How to make your child a lifelong fan of reading, according to Osmo Chief Reading Officer LeVar Burton
As a longtime literacy advocate, Osmo Chief Reading Officer LeVar Burton often gets asked the same question from parents: How do I make my child a better reader?
His response is two simple questions in return.
“Number one – do your kids see you reading?” he asks. “Because I grew up in a family where my mother was an avid reader and she not only read to us when we were children – I have two sisters – but she read in front of us and that’s a real critical modeling that I think parents need to remind themselves of.
“The second question I ask them is ‘what is your child passionate about?’ Because it’s our passion that tends to drive our reading appetites. And I’ve told parents for years, if your kid loves superheroes, then buy your kid comic books. I don’t care what the gateway experience is to literacy, I just want kids to read.”
Burton partnered with Osmo from BYJU’S to help us spread the importance of not just reading, but developing a love for reading. And Osmo’s new learn-to-read program, Reading Adventure, was created to support kids on their journey from a new reader to a confident one.
Burton says the technology Osmo is using just makes sense in driving a love of reading. After all, it’s what he’s built his career on.
Reading Adventure uses the power of speech recognition with a physical book to help young students learn how to read in a way that feels like they’re following friends like Oliver the dog and Nebula through a mystical game world. And from Burton’s experience, he knows that there is no better way to inspire enthusiastic readers than using the technology of the moment.
“The technology we used on Reading Rainbow was television and then we reinvented that television show as an app in the digital space,” he said. “So this is a natural progression for me as much as for Osmo – it’s all about taking the process of learning how to read and applying the technology of that to make reading fun for kids.”
