Reading gives power! It is the sentence I have heard on many occasions during my life. The question is, if it is true, why is this tool not used very well in our educational system? The answers can be different depending on where they come from. Some of the answers are it is not part of our culture, it is not part of our daily habits, and there is not enough time for it. All these can be part of valid excuses, except that it is not part of our habits.
To make the habit of reading grow and be fruitful in our department, we teamed up with Chispa Project https://www.chispaproject.org. Together we equipped 120 teachers in all of Intibuca with the fundamental knowledge to implement the habit of reading in their classrooms.
During the training, teachers learned how to maintain students motivated to continue reading a book, even teaching their own children how to write different endings to a book using their imagination and images. In the end, everyone understood the message, Reading is at the heart of all knowledge areas.
Pictures from our reading training
The teachers expressed being very happy with the resources that we have provided. Professor Pamela shares, "At our schools we have students from very low-income families, and the help that we have been receiving from Shoulder to Shoulder is very effective. Our students could never allow themselves to purchase a book, yet in Kolibri we have a great diversity of books. [I am] very happy to use this teaching method in my classes."
Teacher Pamela from C.E.B Juan Emilio Flores
This training is the opening way to start with our departamental reading program. We are very excited to get the participation of more than 8,000 students across the department. We are preparing the road to start this so awaited journey in may.
We are very grateful to each of our donors for helping us plant a seed of hope in this generation of students through reading!
To watch a mini-documentary of our training collaboration and teacher testimonies click here.
