Slow-progress readers in years 3 to 6 will be given
intensive, systematic instruction in phonics, sight words, comprehension and
spelling every morning for 20 weeks. Twelve children from years 1 and 2 will
have an hour at the centre after school.
“Most of my life has been spent working with kids who
want to have a good life, but I struggled to make their lives better,”
Crews said on Friday. “I was sick of burying kids . . . The only way I
have found to get through to them is education and this was the best program I
found . . . It’s turned me around from just [providing] welfare.”
The first 32 students – about half of them indigenous – from
Darlington Public
School, Alexandria Park Community
School and Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Primary School at Waterloo
began classes last week.
“I used to be able to read. I don’t know what
happened,” said quiet Brittany Kelso, 11.
“We got thick books with smaller [print] and then I
found some words a bit hard.”
Robert Mumbulla, 11, said he liked books but found reading
difficult. “I want to read Aladdin,” he said.
On Friday both children were already more confident,
sounding out words in unison with their classmates.
“Some people don’t eat meat. Spell it with me,”
said tutor Micaela.
“M-e-a-t,” the children said.
“Good work! Your eyes are to the front and your arms
are folded! Three group points to Ambrose, Amanda and Brittany. You guys are
doing a great job following our rules today!”
The tutors all use a positive teaching approach with five
positive comments to every corrective comment, which is remarkably effective.
The children thrive on the praise and clear boundaries; one of the hallmarks of
the Macquarie University-devised MULTILIT program is the transformation of fidgety,
“unteachable” children into model pupils. On the walls are banners
spelling out the rules: “We put rubbish in the bin. We pack away on the
first bell. We keep our body parts to ourselves. We do what the teachers say
straight away. We are kind and polite to everyone.”‘
To qualify for the program, children must be at least two
years behind their peers in reading and are regularly tested to gauge progress.
When Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson organised a trial for Coen
School in Cape
York last year, children who had been about three years behind
their non-indigenous peers in the rest of the country gained 21 months in
reading accuracy and 11 months in comprehension.
An extension of the program at Crews’s Ashfield
Uniting Church,
the Redfern centre is temporarily housed in a church hall in Alexandria
until the defunct Redfern
Public School is
refurbished.
The star of today’s grand opening will be 12-year-old Tyrell
Enriquez, who had been 2 years behind his peers in reading before he started
the Ashfield program. By the end, he was six months ahead and won a scholarship
to Scots College this year with plans to become a
doctor.
So much for a boy who thought he was “stupid”.
For Crews, his eureka moment came when another 13-year-old
Ashfield graduate he was driving somewhere suddenly realised he could read the
street signs. “He could place himself on the planet. It was awesome. I had
to stop the car. I just never knew education could be so powerful.”
But the success of the MULTILIT programs underscores the tragedy
of so many other young lives wasted – countless smart children who believe they
are stupid because they haven’t been taught to read.
At a cost of $13,750 a student, the Redfern Exodus centre
will need $800,000 a year, all from donations.
Donations can be made through Leonie Wilbow at Exodus on
8752 4622.