The little boy who wanted to read to his poorly sister

Amir, 7, lives in Wandsworth. His family are Ethiopian, and his sister has had serious health problems. His parents don’t speak English, and so the family had returned to Ethiopia for a year to get medical care for their daughter, as they were unable to communicate with British doctors. This meant that Amir had missed a year of school, and was a year behind in his reading age. Because his parents couldn’t support him with reading in English at home, his teachers were concerned about how he would get enough reading support to catch up.

When he met his volunteer, Ali, Amir felt extremely frustrated. He liked reading and he wanted to be able to read well, but he was very aware that he was at the bottom of his class. He told Ali that he wanted to be good at reading so he could read stories to his sister, who was still unwell. His sister’s illness had also made him want to be a doctor, and he said that he wouldn’t be able to become a doctor unless he knew how to read well.

Amir and Ali read together for the Bookmark programme, and at the start, Amir was very embarrassed by not being able to read well. If he didn’t know a word, he would try to distract Ali or change the subject, but slowly he developed the confidence to give it a try. His teacher noticed that his reading was progressing, and also that he was happier reading in class, whereas he would have previously shied away from this because he didn’t want to draw attention to being behind.

By the end of the programme, the impact on Amir had been huge, and having previously found reading so frustrating, he said that he had liked reading with Ali. In the final session, he asked Ali if he had any children. Ali replied no, he didn’t, and Amir said, simply, “Oh. You’d be a nice dad.”