Peace Corps Ethiopia Literacy Projects Nationwide

BOOKS!

That's what we're talking about today.  Books.  Why?  Because across Ethiopia, intrepid Peace Corps Volunteers have taken initiative and used their supportive friends and family back home to help provide these life-changing literacy supplies to their students.

If you follow Ferengi No Habesha, then you're probably familiar with my own Better World Books Project to help supply my Read-Aloud Program at a local school here with my director friend, Belay.  My goal is to obtain a modest amount of juicy picture books that are rich in content and can be used to model good reading practices.  I'm looking for books that I can use to help young students practice making predictions, making inferences, and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.  Books that have repetition (good for predictions!), books that imply points through pictures and words (inferences!) and books that are relevant to my students lives (connections!) are what I'm primarily going for.

But I'm not the only one collecting solid picture books, and the idea is not new.  The first couple to start a book donation program was Daniel and Danielle up in Adwa back in December of last year.  They ended up with about 100 books, which they used "to jump-start a Reading Raffle once a month at three schools (like Book-It, but without the pizza)," according to Danielle.

Here's what their initial blog post says about their project:

"Adi-Mahleka, a school where I have English Club every Friday, has not a single children’s book in their library. Not in Tigrigna, not in Amharic, not in English. Zero. They’ve got textbooks galore, but what child is going to read those? Adua, another of my schools, has maybe 10 children’s books: a feat I nearly jumped and sang for.

Betterworldbooks.com is a website that works much like Toms shoes: you buy a book online (free worldwide shipping!) and they donate another to someone in need. We know firsthand that this donation process is legit; just two months ago, a handful of our volunteers received 500 boxes of books from this donation program (some of which were given to us for Adwa schools, when they had overflow). Daniel and I have created a wishlist for the schools in Adwa: which means, if you buy one book (average cost 5-7 dollars, again no shipping!), another is still being donated. That’s two books for children who have none, for the price of two Starbuck’s drinks.

In other words—pretty please?"

The idea was so simple, it was rapidly picked up by other volunteers.  Sarah and Aaron Arnold started their own book donation project in Bahir Dar in October of this year.  They mentioned the Books for Africa project that was done by the education group before us, G5.  Many of us were lucky to get some spill-over books from that project, but I found the books to be of lower quality (and therefore not as much use) as I was expecting.  Still, I'm always grateful for books, no matter what, and I've put them to good use.

According to their wish list they've received 65 books, although Sarah says it's around 70 now.

Inspired by the Arnolds, Emily S kicked off her own book drive and received "around 300".  The project really took off from there, with nine other PCVs including myself launching their own projects and appealing to the goodness of their friends and families hearts.  Here are the current book projects happening in Ethiopia and the numbers and success they have found so far, in no particular order:

PCV	Location	Purpose of Project	Date Started	Number of Books So Far
Daniel and Danielle	Adwa	To get books in the hands of students.	Dec 29, 2012	About 100
Sarah and Aaron	Bahir Dar	To expand a take-home library for primary OVCs.	Oct 4, 2013	About 70
Emily S	Dangila	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Oct 7, 2013	About 300
Emily C	Dilla	To help students improve their English in fun, creative ways.	Oct 23, 2013	6
Lacy	Yirgalem	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Dec 3, 2013	37
Jackie	Durame	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Oct 23, 2013	87
AJ	Chagni	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Nov 2, 2013	53
Erin	Adet	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Nov, 2, 2013	350
Ashley B	Hawassa	To supply a reading program with read-alouds and independent reading.	Nov 9, 2013	75
Julia	Wonago	To create a reading culture and increase literacy in her community.	Dec 8, 2013	136
Mellissa	Debark	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Nov 12, 2013	133+
OhnSoon	Leku	To build a mini library and foster a reading culture.	Dec 1, 2013	47
Alicia	Ambo	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Apr 3, 2013	120
Nicolette	Aleta Wondo	To stock a library and foster a reading culture.	Dec 4, 2013	34
Carlin	Hossana	To supply a read-aloud program for students and teachers.	Oct 23, 2013	40
Totals: 17 PCVs	15 Communities	9 libraries, 6 programs and literacy activities	12/29/12--12/8/13	≈1588 Books

For more about these projects, please click on a volunteer's name to visit their blog or document where they request books.  And because a picture's worth a thousand words, here's some photographic results of some of these projects (photos borrowed with implied consent):

From Ashley in Hawassa:

A quote celebrating reading at Adare Primary School in Hawassa

Students reading at Adare Primary School in Hawassa

From Emily in Dangila:

Before...

