Hi. I’m Tom and this is a story on how I got really good at reading. Today I am writing about how Toe By Toe changed who I am…
Three years ago, when I began Toe By Toe, I was in Year 3. I really thought I wasn’t that smart and I thought I couldn’t achieve anything in Year 6, high school, or college. Today I am in Year 6 and I really think I can go on and do well.
In the middle of Year 3 my Mum was concerned that I wasn’t doing that well in school so she found a lady called Sue. She introduced me to Toe By Toe. When I began Toe By Toe it was me sounding out letters. Now as I have come to the end of the book, it is me reading paragraphs and sounding out high school words like psychosomatic and psychoanalysis.
In Grade 3, I pulled out a thick chapter book which was ‘Grandpa’s Great Escape’ by David Walliams. I started reading it and I had no idea what most of the words were. I was so confused because I couldn’t read most of the words. Now I can read that book easily. Now I’m enjoying the Morris Gleitzman ‘Once’ series that are about a boy who survives World War 2 in Germany…
This is to whoever doesn’t like reading: If you don’t like reading, that’s completely fine. You can like other things, but I just want to tell you something. If you find a book that interests you, that you can read, and that you can understand, then try reading it and it might interest you.
This is also a little story on how I really like reading. I got given a book that I was forced to read. It was about how people survived when robots took over the world. I didn’t understand it one little bit but when I got given another book called ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman, I read a page, one single page, and I was automatically hooked by book!
I wrote this to say thank you. It helped me so, so much now and in the future. I would really recommend Toe By Toe for anyone over the age of 7 who is struggling with reading and sounding out words. For me, it gave me confidence and strength to not be shy anymore. In Grade 3 I was really shy but now I am much more confident and believe in myself more. Sincerely thank you! Tom (Melbourne).
This was sent to us by Sue Austin, a private literacy tutor in Melbourne, Australia.
Her website is: www.readingconnections.com.au
