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Friday, June 7, 2013

Peace Corps Volunteer Leads Book Club for Teachers to Encourage Literacy and Reading in Gambian Community

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 7, 2013 – Peace Corps education volunteer Lacy Szuwalski of Topeka, Kan., has started a book club with members of her Gambian community to encourage her fellow Gambian teachers and their students to read. Szuwalski approached teachers with the idea for the book club as a way to increase literacy among local students.

The teachers first read children’s books from the local school library together, and in small groups, Szuwalski led discussions on theme, predicting, using context clues, and other reading skills. They then planned to incorporate the books into student lessons.  Working together, they set reading goals, and within weeks, were able to exceed them.

“The teachers were finding that as they sat down and read, they were gaining new vocabulary, learning print conventions, and making connections in each reading session,” said Szuwalski, a graduate of the University of Kansas. 

“I began to see a shift in their motivation to read. I've also seen the reading skills I'm sharing with the teachers transferring to the students. Through the book club, the teachers have come to understand the importance of reading.”

On World Read Aloud Day last March, eight teachers demonstrated their new skills by reading to their students and leading a discussion on the book in their classrooms. For many of the teachers, it was the first time they had read a children’s book aloud to their class.

“The students love having their teachers bring books into the classroom and constantly ask when they are going to read to them again,” she said.