BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOR the past couple of days, students and teachers of the Dr. William Connor Primary School have been journeying through the Caribbean, making various stops at different and interesting countries and taking the necessary time to gather as much information as possible about each destination.
Though not physical, the journey is facilitated by the activation of one’s imagination through the reading of books.
The learning institution began its Literacy Week on Monday (Jan. 30), which is being held under the theme “Journey through the Caribbean with Reading”.
The week – which according to organisers is progressing well – proposes to remind or inform students of the importance of reading and the worlds which could be opened to them through this educational practice.
It features a number of innovative and even thought-provoking activities which – from all reports – both teachers and students continue to enjoy.
Each class was assigned an island and teachers had the responsibility of devising creative ways of teaching their charges about the national symbols, culture, cuisine etc. of that island.
Flown across the compound are the flags of the Caribbean, while posters of the different islands were mounted on the doors of every classroom.
As explained by the school’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ruth Duport, Monday saw teachers of the more senior and junior grades performing a switcheroo with the former reading to the more junior classes and the latter to the more senior classes.
On Tuesday, still in an atmosphere of learning, the children were exposed to and participated in a variety of games including a treasure hunt and a word game dubbed Island Hop.
During this game, the different islands of the Caribbean were drawn on the court area and a word was drawn by each island. Each child, starting from the home point, would be required to identify the specific words which accompanied each island before being allowed to advance to another. Should they fail in identifying the word – which is what was keeping them on the island - they would be devoured by the creatures of the sea.
Yesterday’s (Feb. 1) activities included the reopening of the school’s library which had been non-operational for several years. Also, parents were invited to visit the school to sit-in on their children’s sessions and the students were engaged in making paraphernalia for the Literacy Week March scheduled for Friday (Feb. 3)
Today also promises much excitement. Dubbed “Pool Day”, a number of inflatable pools would be placed on the court area and a number of fish-shaped cards, upon which words will be written, will be placed into the pools and the children would be required to “Dive for Words”.
Duport told SKNVibes that the teachers of the institution expect that the students would have understood that reading could be enjoyable and that it opens a world of opportunities.
“I find that the children are so distracted by all the technology and so they don’t want to open any books anymore. They just want things to come easy and they want everything to be handed to them. And I want them to get the sense that reading is fun; you can travel anywhere once you read. We are hoping that their love for reading would be revived and that they would be intrinsically motivated.
“I also wanted to get our struggling readers to realise that reading can be fun…”
