Education

Reading promotion for children

To promote children’s language and reading skills, MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Dortmund e.V. works to bring reading mentors and children together. Its core principle is “education through connection”, whereby children are paired with a mentor in a one-to-one setting and become familiar with regular reading practice.

Europe

Germany

Dortmund

Funding period: 2018-2020

The Dortmund-based association MENTOR aims to improve children’s language and reading skills with the help of reading mentors and to inspire them with a love of reading. Volunteer mentors read together with children according to the so-called one-to-one principle. The Wilo-Foundation (here acting as trustee of the WILO-Stiftung) has supported the project from the very beginning.

Through shared reading, creative reading games and talking about what has been read, not only reading skills are promoted, but also the children’s social skills and self-esteem are strengthened. Photo: MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Dortmund e.V., Credits: Andreas Endermann

The aim is to improve children’s reading and language skills in a playful setting, free from academic pressure. One reading mentor supports one child for one hour per week. The volunteers commit to working with the same child for at least one year. This continuous support helps to build trusting relationships between the children and their reading mentors. Combined with positive experiences of success while reading, this fosters both the children’s self-esteem and their social skills.

The volunteering reading mentors are responsible for one child for at least one year and support them through continuous one-on-one mentoring for one hour per week. Photo: MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Dortmund e.V., credits: Andreas Endermann

To keep engagement high, children choose the texts themselves based on their own interests. Together with the reading mentors, they talk about what they have read and experienced, engage in conversation and are encouraged in their imagination and creativity through reading games.

The demand for mentors – as well as the willingness to volunteer in Dortmund – is high. As of 2025, more than 400 mentors are active at 91 schools in Dortmund, Castrop-Rauxel and Holzwickede.

Photo Header: MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Dortmund e.V., credits: Andreas Endermann

Our funding partner

The bookseller Otto Stender initiated the MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer movement in 2003 in Hanover. In 2008, the federal association was founded, which today comprises around 130 associations and cooperating initiatives throughout Germany. MENTOR differs from other reading initiatives through its focus on the one-to-one principle: the promotion of reading skills through continuous support of one child for at least one year, in line with MENTOR’s educational support philosophy.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) forms the global framework for action for socially, economically and ecologically sustainable development. Our funding commitment also supports these sustainability goals. With this project, we are making a contribution to achieving the following SDGs:

What are the SDGs?