On 16 July 2016 the British Council Vietnam in collaboration with HSBC Vietnam co-organised the 2nd community event within the Kids Read project at the Centre for medical treatment, education and social affairs no 2 in Ba Vi, Hanoi. The event was attended by representatives of the Centre, WWO – Worldwide Orphans Foundation, 22 volunteers of HSBC Vietnam, and more than 70 disadvantaged children who are living in the centre.
This is the 2nd community event of the Kids Read project which aims to raise awareness of the importance of reading and storytelling and promote good reading habits for children. This event also aimed to help improve the quality of life of disadvantaged children who are living at the Ba Vi Centre.
22 volunteers of HSBC Vietnam, the sponsoring partner of the Kids Read programme were thoroughly briefed and the reading sessions went excellently. 'Dear Greenpeace' by Simon James and 'The Whole World' by Christopher Corr and Fred Penner were read in both English and Vietnamese. The children understood the stories, enjoyed the reading and were blown away by the fun of activities. 'I loved the stories because they are funny and interesting' or 'I am very happy and wish your team would come to us more often to tell us many more stories and to create more games for us' were among comments that were heard.
Thuy Ngo, Country Director of Worldwide Orphans Foundation expressed her thanks to HSBC Vietnam and the British Council for 'a lively and exciting morning.'. She thought 'the children enjoyed listening to English stories and singing English songs, and they also made fantastic art work.'.
Kids Read was launched in Vietnam in 2015 in Binh Duong Province. In 2016, Kids Read is implemented in Hanoi. Around 21 teachers and nearly 4000 pupils in 6 primary schools in Hanoi are participating in the project with activities including teacher training; reading sessions, competitions and community events and the 6 schools will be equipped with over 1,200 books. Kids Read is a global program developed by British Council and sponsored by HSBC which started in 2011 in 10 Middle Eastern and North African countries and 7 countries in Asia, promoting reading for pleasure. For further information, please contact nga.le@britishcouncil.org.vn.