Creating a print-rich environment

Having plenty of printed materials in the community environment contributes to success in learning to read.

Here are some objectives of creating a print-rich environment:

• To expose people to reading and writing
• To encourage people to try to read and write
• To model the use of printed materials by reading to people
• To help people understand the nature of reading and writing
• To help people understand the functions and uses of print

Here are some materials to use to create a print-rich environment:

• Alphabet charts
• Bulletin boards
• Calendars
• Labels on objects
• Posters

• Put printed materials everywhere.
• Draw people's attention to the printed materials around them and read it to them.
• Help people understand that print is useful.
• Encourage people to participate in creating this environment by helping to make and distribute printed materials.
• Make printed materials available to the community to look at and buy.

  Examples:

  Have a library. Sell books.

• Produce as much material as possible.

  Make it as interesting as possible to the community so people will want to read it. Note the kinds of material that get the most interest and produce more like it.

  Examples:

  Scriptures Traditional stories Information to cope with the outside world A newspaper Easy readers

• Task module: Creating a print-rich environment
• In task module: Exposing people to reading and writing, by Delle P. Matthews, Anne Klaassens (contributor), Leah B. Walter (contributor), Ken Boothe (contributor), and Trudy K. Stewart (general editor)
• In task module: Preparing for a literacy program
• In modular book: Prepare for a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter, Mary Morgan, and Leah B. Walter
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 May 1999

© 1999 SIL International