Helping students crack the reading code

Reading Buddies program, EGNB volunteers give kids a leg up on literacy

Twice a month, Dawn Allaby walks into Mrs. Lyon’s Grade 1 classroom at Nashwaaksis Elementary School in Fredericton, N.B., and watches for little faces to light up. And they do.

Allaby, a workload coordinator for Enbridge Gas New Brunswick, volunteers as a classroom reading helper, working with children who need extra support to find success in learning.

Allaby’s efforts are part of a partnership between Nashwaaksis Elementary School, Frontier College, a non-profit literacy organization, and EGNB. The Reading Buddies program sees 12 employees devoting two hours of company time each month to children in kindergarten and Grade 1, in an effort to give the kids a leg up on literacy. Enbridge reading buddies like Allaby are usually paired with one child at a time, giving the children special attention as they learn.

Jackie Hay, the principal at Nashwaaksis Elementary, says one-on-one attention is something that the school system can’t provide, and it’s making a huge difference for children in the program.

“Having the Enbridge volunteers come twice a week, you can just see the kids’ self-esteem grow. They bubble, they smile, they just beam when those tutors come in the classroom.”

Self-esteem and improved literacy are key for elementary students, explains Hay: “My belief is that if you catch them early and get them reading early, their whole scholastic career is going to be more successful.”

The sentiment is echoed by Janette Desharnais, regional coordinator for Frontier College in New Brunswick. “Research shows that children who don’t grasp the ‘reading code’ in the first years of school really struggle when the teachers move from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn,’ ” she says.

Literacy struggles aren’t unique to New Brunswick, but Desharnais says that for a variety of reasons, the province is coping with some of the lowest adult literacy scores in the country. Tackling those adult literacy issues means addressing reading challenges in the early years – and that’s something Desharnais believes the Reading Buddies program is doing effectively.

Helping to ensure students don’t get left behind is the essence of EGNB’s involvement in the Reading Buddies program, says Nadine Chiasson, an EGNB communications specialist who co-coordinates the program. It is, she says, a natural fit with Enbridge’s community investment strategy, which aims to support organizations that help those in need and to build vibrant, sustainable communities: “Being involved in the community is what Enbridge does.”

That community investment pays huge dividends for program volunteers. EGNB’s Allaby says she gets as much as she gives by being a reading buddy.

“Our lives have been enriched by this program,” she says. “I’m thankful that we’ve been given this time to step away from our desks to have this special experience helping out in the schools.”