Former Easter Ross depute head is woman on a mission to help people learn how to read
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A FORMER Easter Ross depute head teacher is on a mission to teach everyone how to read after releasing her first book at the age of 87.
Margaret MacFarlane found motivation over lockdown to write a guide to teaching people how to read, with a method she developed in her years at Tain’s Craighill Primary.
Born in Glasgow, Mrs MacFarlane moved to the area in the early sixties when her husband became the minister of Fearn Abbey, and was a resident of the village for 30 years.
Remembering her time in Tain, she said: “I really loved my years in Ross-shire, it’s such a beautiful area and we were in a beautiful community. I particularly loved going to Wester Ross, but of course Easter Ross is lovely too!
“It was a very happy time for me in Tain. Although I was not a teacher, I had a wonderful staff and six incredibly dedicated teachers who supported me and the pupils with my programme.
During her time at Craighill, which at the time catered for 350 pupils and 80 spaces in a nursery unit, Mrs MacFarlane developed an individual reading scheme to help pupils develop their skills, with each child having their own reading record book.
She said: “The teachers were very enthusiastic and had to know all the books from the library, in which all books were graded by difficulty, very well.
“The results showed when the Highland regional education psychologist came to our school to assess our pupils and was very impressed with their reading skills.”
With her new book Please Teach Me To Read, which is available on Amazon, she wants to make her method available both for children and adults.
“There are so many adults in the UK who are not able to read, and many of them are in difficult situations such as detention centres and other institutions and I really believe that especially in these cases reading can change an individual’s life.
“I am very passionate about encouraging literacy, it’s my mission to help everyone to learn how to read. I am really delighted with the outcome of the book, this is the fulfilment of a lifetime as a teacher.”
The book can be found via this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-teach-read-Margaret-Macfarlane/dp/1838261206/
