Culture & Education | Monday 16 October, 2017 6:01 am |

Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, has announced that the Dubai Public Library has successfully concluded the series of events it organised for children in September to enhance their reading and cultural skills in preparation for the new academic year.

 

Dr. Hissa bin Masoud, Director of Dubai Public Library at Dubai Culture, commented: “These activities helped children to learn new and varied skills including verbal communication, self-confidence, and public speaking, and also get acquainted with a culture of reading. We appreciate their parents’ interaction with our programme and we thank the educational supervisors for their important role in ensuring the success of this educational initiative, which helps Dubai Culture to strengthen its relationship with the community.”

 

By organising regular activities like this, Dubai Culture seeks to promote intellectual and cultural awareness and contribute to the development of acquired skills among future generations. Dubai Public Library offers a variety of activities including creative workshops, creative writing, free expression and participation in cultural competitions, among others, to develop children's personal and life skills.

 

The programme included activities that enriched the scientific and practical lives of children to support their future development. Among the most important of the activities was an exploration of thinking, listening and creative imaginative skills. The most prominent of the activities – ‘Express with a Word – was supervised by educational experts Khadija Al Shehhi and Maryam Al Mulla, who enhanced verbal communication and confidence among the children by asking them to choose a word and present it in a full sentence. There was also the ‘Select a Story’ activity, which developed the children’s’ reading and writing skills by asking them to select and read a story from the library before summarising it. Another activity – ‘Words and Numbers’ – improved their listening talent and response time by encouraging them to listen to descriptions and then choose word cards to mirror what they heard. 

 

In order to preserve Emirati heritage, the ‘Al Ramsa’ session taught children both new and old Emirati. During the session, authors asked the children to choose stories from the library and then analyse them to develop their reading and writing skills.

 

The Dubai Public Library’s programmes are very popular with children and their families, because they provide them with a secure and enjoyable environment across various branches throughout the Emirate. They also play a major role in honing their talents and enhancing their scientific, artistic and life interests at various stages of their academic lives. The Dubai Public Library also plans to launch an integrated annual programme for children and adults, which will include many activities that benefit all members of the community and promote a culture of knowledge in the UAE.

 

The Dubai Public Library network includes eight libraries for adults and another seven for children. Some branches feature multi-purpose halls, classrooms and exhibition spaces and all branches of the Dubai Public Library are connected via computer systems. This has established close links with other modern libraries, providing access to vast sources of information on a diversity of topics in both Arabic and English