Beyond Words

Interview with these passionate literacy advocates in the UK part of the Literacy juggernaut driving change @worldliteracy_foundation @worldliteracysummit.
They manage the @amazingpeopleschools libraries brimming with historic and contemporary inspiration to encourage all students to learn from some of the most extraordinary people.
From characters like Frida Kahlo to scientific masters like Albert Einstein the Amazing People School platform is a kaleidoscope of characters and storytellers.

Passionate and articulate, he’s seen the pain and shame that comes with illiteracy as many women struggle to access the essential resources they feel disempowered and frustrated. So as Head of Literacy at one of India's biggest companies TATA, Kishan chose to teach in the biggest slums in India - to serve to give and to empower. A beautiful warm, and engaging teacher and an engineer, he’s seen lives transformed within a week as they hold a pen for the first time, access new Literacy technology, and learn how to write and read🙏🏼📘😘🙏🏼🌎

With almost a million beneficiaries in 17 states of India, the TATA adult literacy program is transformative.📗📗

The literacy program has a unique focus on women and adults from marginalized communities and has also been extensively used by prison authorities as a reformation process for the inmates. 📘📘

Our guest Kishan Gopal Laddha started his professional career with Tata Consultancy Services, serving as a design engineer with one of the world’s largest medical manufacturing companies.

Finding passion in serving, he joined the pioneering batch of Teach for India and taught as a primary teacher in low-income schools in India’s largest slums for two years. He joined TCS as the bridge between corporate and society and led Corporate Social Responsibility for central, north, and western India TCS CSR.

Over the years, he worked with non-neo literates and empowered them with self-respect, confidence, and reliance.

He heads TCS’ Literacy as a Service, which serves 1.1 mn+ people (>80%) women across India.🌺🌺🎤

His passion is incredible and inspiring, we hope you connect with his story as much as we did.

Kyle Wallgren

Chief Executive Officer

Edsoma.

Globally renowned NBA basketball star

Shaq O Neill is just one of the many literacy advocates supporting this innnovative literacy platform now in 11 countries.

He’s On a literacy mission and is an investor in Edsoma a powerful literacy APP

The world has experienced a shift since the pandemic broke out. Now, self-education has taken a stronger stand than ever, with remote learning and parents actively being school teachers’ assistants. This has, however, enabled poor quality learning and reading. To fix the situation, Kyle Wallgren got the idea to build a new communication and reading application called Edsoma.

Edsoma was designed to get children back in the reading culture and help them bond better with the authority figures in their lives.

The app has been on the trajectory to become every family’s favorite reading application with its numerous features and functionalities that encourage bonding while learning. One remarkable thing about Edsoma is that parents and guardians do not need to be physically present with their children to read with them. Instead, they can do the reading from any part of the world and still achieve the same.

The app’s creator and CEO, Kyle Wallgren, got the inspiration to build the app due to his marital status as a divorced parent.

“I wanted to continue reading with my children even when I’m not with them. So, I created this app for not just myself but other parents in a similar situation”.

Tom Richardson

Chief Executive Officer

Literacy Planet

Tom is on a mission to transform the way people learn. He is humbled to lead the LiteracyPlanet team, inspiring a lifetime of learning. Tom is a proud dad of three kids and loves nature, the outdoors, adventure and travel. 

LiteracyPlanet is a research and evidence-aligned literacy program combining the science of reading, great storytelling and the psychology of gameplay to create a learning experience that educators and students love.

The driving force behind LiteracyPlanet is motivating students to discover the joy of learning through the power of great storytelling and gamified learning experiences.

Immersive storytelling

Just as the world’s most popular films and games are driven by compelling narratives, LiteracyPlanet’s Storyverse immerses readers in a captivating world of fun, fantasy and wonder. This is where learning becomes meaningful and memorable, inspiring children to connect with their writing in imaginative and creative ways.

Gamification for learning

LiteracyPlanet uses the psychology of gameplay to encourage, motivate and reward children as they move from one curriculum outcome to the next. It is an enabler, building confidence and determination within a safe and nurturing environment.

Welcome to the Beyond Words World Literacy Podcast

Love the name it’s very universal and ultimately learning, and literacy has 247,000 students using it in 900 in 80 countries schools that’s impressive!

We will interview the Director of Little Free Library, a project aiming to fill the book deserts with over 100,000 Little Free Libraries worldwide in more than 100 countries. This project impacts thousands of people, increasing access to books for readers of all ages and backgrounds!

In our latest episode, we interview two great educators and academics, Dr. Leslie Haas and Dr. Jill Tussey, to discuss about student engagement and motivation through digital literacy and popular culture.

Beyond the Words is a literacy podcast by World Literacy Foundation and World Literacy Summit where literacy experts and change-makers discuss the challenges in creating a literate world.

We interview the CEO and Founder of Malaika, a nonprofit organization empowering girls and their communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through enhanced access to education, water, and healthcare. Malaika won the 2021 World Literacy Awards for its outstanding contribution to literacy by an organization and is creating the next generation of changemakers.

Listen to Dr. Rana Dajani, a passionate scientific woman who back in 2006, started establishing libraries in every neighborhood in Jordan, encouraging reading aloud to children. Today, she is the founder of We Love Reading, an organization that promotes a love for reading in children and is present in over 55 countries.

In our first episode, we interview the CEO and founder of the World Literacy Foundation, Andrew Kay- a passionate man working tirelessly since 2003 to help get books in the hands of children with limited resources across the world.

Welcome to Beyond Words from World Literacy Summit. In this open space, experts and changemakers in the literacy and education sector discuss the latest news, trends, and challenges in creating a literate world. Join us in this 20 minutes journey to build a literate world. Subscribe today to do not miss an episode.