Let's Read! World Book Day celebrated at NPH Dominican Republic!

This past April, El Día del Libro (World Book Day) was celebrated at our NPH Dominican Republic home. This day celebrated reading through a variety of activities that encouraged our children to enjoy reading. We reinforced this in the several weeks following with many events and programs that fostered the children's imaginations and improved their reading skills. 


Our volunteers have read stories in the park to large groups of our younger children, and they all gather around and listen intently as the volunteers share their favorite childhood stories and also read from current popular books. 


For our older children, our Activities Coordinator came up with a great competition. She asked our older children (5th grade and above) to read their favorite books and turn in a book report. In all 33 were completed and turned in. The most creative, thoughtful and informational reports won a prize, and all who participated got a small gift as well. The children are still writing book reports hoping another contest will soon be announced. 


During this time all our children also took field trips with their classes to the Santo Domingo International Book Fair. This event, located in the heart of the capital, was an excellent experience for everyone. They heard readings by popular national and international authors and had free time to explore and browse through hundreds and hundreds of books. 


We've definitely noticed in the past weeks, the children are asking their volunteers and caregivers to read to them more and more. Volunteers have also commented that their children have made vast improvements in their reading skills!