By Jessica Anstice
Author, actor, comedian and narrator extraordinaire, Stig Wemyss, officially launched the Premier’s Reading Challenge at Beaconhills College on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 February.
The larger than life personality, from Channel Ten sitcom Col’n Carpenter visited the two college campuses to promote audio books (ebooks).
“Usually we have an author to launch the Premiers’ Reading Challenge but this time after much discussion amongst library teams at both campuses we decided on Stig Wemyss,” Beaconhills College Berwick campus head of library Carmen Byrne said.
“We chose Stig because he is the voice of all the Andy Griffiths titles – all extremely popular on our Borrrowbox platform.
“We especially chose him because we wanted to generate even more interest in our virtual audio collection.”
The Premier’s Reading Challenge encourages children and students to read a set number of books over the year and record their efforts online.
Research has shown that audiobooks expand vocabulary, improves written expression, allows students to ‘read’ books at a higher level than when reading with their eyes, improves comprehension and provides a way into literature for students who either struggle with literacy or have become disengaged.
“Stig’s performance was highly energetic, visceral and electric,” she added.
“It was absolutely engaging for all age groups from Year 2 to Year 8.”
The very latest research from neuroscientists at the University of California demonstrates that the same cognitive and emotional parts of the brain are stimulated regardless of whether you read with your eyes or ears.
Ms Byrne said the college has seen a “massive” increase in borrowing of ebooks and audiobooks over the past year – of the 100,000 loans, 20 percent were ebooks and audiobooks.
“These figures are likely to continue to rise sharply,” she said.
“Stig’s promotion is already proving a huge success – waiting lists on audiobooks have been so strong in the last couple of days that I had to purchase extra copies so students don’t get frustrated waiting too long.”
