Wash and Learn program encourages children’s reading in laundromats
by John Micklos, Jr.
Like a Pied Piper of reading, Georgina Smith wheels her bright red basket of books through the Clean Rite Center laundromat in Brooklyn, attracting eager youngsters as she goes. Some are regulars who recognize her and follow right along. Others are intrigued once they see the piles of books stacked on the table in the kids’ area at the front of the laundromat.
Nine-year-old Leandra Ellis picks out a book about fractions. She breezes through it, sometimes stopping to explain how she solved the problem on a given page. Soon 4-year-old Cheyenne Jones joins her and browses through a picture book. Leandra helps her from time to time, even though they have never met before. Later, Leandra’s sisters, 7-year-old Cary Woods and 5-year-old Raven Woods, come to the table, reading side by side. Smith watches all this with a smile, always ready to step in with a word of encouragement or a book suggestion if needed.
The Wash and Learn program grew out of action research Smith was doing for her master’s degree in education at Brooklyn College. As a New York City Teaching Fellow who got her coursework paid in return for teaching in an impoverished school, she saw kids waiting in laundromats while their parents did laundry and wondered how many of them had access to books at home. She approached Wayne Reed, her professor, with the concept of the Wash and Learn program. He enlisted some students to help her out and helped arrange for funding to buy some books.
Founded in 2004, Wash and Learn is now an accredited field course for education, psychology, and literacy students at Brooklyn College. Throughout the school year, about 25 preservice teachers and graduate students help out at the sessions, which take place at three Clean Rite Centers in different areas of Brooklyn.
“It’s hard to teach in city schools,” Smith says, “but the people who participate in Wash and Learn fall in love with the kids.” The undergrads often find it a life-changing experience, and as a result of the program, some have changed their emphasis from high school to elementary education.
“My goal is to make facilitators out of them because a facilitator is the best teacher,” Smith says.
Later, Palmet Ellis comes over to talk with Smith about how daughters Leandra, Cary, and Raven are doing in school. They discuss how reading and math can be worked into everyday activities, and Smith points out how the girls might use “words and word problems as they talk about cooking recipes and other things around the house.” It’s clear, however, that Ellis is already providing solid support for the girls’ reading development.
Many kids find school frustrating, and the premise of Wash and Learn is not to become an extended classroom. “The last thing they’ll do here is sit for a teacher,” Smith says, “but they will sit and talk about books if you let them choose. We facilitate social interaction with the book. What we have on the table are as many different books as possible.”
Smith notes that reading is not part of the family routine for many of the youngsters who come to the laundromat. “There are generally very few books in the house,” Smith says. “Kids often have language deficits when they enter school.” In other cases, “they can read, but they don’t like to read.”
Smith’s efforts to promote literacy through laundromats have drawn national and international attention. The Wash and Learn program has been featured in the “Reading for Success” series on ABC, as well as on the Black Entertainment Television network and Japanese television.
Currently, the Wash and Learn program receives funding from the Brooklyn College Foundation. But Smith dreams of taking the model nationwide, and she hopes to create a nonprofit Urban Literacy Foundation to raise further funds for the program. “It’s a boilerplate model that can be put into place anywhere,” she says.
And one that can make a real difference in children’s lives. Tonight a young boy of about 7 comes up to the table and exclaims, “Wow! Look at all the books.” He settles in with a dinosaur book and reads contentedly until his mother tells him it’s time to go. He doesn’t want to stop reading; he’s engrossed in his book.
“I love it when the kids don’t want to leave,” Smith says.
John Micklos, Jr., is editor-in-chief of Reading Today.
In founding Wash and Learn, Georgina Smith learned some valuable lessons that other people and groups interested in similar community literacy outreach programs may find useful:
Find a local business that has an interest in literacy-related activities and partner with it.
Establish ties with a local college or university, if one is nearby.
Look for places where children or families congregate and where reading activities might be incorporated.
Make reading fun for the youngsters.
Be creative in seeking possible funding sources.
To learn more about Wash and Learn, visit the project’s website or e-mail project director Georgina Smith.
Laundromat literacy. (August 2006). Reading Today, 24(1), 28.
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