An Extract from creating the avid reader, a piece in progress.

Words, Symbols…..

Kwaku has trouble reading.

Kwaku is ten years old and he can’t read. His elder brother doesn’t understand why, because he can’t even remember struggling with reading. It perhaps came natural to him. But this wasn’t the case for Kwaku. When Kwaku looks at a page of a basic reading book and sees the text. He doesn’t see G+O becoming GO. He becomes overwhelmed. All he sees are symbols. These symbols look familiar because he has seen them in the classroom a number of times. He recognises the “peg” like symbol is called A. And with some struggle he can say these symbols up to Zee. Sometimes whiles he is reading the letters he confuses “n” with “m” - it’s hard for him to see these symbols for what they are. He doesn’t just want to see them because he knows - and he realises he is required to see these symbols as more than they are.

He recalls the occasions where Sammy, his elder brother , will say to him; ” Kwaku reading is very important. You need to learn how to read else you will amount to nothing in this world. Ouch.. You can’t do what you want to do. No matter what you want to do reading sets you apart. You know, you can’t even rap, if you can write your lyrics.

    -  The things pseudo-teachers do to get kids to learn -              

Yet, Kwaku didn’t see any reason why he should learn to write. Because if all he wanted to do was rap, then he just needed to use his recorder. He just had to hit the playback button and the words he “spat” will come right back to him.

He still didn’t understand. It was too far fetched. How these symbols came to say what he wished to say. Who even determined that these symbols combined in a certain way represented his thoughts. And how someone could read and understand what he meant - and feel how he meant It - seemed unrealistic.

These symbols and the meaning we draw into them are just too abstract, what they represent cannot be intuited - And as that expression through their form is limited.

To understand them you somewhat need to make an effort to come into terms that the symbol represents more than itself. The symbol is a tool ; A medium through which one is able to convey meaning. And in the most interesting way, this meaning can be conveyed through time.

Words are pretty magical things.

Man being an expressive being, our nature impels us to communicate; touch, talk, shout, laugh, jump, create…