Lire et faire lire is a volunteer-based reading program that works in schools across the Province of Quebec. On the local front, the program is at work in a number of schools in the Haut-Saint-François MRC, including Sawyerville Elementary and Pope Memorial Elementary School in Bury. “In English we call it ‘Read and be read to’,” said Tami Spires, one of two volunteer readers working in the English schools, explaining that the program brings in adult volunteers from the community to read with small groups of students in the second grade once per week over a six week period. “The whole idea of this program is to foster a love of reading.” The program in practice is essentially just what it sounds like. Over the course of an hour on Wednesday mornings, each volunteer meets with their group and both reads and is read to from books chosen by the students. “I love it,” Spires said, pointing out that she has been volunteering with the program since it first got started in Bury several years ago. “I’m always sad at the end of the six weeks. Every time I leave the school after that hour of reading, I feel changed for the better.” See full story in the Tuesday, March 3 edition of The Record.