And After!  Look at those smiling faces!

From Lacy in Yirgalem:

The Ras Desta English Club in Yirgalem

From Jackie in Durame:

A student grins over a book in Durame

Students read in Durame

UPDATE Dec 15: A fancy map showing the locations of all these communities, and a pie chart showing each volunteer's contribution.

This post will be updated as new numbers come in and new projects start.  But I would like to thank everyone right now, volunteers and donors alike, for your hard work and generosity with all of these projects.  Together, we've managed to bring in 1,588 books and counting to this great nation.  Thanks so much, to everyone!

Thankful

This holiday, there are many things for which I'm thankful. I am thankful for good friends in Addis Ababa, who graciously invited me and two other Peace Corps Volunteers to join them and others in the mission and American expat community in Addis to celebrate Thanksgiving in style.  There were about twenty people from USAID and the international school bringing pies and side dishes and even a whole turkey.  Along with Jenny and myself, I invited my friend Kat, and two other G8 volunteers had been adopted by another USAID couple and brought to the meal.  The spread was pretty impressive, and way better than even the Hilton was last year.  Here's my plate:

On that plate you will see mashed potatoes with gravy, pureed carrots, cranberries, turkey, corn casserole, green beans, two kinds of stuffing (one that came with the bird, and a sausage one I helped to make) and burried under the corn casserole is actually some salad, too.

Before the big dinner, Jenny and I helped our hosts prepare some dishes to bring to the dinner.  The corn casserole, sausage stuffing, and cranberries were our hosts' contribution.  As mentioned, I helped with the stuffing, whereas Jenny helped with the corn casserole.  But we both helped to prepare the pies (not shown).  I brought up a pumpkin leftover from Halloween to gut and dice for pie myself.  Jenny and I prepared the pie crusts for all of the pies (two pecans and four pumpkins) and then made the filling for our special, from-scratch pumpkin pie.  We had so much extra filling that Kaaren let us use one of her pre-made crusts that she didn't want and we made a seventh pie, which we dropped a few chocolate chips into just for fun.  Here are our two pies made from a real pumpkin, depicted below:

In case it's not obvious, the one on the left was our homemade everything-from-scratch (pie crust and filling), whereas the one on the left is on the filling from scratch with a shortbread crust and chocolate chips.  They're a little green because pumpkins here are actually orange and green, and the one I made this one from was all green.  But it still tasted delicious.

After the huge dinner where I ate so much I gave myself a very happy stomach ache, we sat down and watched the Macy's Day Parade on AFN.  Here's Ronald McDonald:

I am so grateful that I was able to spend this holiday in a very American atmosphere with home-cooked American food and good friends.  But what I'm even more grateful for is the event that preceded this wonderful holiday, and that was the books I had received from the post office on Tuesday.  I got six packages of twenty-one books, two of which came with really sweet notes from Annie and Lori L.  Check out this spread:

I now have two copies of Yertle the Turtle, the Talking Eggs, and the Very Hungry Cattepiller (all seen) in addition to two copies of the Sneetches (one in English AND Mandarin, too, that was... interesting), the Z Was Zapped, the Giving Tree, and the Snail and the Whale.  And before you're all "Oh noes, she has two of the same!" it's actually a blessing, because this way I can give copies to the library, or to the college, or... I'll find uses for them, never you fear!

While I will get great use out of all of these books (I'm reading "Fish is Fish" next week), the treasures of my collection so far are A Perfect Orange (donated last time) and The Lion's Whiskers (illustrated version) because they are beautifully illustrated Ethiopian folktales that students can relate to.  Here are some of the really cool images in "The Lion's Whiskers":

 


How cool are those collages?  Beautiful!  I love all of these books and I know the kids will, too.  And I have some more photos from my Lorax read-aloud, which I will share with you all and take some more of fish is fish so you know that your books are being used.

Anyways, this Thanksgiving, I am so grateful for all of you and your support of my service, whether you donated books to my program, shared my program with friends on Facebook, follow my blog, comment on my blog/statuses/photos, or even just like my posts on Facebook, I am truly grateful for all of you back home and everything you do to support my work with students and teachers in Hossana.

Thank you all and happy holidays, whatever they may be.  Especially Hanukkah.  I heard Matt Lauer say that Hanukkah won't share a day with Thanksgiving for seventy-five thousand years, which I thought was weird because the first day of Hanukkah fell on Thanksgiving in 1888, so I was wondering why that was, but then The Huffington Post explained it pretty well.  It's a bit complicated, but it's kinda cool to know that this will more or less never happen again.

