'Literacy for Life: A Protect Our Children Special Presentation' airs Saturday, May 18 on Channel 7
NEW YORK (WABC) -- "Literacy for Life: A Protect Our Children Special Presentation," hosted by Shirleen Allicot, focuses on the importance of teaching children to read and write and how illiteracy can set a person up for a lifetime of limitations.
The 30-minute special includes an interview with New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks, who talks about the Department of Education's shift toward a phonics-based curriculum and how it's already showing positive results. We interview a kindergarten teacher and go inside her classroom as she shows us how she instructs phonics.
The special also includes an interview with legendary entertainer, Carol Burnett, who talks to us about being a child-literacy advocate since the early days of her stellar career. The show also features a story about what the New York Public Libraryis doing to bridge the literacy gap between home and the classroom. We speak to a librarian about the NYPL's after-school tutoring program and a second grade student whose reading skills have soared since being tutored.
"Literacy for Life" also profiles Barbershop Books, a nationwide program that started in Harlem, designed to help instill a love for reading in young Black boys and other at-risk youth.
Finally, we end the show with a candid conversation with Whoopi Goldberg, who speaks about her struggle with dyslexia as a child and how she learned to overcome it. Whoopi is just one of many reading role models we profile in our uplifting special.
Throughout the show, there will also be informative and inspirational bumps about literacy and the people working tirelessly to get books in the hands of every child and instill a love for reading.
