ພາສາລາວ
With the support from Australia, the European Union, and USAID, the Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR (BEQUAL) program is organising a four-day workshop from 18th-21st June on the use of book levelling in publishing for children’s books
Writers and editors from key publishers of children’s books as well as personnel from several departments within Ministry of Education and Sports and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism joined the workshop.
The book-levelling of children’s reading material entails identifying different levels of reading materials according to children’s age and reading ability. Book levelling is used by many publishers of children’s books worldwide because it helps parents and teachers select appropriate reading material to support children’s developing literacy skills. Because book levelling of children’s reading materials makes material more attractive to consumers, this also often increases sales of books as well.
The main aim of this practical workshop is to introduce participants to the importance of book-levelling and a set of criteria which can be used to evaluate existing published material and to inform the development of future children’s reading material in Lao PDR. A second aim of the workshop is to open a dialogue among stakeholders as to the possibility of developing an agreed national standardised system of book levelling which is especially beneficial in helping parents select and purchase children’s reading material.
The workshop is facilitated by Room to Read’s global technical specialist, Mr Alfredo Santos, an award-winning writer, educator and children’s storybook development specialist from the Philippines.