News

Find some shade and relax with an audio book!

Audio books are a great way for some of our adults who are learning to read to start engaging with literature. We shared the following links to online audio book libraries with our Reading Coaches recently, and it seems like the perfect time to share them again during the heatwave when all we want to do is go relax in the shade!

The Listening Books Library

This charity provides access to a huge library of audio books. You’ll find books from favourite authors such as Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie, Alan Bennett, Maeve Binchy, Lee Child, Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Dick Francis, Roald Dahl and David Walliams to name just a few! Their website is: https://www.listening-books.org.uk and you can view the full catalogue by following this link: https://www.listening-books.org.uk/library.aspx and searching by title, genre or author.

Audible

‘Audible’ is an online library. It allows you to stream some stories for free to your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet, and you can open an account to access other books. No account or sign in is required for free books.

The free categories you can choose from include, amongst other things, Literary Classics and Folk Tales and all the Harry Potter books. Discover more at https://stories.audible.com/

Open Culture

1000 free audio books – mainly classics including fiction, non-fiction and poetry which are downloadable to a MP3 Player or a computer. In addition, there are 800 free books for IPad, Kindle and other devices. Search for a title from an alphabetical list by author’s name at http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks

Google Play

There are free audio books available on the google play app. Download the Google Play app and search for free audio books to select from 14,000 classic books.

Enjoy and we’d love to hear about what you are reading! Find us on Facebook and Twitter @readeasyuk.

Could you help us start a new Read Easy group in Oldham?

Be it a book, the newspaper, the local match report on Saturday or even following signs at an appointment, many of us take reading for granted. But without the ability to read, everything in life is so much more difficult. It does not just affect your ability to enjoy a good book. It can affect employment opportunities, health and mental wellbeing.

One such example has been highlighted over the period of the recent pandemic. Many parents and guardians have found home-schooling a challenge, but imagine adding not being able to read to this. Adults who cannot read really struggle to support their children’s learning, which can lead to feelings of guilt and embarrassment.

Read Easy can help anyone in this position.

Karen Wood has recently taken up a new post as Read Easy North West Regional Adviser.
“There was support for a Read Easy Group in Oldham earlier this year but, as with everything, Covid – 19 meant the plan was put on hold.

We are looking for your support to help us get the ball rolling on a brand new Read Easy Group for Oldham. We know that over 135,000 adults in Oldham struggle with everyday reading, that is over 8% of the population of the town who struggle with everyday tasks as well as the other problems that this causes. We’re passionate about changing this.

We’re currently looking for local people who could support the development of a new group by volunteering as Pioneers. Pioneers will make connections to local groups and agencies to help identify readers and spread the word, so that other people in the community become interested in supporting the new group. We have great interest in supporting our work from the people of Oldham but desperately need a Pioneer to help get this group off the ground. The interest is there we just need your help.”

Read Easy UK currently supports 35 affiliated groups across the country and we are now working to expand our network of groups into the North West.

“The reality is that 2.4m adults in the England alone can barely read or cannot read at all.” Karen Wood underlines, “Unfortunately, due to Government cuts, there are fewer adult reading classes than there have ever been, and even where they do exist, many adults have bad memories of school, and are scared of going back into a classroom – especially those with very little or no reading ability. At Read Easy we offer a free and confidential service where each Reader can work at their own pace with one dedicated Volunteer Coach.

The life-impact of learning to read is tangible and genuinely life-changing for both volunteers and readers. The phrase we hear from our Readers time-and-time again is ‘life-changing’. But for our Volunteers too the process of helping adults learn to read has a profound effect on their lives. If you’re based in Oldham and would like to play a key part in helping to transform the lives of adults near you, while developing existing skills and learning new ones in a supportive, fun environment, then why not get in touch!”

To learn more about becoming a Read Easy Pioneer in Oldham please contact Karen Wood, Regional Adviser Read Easy North West – karen@readeasy.org.uk.

Audio Book Club ideas for Read Easy groups

We have been thinking about how Audio Book Clubs could be great way of keeping in touch both during the lockdown and in the future. Potentially helping to provide supported reading activities for our Readers and supporting volunteers during social distancing and self-isolation.

Ideally, we would recommend always choosing titles that are available both as a book and an audio book, so that your book club can be accessible for everyone, including your group’s Readers.

Your book club could simply involve listening to audio books and some discussion, or you might decide to discuss poetry, letters or plays, or compare the film of a book to the book itself.

A Read Easy group could set up a book club in a number of different ways, offering different benefits during the coronavirus lockdown, or indeed at any other time. Read on to find out more about the book club ideas your group could consider.

Coaches’ Book Club

Organised by the Coordinator or a member of the Management Team, this would be a book club for your group’s Coaches and could offer them a wonderful way to stay in touch while normal coaching sessions and Coach meetings are on hold.

Book club meetings could be held over Zoom or Skype, facilitated by the Coordinator or Management Team member running the book club. Should your group have some Coaches who don’t have access to Zoom or Skype, you could consider pairing up these Coaches to ‘meet’ separately over the telephone.

Management Team & Coordinator Book Club

As above, a book club for the Management Team members and Coordinator could be a great way for the team to stay in touch and get together socially while normal Read Easy meetings are on hold.

Read Easy Group Book Club

A book club that encompasses Coaches, Management Team members and Coordinator(s), could help to forge relationships and offer support across all those involved in volunteering with your group.

Read Easy Group Community Book Club

As a local organisation known to be passionate about reading, your group could use the lockdown period to introduce a book club for the community in your area. Using your group’s Facebook page, you could create posts and videos to promote your book club, explaining that at this time your group is looking to do something a little out of its normal remit, with the aim of bringing people in the area together through a love of books and reading.

We would suggest that you arrange a launch date of your book club, and set a regular event on your Facebook page for a book club ‘meeting’ when you could discuss up to a suggested point in the book. You could broadcast a live video on Facebook covering some of the discussion points listed below, or simply write a Facebook post with questions, which people respond to with comments.

You could also invite book club members to share their favourite book recommendations in a video or post on your Facebook page.

Suggested pointers for Book Club discussions:

Some people think the first sentence of a book is the most important. Would you agree or disagree with that, based on this book?
Who’s your favourite character and why?
If you could meet one of the characters right now, what would you say to them?
Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable?
Which characters do you particularly admire or dislike? What are their primary characteristics?
Is the plot well developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along the way, or do plot events unfold naturally?
If you were to talk with the author, what would you want to know?
Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised?
If you were writing a sequel, what would you plan for the characters?

Free Audio Books for Coaches & Readers – April 2020