Reading conference opens at Ilam

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33532, 13 May 1974, Page 12

Reading conference opens at Ilam

Reading skills were never more essential in this fast moving and changing society of technical skills and advancement, the Mayor (Mr N. G Pickering) said at the first plenary' session of the New Zealand International Reading Association’s fifth conference, yesterday afternoon.

The conference, which is being held at the Christchurch Teachers’ College ] (secondary division) at Ilam, has more than 350 persons taking part, making it the association’s largest in New Zealand so far. Delegates have come from as far away as Australia, and representatives from every district in New Zealand are attending.

• A display of reading mat-

■ erials, compiled by 17 publishing firms, is included in the programme, which involves 34 speakers, persons interested in reading at all levels, from pre-school through to tertiary. Mr T. K. Burke, the member of Parliament for Rangiora and a former secondary school teacher, officially opened the three-day conference, and the chairman of I the Waimairi County Council (Mr D. B. Rich) wel- : corned conference delegates to the county. Professor P. J. Lawrence, ;the head of the education ■ department at the University iof Canterbury, delivered an Address on language, reading [and human development, which comprised mainly his 1 views on words and their 'usage.