PROJECT: From Reading to Writing

The children love to read, we wish we had enough books so everybody could read individually, but as it is about half the class still needs to read in groups of two. Many of the students have already mastered all the simple books that we used at the beginning of the class, so we added some Winnie the Pooh books to the mix, and we will probably add some more. This is good, because the more books we can add the closer we get to being able to give every person one book. However, the children still gravitate towards the books they know, no one picks the harder books of their own free will.

I attempted to add a collection of African short stories, but it proved to be too difficult: any book that doesn't have pictures is not welcomed yet. I read the African Short Stories (ISBN: 978-0-435-90536-1) myself when we first arrived, it is good, and is part of the African writers collection here at the library. I think that the more advanced students could read some of the short stories if they really applied themselves. The children love to read, but some of them get tired after about 30 minutes (which is understandable considering they have been in school all day), but I get the feeling that about a quarter of them would just stay and keep on reading as long as they could.

We teach for two periods, about one and a half hours.

Although it is difficult to say with certainty in the majority of cases, I can see definite signs of progress in a few students. When Ebenezer told me in the beginning that getting the children to read those first ten books would help them alot I was sceptical, but he was right. The fact is that books are sorely lacking in these children's lives. We grew up surrounded by books, from what I have seen people here seem to posses few books (many of the adults also can't read).

It is easier to see improvement in the students who read at a lower level when we came. During each class Sonja and I go around to the various groups or individuals and listen to them read.

Last time in Azani, Sonja and I began doing a drill that goes like this, a group of words is written on the board: (doing, how, you, are) and the students then have to make a question out of the words. They seem to like the drill. They like coming up to the board to write, and it was a good way for Sonja and I to introduce some writing practice into our teaching.

We intend to start individual writing practice next week in Azani in addition to reading.

--Tomaž


 Kot sva pisala že v prejšnjih objavah, vlada mad najinimi učenci velika bralna vnema. Od trenutka, ko deliva prve knjižice pa do izteka bralne ure, v učilnici kar doni od zavzetega, glasnega branja. Ker nama knjig primanjkuje, otroci povečini še vedno berejo po skupinah. Preproste knjižice, ki jih prinašava že vseskozi, večina prebira že brez težav. Zato jim zdaj, kot izziv, ponujava tudi nekoliko zahtevnejše otroške knjige iz zbirke Winnie the Pooh, ki pa jih zaenkrat še niso prepričale - še vedno, namreč, raje posegajo po lažjih, že poznanih knjižicah.

V najino "potujočo knjižnjico" sem želel dodati še zbirko afriških kratkih zgodb. Sam sem jih prebral že v začetku bivanja v Busui (so del tukajšnje knjižnjice). Tudi te so se izkazale za prezahtevne. Zaradi pomanjkanja ilustracij pa tudi manj zanimive.:) Menim sicer, da bi jih nekateri otroci ob dodatnem trudu z lahkoto prebirali. A se po drugi strani zavedam, da je pomanjkanje entuzijazma po dodatnem naporu ob treh popoldne razumljivo! :) 

Čeprav je, v večini primerov, težko ugibati o konkretnem napredku, je pri nekaterih učencih zares viden! Opažava ga  predvsem pri otrocih, ki v začetku še niso bili zelo vešči branja. 
Ko je Ebenezer tako prepričano govoril o tem, kako bo za otroke pomembno že branje teh osnovnih knjižic, sem bil, priznam, skeptičen. A zdaj vidim njegov prav. Medtem ko na zahodu odraščamo obdani z množico knjig, jih v življenjih teh otrok praktično ni. Nasploh je tukaj veliko pomanjkanje knjig, še vedno pa je veliko odraslih tudi nepismenih. 


Ob zadnjem obisku skupine v Azaniju sva začela tudi s pisanjem. Sestavila sva preprosto vajo - na tablo sva napisala skupino besed (npr.: doing, how, you, are), iz nje pa so otroci sestavljali vprašalne stavke in jih zapisovali na tablo. Tako vaja kot samo pisanje na tablo, jim je bilo zelo všeč!
To je bil zgolj uvod v pisanje, v naslednjih tednih imava v načrtu tudi individualne vaje iz pisanja.