Wichtiger Hinweis
Reading mentors
Stand: 30.09.2025
The City Youth Welfare Office wants to ensure that children grow up strong and healthy and that they can develop their skills and talents.
The volunteer reading mentors make an important contribution to this.
They usually go to a daycare center once a week for about an hour and read to the children in small groups. They look at picture books with the children, read stories and talk together about the pictures and what they have heard. They spend quality time with the children and thus contribute to their general and especially their linguistic development. The early and joyful contact with pictures, books and texts makes it easier for the children to develop their linguistic expression and their reading and writing skills. These are important key skills for life and for school education.
The reading mentors are not only active with pre-school children, but also in the afternoon care of school children in after-school care centers and learning rooms, where the acquisition of reading skills and the preservation of the joy of reading are particularly important.
Are you interested? Then please get in touch.
Contact
Elke Weidner
E-mail: elke.weidner@stadt.erlangen.de
Phone: 09131 86 36 65 or 0170 41 80 243
If you are more interested in promoting reading among older children from school age, please visit the homepage of the reading mentors of the Bürgerstiftung Erlangen. There you will find their contact details.
FAQs about reading mentors
- They work on a voluntary basis.
- They visit daycare centers (crèche, kindergarten, playroom, after-school care, learning room).
- You read to the children in a small group, usually once a week for about 60 minutes.
- You look at picture books with the children.
- They encourage the children to look, listen, think and talk ("dialogic reading").
- In this way, they support the children in their language and personality development.
- They spend a relaxed, cozy time with the children.
- Women and men, mothers and fathers, senior citizens, grandmas and grandpas, schoolchildren, students, friends of the daycare centers - in short:
All people who have time and enjoy children and books - All people who want to support children in their development and enrich the work in the daycare centers
- Of course, men and multilingual reading mentors are also very welcome
- Throughout the city of Erlangen
- In all municipal day care centers of the youth welfare office and at all independent providers:
Crèches (age of children up to 3 years),
kindergartens (children aged 3 - 6 years) and
in the afternoon care of primary school children in after-school care and learning centers (age of children 6 - 10 years) - Your wishes will be taken into account as far as possible (e.g. age of children, proximity to place of residence).
- Time and enjoyment of children and books
- an extended police clearance certificate. We will be happy to assist you with the application.
- All information and support is available from
Elke Weidner
Language Support Service of the City Youth Welfare Office Erlangen- Tel: 09131-863665 or 0170-4180243
E-mail: elke.weidner@stadt.erlangen.de - We will find a suitable daycare center for you.
- You will receive approx. 90 minutes of introductory training. All important organizational and content-related questions will be discussed.
- During your commitment, you will be supported by regular meetings with other reading mentors. This is done in cooperation with the city library.