Books have always been a huge part of my life. They helped form my dreams for the future, made me excited to excel in school, and taught me important lessons about history, culture, and people.
Honduras has not had a history of passing on a love for reading to its children. Perhaps this is part of what affects the astronomical levels of illiteracy and lack of education.
One of the best parts of my last week was to see the 8th grade class of AFE devour Charlotte’s Web and develop a love for reading. They finished the book in less than two weeks and are begging for more. Although we have a library, we do not have sets of books for all the kids to read together. Thanks to a gift by Rebecca White, we have been able to purchase two complete sets of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.
The students began reading The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe today. Since we only have two copies, the teacher uses one to help the students read and one student reads the other copy aloud. Today, as they began The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, the room became eerily quiet. You could hear the kids breathing. Some have their eyes closed, imaging themselves in the world of Narnia. Others were trying to read over the student’s shoulder. It was a beautiful sight. When we stopped reading they pleaded for more and even offered to skip their break to hear more of the story.
One of our goals in transforming this garbage dump is to increase the level of literacy. The school is a perfect means of doing that among the kids. We hope the students’ enthusiasm for reading will spread among their parents and older siblings. We talk about several areas of literacy: reading, writing and computing. Soon we will open up our own computer lab and teach the students computer skills, giving them more job and educational opportunities.
If you have any suggestions as to what our students should read or where to look for sets of books (in Spanish), please let us know.
Honduras has not had a history of passing on a love for reading to its children. Perhaps this is part of what affects the astronomical levels of illiteracy and lack of education.
One of the best parts of my last week was to see the 8th grade class of AFE devour Charlotte’s Web and develop a love for reading. They finished the book in less than two weeks and are begging for more. Although we have a library, we do not have sets of books for all the kids to read together. Thanks to a gift by Rebecca White, we have been able to purchase two complete sets of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.
The students began reading The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe today. Since we only have two copies, the teacher uses one to help the students read and one student reads the other copy aloud. Today, as they began The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, the room became eerily quiet. You could hear the kids breathing. Some have their eyes closed, imaging themselves in the world of Narnia. Others were trying to read over the student’s shoulder. It was a beautiful sight. When we stopped reading they pleaded for more and even offered to skip their break to hear more of the story.
One of our goals in transforming this garbage dump is to increase the level of literacy. The school is a perfect means of doing that among the kids. We hope the students’ enthusiasm for reading will spread among their parents and older siblings. We talk about several areas of literacy: reading, writing and computing. Soon we will open up our own computer lab and teach the students computer skills, giving them more job and educational opportunities.
If you have any suggestions as to what our students should read or where to look for sets of books (in Spanish), please let us know.
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