Create and Share a World Read Aloud Day Video

One way to help spread the word in anticipation of the BIG DAY on March 9 is to create a short video and share it with your friends, family and social network. Here is LitWorld's first WRAD video of 2011 featuring our question of the year: What would you miss most if you could not read or write?

Your video could also feature responses to this question, or it could be a favorite read-aloud or storytelling moment, or you could talk about an influential reading or writing memory from your life. Be sure to post a link to your video on the LitWorld Facebook page, or submit your link on the registration page and we will share it around! Looking forward to hearing your voice with ours as we create this global literacy rally.

We Thank Nili Yelin, One of our WRAD Ambassadors in Chicago!

Nili Yelin is coordinating three WRAD events in Chicago:

10:30am at Psychobaby
1630 N Damen Ave
psychobaby.net
Family Read Aloud Event

4:00pm at Little Beans Cafe
1809 W Webster Ave
littlebeanscafe.com 
Family Read Aloud Event

7:30pm at Book Cellar
4736 N Lincoln Ave
bookcellarinc.com
Mom and Dad's Favorite Picture Books Event

Nili is a storyteller-part-time for kids and part-time for adults. A graduate of the Northwestern University theatre school, Nili spent twelve years in New York as a working actress in theater, film and television. She was a writer and performer for MTV Networks, appeared regularly on Saturday Night Live and performed her own original stand-up comedy in clubs throughout the East Coast.

Since coming to Chicago, Nili has combined her love of children and literature to create The Storybook Mom and encourage children to develop their imagination through interactive storytelling, crafts and dance. She also does voice-overs for commercials and industrials for a variety of clients including Mercedes Benz, Sears and Advocate Healthcare. Nili recently joined with the Crown Family Play Lab at the Field Museum to do special events and is the narrator on the Field Museum's children's podcasts. Working now with MK Consultants is a new and exciting chapter for Nili as she expands her storytelling and comedic expertise into the business setting and offers an entertaining and unique approach to professional development and change initiatives. Find out more at thestorybookmom.com!

Your Tweet Can Be A Form of Resilience.

As we wrote in the previous blog post below, we are using social media as a way to organize a global literacy rally through technology. As proven by recent events demonstrated by the natural disasters in Haiti, to the current social protests in Egypt, technology has proven to be an impactful tool in spreading the message on a social or political issue. In Kenya, social media technology allows for the quick mapping of violence reports in Kenya after the post-election unrest in 2008. Reports of violence and of peace efforts could be placed via the web or mobile phone, allowing the world instantaneous access to information, and the ability to map where the crisis is happening.

As this proves, tweets and Facebook Updates can be a real form of resilience. Our words can have the ability to have a widespread reach, have the ability to reach thousands. When joined together, our voices can galvanize to make the impossible happen. Let us all keep this in mind as we prepare to stand for global literacy, in support of the 774 million people in the world who do not enjoy the right to read or write. Let us choose to use our words to ignite.

We hope you will join us on March 9, 2011. Suggestions for social media participation can be found in the post below.

 

Join the Global Literacy Rally via Social Media!

Because World Read Aloud Day is an international occasion, we encourage our friends from all over the world to stand up for literacy by joining us in a Global Literacy Rally through Social Media. We at LitWorld recognize the importance that technology plays in connecting us with our brothers and sisters throughout the globe, and sites like Facebook and Twitter has made it possible for us be linked instantly.

Here are some ways you can join the Global Literacy Rally from here on out until March 9th, 2011:

1.) If you have a website or blog, you can put up the WRAD logo (on post below) on your blog or website's sidebar as a badge until March 9th, with the image linking back to our WRAD page.

2.) Change your avatars on Facebook to the WRAD logo/image anytime between now or the week before or during WRAD.

3.) On March 9th, 2011, update your Facebook or Twitter status to answer the question, "What would you miss most if you could not read or write?", and make sure to tag/link LitWorld during the post.
                * For Facebook, can use @litworld to tag and follow us
                * For Twitter, use @litworldsays to tag & follow us, then use hashtag #litworld

4.) Tag/link LitWorld when posting up any status updates on Twitter and Facebook about anything you are doing for the day of WRAD) (ie., how many minutes you have read, what readings and activities you are doing, etc.)

Thank you so much, and we hope to see you joining us on World Read Aloud Day, no matter what part of the world you are in!

Welcome to the World Read Aloud Day Blog!

Stay tuned for updates on our plans leading up to the big day on March 9, and for tips and resources so we can help you plan a great celebration, however you participate in the day!

In the meantime, make sure you've registered with us, and don't forget to join our Facebook event.

A shout-out here to our incredible illustrator and great LitWorld friend Lindsey Manwell, who has outdone herself this year in creating a beautiful brand new logo for this year's WRAD, let's spread this inspiring image far and wide!

Best wishes and cheers for the New Year,

The LitWorld Team