Kids Read is an exciting scheme developed to help children love reading both inside and outside the classroom across the Asia region. After three successful years in the Middle East and North Africa where we reached approximately 35,000 students, 500 teachers directly, thousands of teachers indirectly, 300 HSBC volunteers and thousands of parents to help spread the message that Reading is Fun, we are delighted to announce the third launch of Kids Read Asia.
Kids Read sponsored exclusively by HSBC Bank Ltd and was developed by the British Council to provide for an engaging and child-friendly reading programme in primary schools. Kids Read Asia 2015 will work across 8 countries in Asia – Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Kids Read is simple. Reading is Fun! Kids Read takes reading to the next level through a variety of reading activities which cater to the different needs of students throughout the academic year. They will be encouraged to participate in storytelling, class activities, choose their own books to read, competitions and much more within the schools. There will also be a number of community events, supported by HSBC volunteer staff, taking place throughout the year which will involve the wider community.
In Thailand, over 1,000 students have benefited from the programme in its first year. We recently hosted a community event in November 2015 to celebrate the success of the project and to present awards to competition winners. The event saw almost 100 schoolchildren reading English storybooks, listening to animated storytelling by our HSBC volunteers and enjoying making beautiful arts and crafts related to those stories. All activities were run in English, encouraging the children to learn and practice their English skills in a fun and inspiring way.