Reading Recovery: a ray of light for girls in Za’atari refugee camp
“Reading isn’t just necessary to get better grades in school, it’s important everywhere in life.”
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When 12-year-old Ghofran, a Syrian refugee living in Za’atari refugee camp, returned to school following the COVID-19 pandemic she was devastated to discover that she had fallen behind in her learning.
“I was sad that I couldn’t read and write in school,” explains the fifth grader. “I was struggling so much in Arabic class – it wasn’t just that I was reading slowly, there were words I didn’t know at all and had to skip over.
“Reading isn’t just necessary to get better grades in school, it’s important everywhere in life.”
“If I go to a supermarket or the doctor’s clinic, I must be able to read to get by. Even at home, I need to be able to read stories to my little sister.”
A new approach to teaching reading skills
A reading assessment conducted at the start of the 2022/2023 school year discovered that the fifth grader could only read at a Grade 3 level. To improve her learning and help her catch up, she was enrolled in the UNICEF-supported Reading Recovery programme at her school.
For four sessions per week, each lasting half an hour, Ghofran committed herself to learning to read in an engaging way. With the close support of her teacher, she was given books to read at the right level, listened to as she read aloud and encouraged to talk about the stories. Using a digital assessment application on a tablet, her teacher was able to record her voice and monitor her fluency rates and progress over time.
“It was a struggle at first for the girls,” explains Ghofran’s teacher, Ms. Abu Elem. “But applying the Reading Recovery methodology has been so successful. I could see from the very beginning that their reading was improving.”
After one school year of the Reading Recovery programme, more than 75 per cent of Grade 5 and 6 students assessed for reading in refugee camp schools are now scoring 70 per cent or higher.
From happy and confident readers to future leaders
“Now I read and write in a better way than before,” says Ghofran, smiling proudly. “I have learned so many fun things in this class and it has boosted my self-confidence. I feel like I can achieve anything.”
From her home in the camp, at the end of the school year, Ghofran’s mother Tamam describes her relief and excitement at the marked improvements to her daughter’s reading ability. As a former teacher in Syria, she knows how valuable education is for her girls’ futures and had watched with concern at the extent of their learning loss during the pandemic.
“As a mother, I’m so grateful for all the support we’ve received from UNICEF since we came here in 2013 when Ghofran was only 2 years old. The services provided in schools and Makani centres, now including the Reading Recovery Programme, are essential for the development and wellbeing of my children.”
As well as improved learning outcomes, Ghofran’s teacher has noticed that the girls have started to read more for pleasure too. “The Reading Recovery programme is like a ray of light in their lives.”
Now that Ghofran has improved her reading skills, she is determined to achieve her dream of finishing school and becoming a doctor or a teacher.
“A girl must be educated so that she can be an active member of society. I know that my path won’t be easy but I will work hard and finish my education. I know that UNICEF and my teachers will be there to support me all the way,” Ghofran.
With the generous support of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, the Big Heart Foundation, Canada, KfW, KOICA, Sida and the United States Government, UNICEF has helped close to 20,000 children like Ghofran improve their reading in the 2022/2023 academic year through the Reading Recovery Programme in Ministry of Education schools and non-formal centres in refugee camps and Makani centres across Jordan.