So yes, I am grateful for all of that, and the fact that my landlord installed a water heater on my shower.  That's a big one, too. ;)

A Poem for my Better World Books Donors!

Went to the post office and what did I see?
Seventeen books just waiting for me!
There wasn't just one or two or three -
There were SEVENTEEN books just waiting for me!

I found a note in my box, wondered "What could this be?"
It was all in Amharic, a mystery to me.
So I asked the post worker, "Does this mean there's a fee?"
And he laughed and said there was a package for me.

But not just one package, oh no siree!
There were three packages I could see!
He stacked them up and asked for the standard fee
Said, "Wait here," and vanished behind the box sea.

I fished out my ten bir, eager to see
What books I would find in these packages three.
I knew they had to be books because, well, you see,
I'd asked for donations from friends and family!

The post worker emerged from the box sea
Carrying FOUR more packages for me!
He sad, "Five times four means these cost twenty!"
So he gave me all seven and I gave him thirty.

If you're doing the math thinking "That can't be!"
"You got seven boxes each with a five bir fee!"
"You owed him thirty-five, unless-- could it be?"
Yes, you are right -- I got one light package free!

I shoved three packages in my bag and prepared to flee
Taking the other four in my arms to carry.
I couldn't wait to get home to look inside and see
What wonderful books were there waiting for me!

Safe at home, I sat under a tree
And tore them all open, as thrilled as can be
to see SEVENTEEN books from friends and family
That I'll use for read alouds to make students happy!

Thank you everyone for all the donations you've made to my Better World Books project.  Bad poetry aside, I hope you're as excited as I am to know that seventeen donated books arrived here safely.  They do come in batches from Addis you know, so I look forward to seeing the rest in the next mail call.  I will update the list right now so you can know if your donated book was one of the ones I received, but they're all visible in the photo below, too.  You all are great!  I plan on reading "Fish is Fish" after the Lorax, thanks to this shipment!  And I know my friend Belay will want to read the Fire on the Mountain and Lion's Whiskers whiskers cover to cover and share it with his students and staff as well.

The Better World Books Project and How You're Helping My Read Aloud Program

I posted a plea for help with my Better World Books Project about three weeks ago, around October 24th.  The response I got from friends and family was overwhelming, and showed me not just how generous they are, but how much they must believe in me and my program to donate.  I don't think I have ever felt more supported by the folks at home.  So now it's my turn to do something with all of these great donations and words of support.  And I know it's my responsibility to keep everyone appraised of the situation and where their hard earned dollars went.

So as of yesterday, Monday November 11, Veterans Day, or as for some reason I like to call it, Armistice Day, I have received no books in the mail from Better World Books.  Please don't let that discourage you.  It takes forever and a day to receive mail in Hossana.  Odds are it's just sitting in the city and waiting to find a bus down to my little town.  I'm not worried.

But in the meantime, life moves on, and so does school.  Belay was anxious to begin the program last week, and so I led with a lesson I did last year on Where the Wild Things Are, a book I received in one of my donation packages a year ago.  As a result, the fifth grade students who heard it last year as fourth graders were more familiar with the story.  This was helpful for the literacy skill I was teaching that day, which was making inferences.

For those teacher friends of mine reading this blog, I am loosely basing my program off of the Lucy Calkins Readers' Workshop model.  The lessons I plan to impart on these students is how to make inferences, how to make connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world) and how to make predictions.  Right now I am at the very beginning stages of that, and my big focus is inferences.  Eventually, students will write their own story based on the pictures in The Blue Stone through the inferences they make from the images.  But that's way later.  Right now, they just need to know the basic idea of what an inference is.

Making inferences is one of the most important reading skills in my personal and professional opinion.  Not only does it help with comprehension of text, but it also helps breed empathy, logic, observation skills and open minds.  When a student is asked to infer how a character is feeling based on his behavior, for example, that student must use what he knows about the behavior and come to a logical conclusion.  That student must also put herself in the character's shoes to imagine how he might be feeling.  When the student sees that Max stops the wild rumpus and sends all the Wild Things to bed without supper and infers that he is lonely or homesick, that student is practicing empathy and logic, and it helps her to better understand the story.

