To celebrate Book Day with you, we introduce you to Inés Puig Vázquez, who is behind a wonderful virtual community where reading becomes a very attractive activity. This is Leoteca, and is aimed at family audiences and teachers.
Inés is 27 years old and has worked as a Primary teacher in several schools, in the performance of her duties she perceived how the school is detached from the cultural environment, and especially from reading; And so he put his hands to work'. But his interest comes from before, from the times when he was lucky to grow up surrounded by books because his father is an editor.
In his effort to bring reading closer to education, he continued to study at the University, and studied Cultural Management, as well as a master's degree in Children and Youth Literature. All these experiences have contributed to shaping your idea, and Leoteca has presented itself as the first reading community specially designed for children, teachers and parents. Now I leave you with this brief interview, which is not less interesting, and I also leave you with the enthusiasm and tenacity of Agnes. Peques and More.- Please tell us what motivated you to create Leoteca, and how the idea came about.
Inés Puig.- Leoteca is an idea that was born in class. I am a teacher and I have always found it important to convey the passion for reading to my students. I realized that it is an incredibly beautiful job, but also hard and I thought it would be great to have a place to share this goal with many more children, parents and teachers.
Going from reading by obligation to reading for pleasure is a very important change, because at that time we have just launched a hobby that we will surely enjoy a lifetime
PyM.- Leoteca is a social network that encourages children to share their readings. What advantages does it give children to share what they read?
I.P.- Wow that's a very good question! I think that is the main reason why we finally decided to create Leoteca, we are convinced that sharing what we read does have many advantages. Participate in a group that has a common interest encourages us to want to discover, makes enthusiasm grow. This is quite evident in other areas such as sports, music and why not with reading?
PyM.- I have read that you intend to support the development of the reading identity from Leoteca, but what is that of independent reading? And above all, how does it benefit children?
I.P.- When we talk about independent reading we mean that children read by their own decision, that they don't just read what others send them. This requires a place to start discovering. Going from reading by obligation to reading for pleasure is a very important change, because at that time we have just launched a hobby that we will surely enjoy a lifetime.
PyM.- I see that Leoteca is for school and family use, how can you facilitate the task of teachers in relation to the objectives related to the reading of each educational center?
I.P.- We believe that being connected with other teachers who also have an interest in encouraging reading among their students is first and foremost a great support. In parallel, it allows any teacher to broaden their horizons, discover what is being read in other schools or be up to date with what is happening in the world of literature ... Any teacher who wants to convey a taste for reading must also feel that passion , and this goes through knowledge.
For young people, sharing what they read has many advantages, for example participating in a group that has a common interest encourages us to want to discover, makes enthusiasm grow
PyM.- Our readers should know that the claim of this new social network is broader, and in this sense you can facilitate the interactivity of the reading plans through a large database of titles. Does the time to overcome the library channel arrive much later in Spain than in other countries around us?
I.P.- It is a time of change for the publishing sector, of course new ways are being sought different from the library channel, although in our opinion we must act with a head. From Leoteca we are sure that what is needed is to create a strong community, we really love bookstores! If the common goal is to increase reading habits we are open to jointly create strategies that can be effective.
PyM.- Do you dare to tell us briefly about the state of health of reading among children and adolescents? From your point of view, of course.
I.P.- Sure, we do it delighted. The vast majority of children and adolescents in our country read regularly, that at least the surveys say. But nevertheless, every day we are more convinced that it is something that is done by obligation. In addition, bestsellers are mostly read and literary knowledge is quite poor among many children, all this means that when children reach 16 years of age their reading habits plummet. This is the moment in which we discover if the reading has really penetrated them.
We hope that with Leoteca these figures are reversed, the internet can be a very powerful tool to start a dialogue with a generation that has already been born in the digital era
After the interview I have to tell you that I enjoyed a lot knowing more about Leoteca, and that I keep this phrase 'literary knowledge is quite poor among many children, all this means that when teenagers reach 16 years of age their reading habits plummet'; and with the desire that together we can make that situation be reversed, for the benefit of culture, of reading, and especially of children.
I thank Inés for his collaboration, and especially his brevity in answering the questions. In my opinion it has been very clear what is Leoteca, and now It is your task (parents and teachers) to get into their possibilities, and use them in favor of children and students.
