"i have to act out the story or draw pictures so that English becomes something that she can relate to rather than solely as something she has to study and be tested on." - Mrs Clarke(right,with Kanaga)

THEIR very first encounter was like a mini charade session When Mrs Sarah Clarke, 34 , a British expatriate first met her " reading companion" seven- years old Kanaga d/o Chandrasegaran, she had to use sign language to talk to her. Kana's teacher at Bedok West Primary School suggested she takes up the programme last year as her English grades were poor.

Sinda started the programme last year for Indian children between ages five and eigth to improve their English. Mrs Clarke , whose husband works in Singapore for Bristish Telecom, is one of the two Caucasian volunteers out of the 400 Sinda volunteers who are involved in this project.

She has been doing social work in different parts of the world since she was 16, but this is the first time she is taking part in a one-to-one reading session. Mrs Clarke , who has been living in Singapore for over a year, read about the programme in the newspapers.

"I was quite nervous. When i first went to her house, her entire family was there and scrutinised me. But Kanaga's brother ( who could speak English) translated what i had to say to her mother and this paved the way for us," said Mrs Clarke.

She has been going to Kanaga's house for thr past four months. Their weekly one-hour reading sessions are made up of " show and tell" sessions, where Kanaga would try to tell astory with her favourite picture in English , and fun word games using Scrabble counters.

Mrs Clarke said : " i have to act out the story or draw pictures so that she can relate to rather than solely as something she has to study and be tested on."

She's learnt a lot from Kanaga's family, too."i get to learn about their culture like what Thaipusam means to them, and try the different types of spicy food,"she said.

But her greatest satisfaction comes from seeing kanaga's enthusiasm in the subject. Said Mrs Clarke:"Now i 'm trying to get her to teach me Tamil!"

Want to help ?

IF you want to vounteer,or need more information about the programme, you can call Sinda Helpline at 1800-295 4554. Project Read volunteers need to spend only one hour a week to read to the child they are paired with.