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Rochdale couple rise to the Challenge
7 April 2010
Library workers Alison Copple and Pamela Taylor-Bramwell in Rochdale have told us about Rehana and Muhammed Saghir who completed the Six Book Challenge last year. Rochdale Libraries have worked extensively with family literacy worker Hanila Nadim and her colleagues who are located at primary schools and nurseries within the borough's most deprived areas. The focus of their work is on helping parents to improve their literacy skills so they can support and encourage their children's education. The demographic of some of these areas mainly consists of ethnic minorities, economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers so the emphasis is on English as an additional language. Rehana and Muhammed have a daughter aged six and a son aged five.
"I first heard about the Six Book Challenge when I was doing a course at South Street nursery last year," explains Rehana. "Our teacher told us about the Challenge, and took us to the local library. I thought it sounded a good idea, as I wanted to improve my
English. My husband didn't speak very good English, so I said to him to do it with me.
"I could speak English before but I could not read books. The Six Book Challenge helped me with reading books in English. They are children's books, but they are helping me. Reading is one of the ways that I relax. And I am reading with my children in the mornings when we sit down for breakfast - they have books which they have brought home from school and we read them together, which I really like.
"My children are really happy that Mummy is reading with them. They are choosing books in English to borrow for themselves and for me, and they get books in Urdu for Daddy. Now they speak in English to me and in Punjabi to Daddy. But Daddy's English is also getting better."
"I really liked doing the Six Book Challenge," says Muhammed. "Before, I was very shy about speaking English, but it has helped me. Now I can speak in English to the children, and I can go to the shops on my own, or to the Jobcentre."
Rehana remembers: "When we finished the Six Book Challenge we got certificates at our local library, and we were both very happy. Eventually I hope my English is
good enough so that I can work. I would like to be a nursery nurse, or work with children."