With students whose first language is not English, and who have never been asked to make an inference about a story in their life, it is important to start with the basics and give as much scaffolding as possible after considerable modeling.  My major challenge was getting students to respond in full sentences, but once they realized I just wanted them to read the stem sentence, they seemed to catch on a bit quicker.  The super objective, of course, is that eventually, students won't need these training wheels and will be able to respond in full sentences without any visual support.  But that's a long way off.

As a result, I presented the story of Where the Wild Things Are to a fourth and fifth grade class, the latter class having read the story with me before.  This time, I asked them to try and imagine how Max was feeling, so they knew what they were being asked.  I did not stray from this question, nor ask for more complex inferences.  Here are some stills from a video taken of that lesson:

In the above photo, I am introducing the stem sentences "I think that Max feels..." and "I infer that..." Predictably, students chose the first stem sentence more often, but that's OK.  I introduced the latter sentence more for the academic vocabulary.  They'll use it when they're ready.  One thing I did notice was that students could read the stem sentences themselves with no assistance from me.  I was told by Belay that they didn't have much decoding skills and relied a lot on sight words, but they read "Max" just fine and I know that's not a sight word for Ethiopian students.

Behind me in this photo you can see the start of our Word Wall.  I emphasized to Belay and the teachers in these classes that it was imperative that they leave this up forever and ever until Armageddon.  We'll see if they're still there on Thursday.  Words on this wall include "wild thing," "monster" and "supper."  This still was taken at the beginning of the read aloud.

The next three photos illustrate my dramatic reading of the book.

Grrrrr - Wild Thing!

"I'll Eat You Up!"

Illustrating what it means to be "frightened."

But I'm sure you've seen enough of me.  You want to know I wasn't just teaching to an empty room, right?  Well, in order to assess student attention and listening skills, students were asked to "ROAR" whenever I said the word "Wild Thing" or "Wild Things."  This is what some of them looked like.

I particularly liked that kid in the back.  Still, it's not lost on me that several students are looking at me like they're bored.  I had them do "Bananas" to wake them up and get them moving.  Next time, I also hope to employ a few more active games to keep them awake and involved.

This brave little girl stood up to tell me that she thinks Max feels happy when he sees his supper waiting for him.  She added that he is not hungry (anymore), which I thought was a great addition.  The kid in the corner in the back is Aklilu.  He also made a great observation about Max.  On one of the rare occasions where I asked a question about the story unrelated to how Max was feeling, it was to ask where they thought Max was sailing when he said goodbye to the Wild Things.  Aklilu said, "He is saying 'Bye, I am going to my mother.'" Super awesome kid.  He was actually one of the kids that went to Christina's Hossana Camp GLOW last year and he was in my group of lions.  So he's super awesome for that.

I just like this photo because you get me talking to the kids.  I had the teacher hold the camera and he didn't get many great ones of me and the kids but I like this one.  I'm asking him what his name is, and to think about Max.

Anyways, so this is the type of project your books are going to, in case you were wondering.  Many other PCVs are doing similar book drive projects, however they have different goals.  My very good pals Jackie and AJ (PLEASE go check out those two links!) are doing Library Projects, to create resource centers for their students to use.  As a result, they're asking for hundreds of books, whereas I only need a few dozen.  My focus is on specific titles that I know are goldmines for read-aloud lessons on literacy comprehension skills.  You see, Hossana already has a library, filled with donated books, as does Belay's own private school.  But unfortunately, none of those books suited my needs.  They were all donated without thought to their usefulness, which is why we have an adult's guide to chess in the children's library at our hub school.  But there are good picture books as well, and kids do explore them - they just aren't sure what they're doing with them.

The books being donated to my Better World Books Project will be used as training books, and books read aloud in classrooms.  Teachers will familiarize themselves with the themes and teaching points of each of these books by observing my model lessons and having a talk-back debrief session afterwards to ask whatever questions they have and to give suggestions to inform how I might teach their students better.  That's why I need less than fifty books - but fifty meaty books.  And if last week's talk-back was any indication, the teachers and Belay's school are enthusiastic about adopting read-alouds into their curriculum and using them to teach reading and writing skills.

So that's a more detailed plan of my Read Aloud Program.  The main objective is to get kids excited about reading and beginning to think like readers by making inferences, predictions and connections.  The other main objective is to train the teachers how to support and encourage this kind of thinking and enthusiasm through the simple act of reading a book aloud to students.

That's what your books are doing.  That's where they're going.  And when I finish my service, I think I will either give them to Belay's school or the next volunteer to serve in Hossana.

If you have any other questions about the Better World Books Project or my Read Aloud Program in general, please feel free to ask any time.  This is as transparent as I can possibly make it.