Freely available high-quality early grade reading resources

On behalf of the Norwegian government, Norad has funded the development of – or collected – digital high-quality early grade reading resources in a variety of languages widely spoken in developing countries.

The resources are openly licensed and free and can be used by governments, teachers, parents, NGOs and anyone else looking for quality reading material for children. 

The Global Digital Library

To visit the Global Digital Library, go to digitallibrary.io

The library makes available early grade reading books both for classroom use and for leisure reading. The books can be read on digital devices or printed. For low-resource settings with limited digital infrastructure and mobile device availability, local language books can for instance be read aloud on radio as a means of helping children build vocabulary and stimulate their interest in reading. The Global Digital Library is a Norwegian-managed flagship initiative within the international Global Book Alliance.

Currently the Global Digital Library has books in 42 languages. All books have been quality assured.

• Click the Globe-icon at the upper right corner of the Library-platform to list different languages and display books available in these languages, or click here to see a list: home.digitallibrary.io/languages.
  
  
• The Library also offers books supported with sign language video, which are an essential learning tool for deaf children and children with other disabilities to bridge between language acquisition and literacy skills development. See materials in Kenyan sign language and Cambodian sign language. Read more: Launching sign languages on the Global Digital Library
  
  
• It is also easy to translate books into additional local languages on the Global Digital Library Platform. See guidance on how to translate here: home.digitallibrary.io/translate.

For governments and large organisations interested in translating Global Digital Library-reading books to local languages as part of their COVID-19 educational responses, Norad and the Global Digital Library technical team can set-up tailored webinars.

Please contact Liv Marte Nordhaug on Liv.Marte.Kristiansen.Nordhaug@norad.no for more information on this opportunity.

• See also: Join #TranslateAStory in our efforts to translate reading materials in a language children out of school due to COVID-19 understand. You can help children in your community continue their learning process. Register on translateastory.org.

Mobile literacy self-learning games;
Feed the Monster and Antura & the Letters

In the fall of 2015, Norway and international partners launched an international competition calling for open source smartphone applications that could help Syrian children learn to read and improve their psychosocial well-being. Two mobile apps won the competition.

An evaluation in 2018 indicated that children playing the games improved their reading skills with 50 percent compared to the control group.

Both games are free and ad-free. The games are less than 100 MB, can be downloaded to phones with different screen resolutions and in addition, the games can be used offline once they are downloaded. 

• Download Antura & the Letters via antura.org/download
• Download Feed the Monster on App Store or on Google Play

Feed the Monster has been translated to more than 45 languages. See an overview of the different language versions below.

Feed the Monster: Language versions

A download link to each language version on Google Play is included. All language versions of Feed the Monster can be freely downloaded on Android-devices.

Tap on the plus sign to see each language version.