Education / kindness
The Volunteer Who Reads to Children
Listen and choose what Hannah learns from volunteering.
What does Hannah learn from the reading group?
Education / kindness
The Volunteer Who Reads to Children
Type the missing exact words. Empty answers are ignored.
1. Every ___, Hannah volunteers at a community centre.
2. She volunteers at a small ___ near her home.
3. Her job is to read ___ to children.
4. Some children did not have many ___ at home.
5. On her first day, Hannah was ___.
6. She brought three ___.
7. A girl asked why the ___ looked different in every picture.
8. Now the reading sessions are ___.
9. For weeks, Lina never wanted to ___.
10. Progress can be one question, one ___, or one child discovering stories.
Education / kindness
The Volunteer Who Reads to Children
Put the events in order from 1 to 10. Empty items are ignored.
On her first day, she brings three picture books and a clear plan.
Hannah starts volunteering at a community centre every Wednesday afternoon.
Hannah stops trying to control every minute of the sessions.
She learns that some children do not have many books at home.
Hannah understands that progress can be small but meaningful.
Hannah worries that the reading session is becoming messy.
She thinks her job is simply to help children practise reading.
A shy girl named Lina reads one sentence aloud and the group claps.
The children ask questions, interrupt, and react to the pictures.
The centre manager explains that asking and imagining are part of reading.
Education / kindness
📖 The Volunteer Who Reads to Children
B1 Upper-intermediate • 1 speaker • Transcription
Hi, I’m Hannah. Every Wednesday afternoon, I volunteer at a small community centre near my home. My job sounds simple: I sit with a group of children and read stories to them. At first, I thought I was there only to help them practise reading. But after a few months, I understood that the work was about much more than books. The reading group started because some children in the area did not have many books at home. Their parents worked long hours, and the local school wanted to give them more chances to hear stories, ask questions, and enjoy language. The community centre asked for volunteers, and I joined because I loved reading when I was a child. On my first day, I was nervous. I brought three picture books and planned exactly what I wanted to do. But the children did not follow my plan. One boy wanted to talk about the dog on the cover. A girl asked why the moon looked different in every picture. Another child kept interrupting to guess what would happen next. I worried that the session was becoming messy. Then the centre manager smiled and said, “That is reading too.” She explained that children do not only learn from sitting quietly. They learn by asking, imagining, reacting, and connecting the story to their own lives. After that, I stopped trying to control every minute. Now our reading sessions are lively. Sometimes we act out a scene. Sometimes we stop to draw a character. Sometimes a child chooses a word they like and we use it in new sentences. The room is not always quiet, but it is full of attention. One of my favourite moments happened with a shy girl named Lina. For weeks, she listened but never wanted to read aloud. One day, she asked if she could read one sentence. Her voice was very soft, but everyone listened. When she finished, the other children clapped. She smiled in a way I will never forget. Volunteering there has changed how I think about education. Progress is not always fast or easy to measure. Sometimes it is one question, one brave sentence, or one child discovering that stories can belong to them too.