Bemba.