Community Notice Board
South Sudanese-Australian Academic Society Inc. (SSAS)
Open Day Excursions
Deakin University
10 minutes of music learning a week for 10 weeks can improve reading skills for poor readers
This amazing study is by the great Prof Susan Hallam and she tested a music intervention to assist poor readers. After a rhythmic intervention involving clapping, stamping, and chanting to music while following notation on a chart, the poor readers showed significant improvements in their reading accuracy and comprehension.
Another reason why this study is interesting is that the participant group were secondary school students, not early childhood students as is often the case in studies about reading.
The thinking behind this is that poor readers struggle to maintain their attention on reading as well as issues with hearing language sounds as they relate to reading in a consistent way. Going further down into the underpinnings of these problems within the brain is a lack of rhythmic entertainment and synchronisation, which is how rhythm activities seem to improve reading skills.
Let’s look at it a different way because this flow of development is an important but tricky idea to understand. Working from the foundation problems upwards – if a child’s brain is struggling to get in sync and send messages around the brain effectively and reliably, it is harder to pay attention because the brain is working far harder than it should to process information. That attention span is further taxed by hearing language sounds unreliably or with a lot of extra noise going on in their brain.
Think of it like trying to listen all day to someone talking while you are wearing headphones and there is extra noise going into your ears. You would get sick of it, your brain would get tired and you would switch off. When these students come to reading they are running the equivalent of a cognitive marathon in a potato sack. On the inside, their brain is working far too hard because, at its core, it is not passing messages around in an effective and efficient way.
Hallam shares some insights in her paper “After two sessions, one pupil announced that he had finished reading a book for the first time while another wanted to understand how her reading had suddenly improved. After five weeks, many pupils had noticed a change and indicated that their teachers had also seen improvements. They described their reading as ‘flowing better’, ‘more smooth’, ‘easier to read’ and ‘clearer’. They had also begun to volunteer to read aloud in class.”
How can we get this message out?
Music is a complementary learning tool to improve reading skills.
Sourced from:
https://biggerbetterbrains.com/news-post/10-minutes-a-week/
Extra Study Opportunities
Circus Quirkis
The Rotary Club of Preston proudly presents International Entertainment’s animal-free ‘Circus Quirkus’.
Thanks to the generous support from the City of Greater Melbourne’s business communities, tickets are COMPLIMENTARY for children who have faced any difficulties or disadvantage in recent times, including but not limited to children with a disability, ASD, chronic illness, in foster-care or with low socio- economic status.
*Tickets for all family members, carers, teachers, etc. are also complimentary. **Companion cards are accepted at this event.
Circus Quirkus provides children of all abilities and backgrounds an opportunity to experience world-class entertainment in an inclusive, accessible and safe environment where they feel welcomed and free to be themselves without restriction or judgement.
Circus Quirkus is a contemporary take on favourite, traditional circuses of ages past. It is an eclectic and entertaining mix of circus acts brought to you from all over the world. Internationally renowned clowns, jugglers, acrobats and more, deliver hilarious, hugely engaging and sometimes death-defying acts of unbelievable skill. Circus Quirkus is suitable for kids of all ages. We hope it provides a wonderful day of respite and fun.
http://www.circusquirkus.com.au/
SATURDAY 17TH AUGUST 2019 @ 11.00AM and 2.00PM
*Show duration approx. 90 minutes including an interval.
MELBOURNE CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE Plenary Hall - 1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf VIC
