Today is a very big day for Alex. But he does not know it yet.
He is wearing his normal uniform, his white pressed shirt and his grey shorts. He has
his normal snack— a sandwich and a juice box. He played soccer with his friends like
he does each morning before the bell rings. Now he sits at a table in the Shine Centre
as he does every Tuesday and Thursday. But today something is different. Today, for
the first time ever, this eight-year-old is going to realize that he has learnt how to read.
Using his finger to point to the letters of each word, Alex slowly sounds out the title of
the book heʼs chosen. “H-O-G-A-N-D-D-O-G,” he says.
Over the past three weeks, Alex has worked on understanding the short vowel sounds.
Hearing the difference between sounds like “a” and “e” can be very confusing for a
child, especially when the learnerʼs first language is not English. Alex has also
practised writing the first letter sounds of words; when he hears the word “snake” he
knows it starts with an “s” sound.
While reading, Alex comes up against the word “splash.” This is a difficult word for him.
The story is put down for a moment and Alex is shown on a wipe board that “s” and “h”
together sounds like “sh.” He picks up the trick quickly and reads it correctly in three
other parts of the story.
Alex spends 15 minutes reading
the story, Hog and Dog. He
patiently sounds out every letter
of every word on every last page
of the book.
The bell rings.
Alex is almost finished with his
book. His friends tap him on the
shoulder and bang on the table
as they pass in an effort to hurry
him up.
The children tear out of the
Shine room and run outside to
enjoy their favorite part of the day. It is break time.
But Alex is reading the last sentence of Hog and Dog, and he canʼt be bothered.
When he takes a breath after the last page, I look at him and smile.
“Alex, you have just read that entire book by yourself,” I say.
Alex--Shine Child
By Cherry Gammelin

“No!” he says, with a look of astonishment.
“Yes,” I say.
“Pshh,” he says, waving one of his hands at me like Iʼm pulling his leg.
As I start to pack his work up so that he can go join his friends, he stands up and puts
Hog and Dog away.
He comes back with another book.
“Can I read this one now?” He is grinning from ear to ear.
“Alex,” I say to him, “you can read anything now.”
Alex--Shine Child
By Cherry Gammelin