Collaborating with Five Writing Lessons

The Sentinel English Language Institute's Five Writing Lesson program has so much in common with The Institute for Sierra Leone Languages (TISSL) that the two organizations are looking into how we might collaborate and maximize our efforts. Today I visited a Limba adult literacy class conducted by TISSL's Limba coordinator, Mr. Gibrilla Kamara. It was held in a Quonset-hut building of a municipal school. Here we show a photo taken of the class (which meets five times a week) at 6 pm, and another photo taken two hours later when the lighting was provided by class members who brought LED flashlights or mobile phones. This class is one of three Limba literacy classes offered by TISSL in the Freetown area. TISSL's aim is to develop readers (who also write), while SELI's aim is to develop writers (who also read).

Can't stop reading!

We gave out issue no. 3.1 of the Young Voices newsletter when we visited Young Writers clubs this week. These photos are from Lady Patricia Kabba Memorial Junior Secondary School in Goderich. We couldn't get anyone to stop reading and get on with their own writing until they'd finished the whole paper! 

Get your own copy here, and let us know how you like it. The Young Writers authors would like your feedback. Appropriate reading materials are SO needed in Sierra Leone! There is no doubt that education is in a dire state in Sierra Leone as you can see in this article, but when reading materials are appropriate and when reading materials are available, students everywhere in the world will do their best to read.

Reading Sierra Leone

Lε Wi Ɔl Lan ("Let's all learn!") aims to improve learning outcomes for girls and boys in Sierra Leone. One of the strategies is to train at least 40 teacher trainers and 160 teachers in teaching reading and writing by the end of the second year. Trained teachers will receive regular professional support. Lε Wi Ɔl Lan hopes to improve the reading and writing performance for students in class one to junior secondary school. A complementary project, Reading Sierra Leone, provides students and teachers access to a variety of high quality reading materials. During the first year, CODE Canada brought in more than 200,000 reading materials for the project while conducting workshops in partnership with PEN SL to train writers and illustrators to tell inspiring local stories. Eight books from these local stories have now been published (pssssst: the SELI director wrote one of them!) The launching will take place soon! Here's where you can get your catalog of the Liberian and Sierra Leonean titles.

Lε Wi Ɔl Lan is coordinated by the International Rescue Committee. CODE Canada leads the teacher-training components of the project, and CODE is also the lead for Reading Sierra Leone.