The first week, at Makeni, I was able to spend time reading to the children. So many wanted to hear the story that Leonard had to come and do crowd control.
During one session I asked the 2A teacher to send 20 children over to the resource center. We were able to show the teachers how they could do stations. The class size is 70 students but they felt they could make it work. One group read for fluency. We had a basket of books to read from, one group did spelling practice, and one group read with the teacher.
Later that week we used the resource center to bring in all 73 4A students. Reading textbooks had been donated. They each had a book. We read a poem several times and talked about it. Three students volunteered to read the poem to the class. They did an awesome job. The teachers felt this was very workable for their classroom.
I arranged and organized the books that were already in the resource center. The student books, teachers manual and supplemental materials are now all in one spot. Sally, the head teacher and librarian, and I worked on the "how to read" and teacher's books.
The second week were were separated from the primary school. I did read to the preschool, 3, 4, and 5 year olds. There were 60 altogether. They were so precious. They would repeat what I said. Dr. Seuss never sounded so good. This is a very new concept for Sierra Leone, working with children before Class I. The teachers are doing an amazing job. Several do not get any pay, they just volunteer.
I am so moved by the dedication these teacher have for the children of their country. They feel deeply that the only way our of poverty is through education. ...Linda
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