International Mother Language Day 2011

On Sunday, February 20th, 2011 at 4:00 pm, SELI celebrated International Mother Language Day 2011. Anyone who wants to stretch his or her writing life and support those Sierra Leonean languages that are not being taught in schools is welcome to come and write! This is the 12th year of this UNESCO day, which actually falls on the 21st of February each year. It was established to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, particularly encouraging the development of literatures in endangered languages.

This year most of the participants wrote poems, and we all sat in one group to read our work aloud. Can you read this poem by Annie Moses that was written and read on that day? SELI's celebration is part of its larger Heritage Writers program. Participants spend the first 45 minutes writing a poem, story, or nonfiction narrative in their primary language. They then gather in language groups to read their work aloud for appreciative feedback and comments. Tutors from the Writing Tutors Registry are always present in case any participant would like to make an arrangement for lessons to improve their writing skills in their language.

The students on the cover of the book, Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone, which you see here, are writing on International Mother Language Day.

Voices from the Village

The Young Writers in the Seli River Writing Project (SRWP) are writing from both urban and rural areas. Since they are writing personal experiences, their environments greatly affect their topics. Check out the voices from the village, at http://www.seli.co/seli-forum/voices-from-the-village

The map shows the watershed area of the Seli River, which gave its name to the SRWP.

We're hosting the TLRC!

SELI hosted the first meeting of SL PEN's Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee, or TLRC, on Tuesday, March 29th. Keep your eyes on this space and expect big things of this committee! The next meeting will be on April 12th.

New Site: www.seli.co!

Check out our new website at http://www.seli.co.

The writing is published!

Students push for the chance to read what the authors in their school's Young Writers club have written, now that some final drafts are published on the club's notice board outside the principal's office at Kabala Secondary School's Junior Secondary School.

And the clubs are underway!

Four Young Writersclubs are underway in the Koinadugu District, and here we see two authors doing peer-editing in the Dankawalie Secondary School club. A thunderstorm was going on while we were visiting this club on October 18th, but the drafting, conferencing, and revising all went on nonetheless. You can also see here a content conference going on at Kabala Secondary School's club. The author made a statement in his piece that one of the students thinks he needs more evidence for, and he will have to think about this when he writes his second draft.
I visited the four clubs in the Kabala area in the third week of October in the company of one of the facilitators of a Young Writersclub in Freetown, and we joined in the facilitating wherever we went. We have nothing but praise for the way these new clubs have begun.

Leading Young Writers in Kabala

SELI has just finished conducting the second 40-hour teacher training Leading Young Writers workshop, this time with ten teachers in the Kabala area, in the far north of Sierra Leone. The teachers will be facilitating process-writing Young Writers clubs in four schools there: Kabala Secondary School, Loma Secondary School, Dankawalie Secondary School, and Ahmadiyya Muslim Agricultural Secondary School (AMASS). AMASS provided the venue for the workshop. It was a lively one and we were all sorry to see it end. Every activity added to the participants' expertise in one of three areas: the theory of teaching writing; the role of the facilitator; and participating in the writing process. The afternoon writing sessions simulated the Young Writers clubs themselves. The participants, many of whom had not known each other before, are determined to continue writing with the ongoing encouragement of their fellow participants and SELI.
SELI donated to each school a box of supplies to be used by the writing clubs.
Here, supplies are being handed over to the vice principal of Dankawalie Secondary School, Mr. Kargbo.
Young Writers clubs aim to develop young authors while they also improve the communication, cultural awareness, and thinking skills of junior secondary school students in the schools where they operate. SELI believes that writing is best taught by teachers who write, so as we visit the clubs during the year we will also be doing all we can to encourage the teachers in their own writing.

Celebrate National Youth Literacy Day!

It's National Youth Literacy Day today (August 26th)! Celebrate by making an $8.95 purchase that keeps SELI Youth Writers writing in Sierra Leone--the purchase of Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone! Just click on https://www.createspace.com/3458058, and you're there, reading all the personal experiences these dedicated writers have chosen to explain to you! All funds generated by the sale of the book are used solely to support SELI's educational programs in Sierra Leone.

Keep watching! The Leading Young Writers teacher training workshop in Kabala begins next week. Ten new teachers are being introduced to facilitating Young Writers clubs in their own schools, At the same time, they are going to start writing in process-writing workshops themselves, What a great way to reduce stress and fight teacher burnout--be a writer yourself, with the support of a writers' group in your area.

A Great Cause

We know it's important to you that SELI Young Writers clubs continue to encourage JSS students to write. Now there's a way you can make sure that happens! AND, to make sure the new clubs being opened in the Northern Province will be supported with in-servicing visits. You can make your contribution at http://www.causes.com/causes/509925?recruiter_id=143246679. Check it out!

You can read them, too!

A new book, Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone, edited by Jacqueline Leigh, makes it possible for you to read the writing of SELI's Young Writers clubs. Click the link here, or buy it on Amazon.com!

Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone is a collection of personal experiences of students in process-writing clubs in six schools in Freetown. After carrying out the writing process repeatedly on their chosen topics these students have come to see themselves, collectively, as authors. Readers gain insight into the society in which these children are growing up, and into the courage with which the students' voices leap from the pages. A foreword by the editor provides detail about the clubs, and the postscript explains where these writers might go from here, drawing on insights from James Moffett's work at the National Writing Project. All profits from the sale of this book support the writing programs of the Sentinel English Language Institute, the public charity conducting Young Writers clubs in Sierra Leone.

Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone is available now at https://www.createspace.com/3458058. We're also sending out complimentary copies in appreciation and recognition of donations of $50 or more to the Sentinel English Language Institute. Do let us know if you'd like to contribute at writing.SELI@yahoo.com.!