Life

Soccer players on to a winner with reading campaign

Frank Lampard and some of his fellow footballers are kicking off a campaign to get children reading - and just 10 minutes a day can make all the difference say the experts.

Lisa Salmon reports

READING is a vital skill that every parent wants their child to learn, yet almost half of mums and dads in Britain and Northern Ireland admit they lack the confidence and know-how to help improve their child's reading at home.

But there is help at hand, both through a programme which uses footballers as role models to change children's attitudes towards reading, and through a new guide highlighting fun ways to help kids learn to read.

National Literacy Trust research has found that less than a third of young people read outside school every day, so it's joined up with the Premier League to run Premier League Reading Stars, an annual initiative which has enlisted the help of 20 Premier League footballers to use children's passion for football to motivate them to enjoy reading.

On the campaign website, players including Frank Lampard, Adam Lallana, Joey Barton and Boaz Myhill explain why they enjoy reading and how they've decided on their favourite adult and children's books.

The players have also set literacy challenges for participating children, allowing them to unlock statistics, tips and videos from each footballer as they progress through the online programme. Schools and libraries involved with Reading Stars are also delivering weekly football-themed 'fixtures', or literacy sessions, focusing on different types of reading, such as newspapers, fiction, non-fiction and the internet.

Several of the Reading Stars themselves, including Lampard, who is the author of the Frankie's Magic Football children's books, are reading role models and have chosen books which they enjoy reading at home to their

children. The players are also calling on dads to take an active role in reading to their child and supporting their literacy. Manchester City midfielder Lampard says: "As a dad, literacy is a cause close to my heart - I love reading with my girls, and would really encourage other parents to keep reading with their kids, because your influence is so important, and the skills that children get from reading are priceless. "Even 10 minutes a day is valuable, and a great time spent with them."

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