Rotarians from Japan,
Australia, USA and Thailand hand over a library during this ceremony.
DIrene Zijp
How passionate can you be about educating young children to travel
almost 1000 kilometres to attend 2 days of training sitting outside in
tropical temperatures? This is what happened to some of the 100 teachers and
day care centre managers who are dedicated to change their children’s future
and who travelled from all over the 29 provinces in northeastern (Isaan) and
eastern Thailand.
This part of Thailand depends on agricultural activities yet is subject to
unpredictable seasonal drought. Economic and social conditions of the
majority of people are at poverty level. Both parents often have to work
long hours each day, while sending their young preschoolers to a day care
centre. There are often no facilities, and one passionate and dedicated
teacher has to look after up to 40 little children.
Creative ways are used to
stimulate the children to read.
The first 5 to 7 years of a child can be very important
in regards to the success in later life. We know that words are the primary
structure for learning. We only have to look in history where dictators
often prohibited their citizens from reading or possessing books, too afraid
that they might become smart and revolt against him. It has been proven that
students who read the most, read the best, and often achieve the most. As
for little children who cannot read themselves, being read to, by using good
picture books, offers many advantages. It helps them with a better
vocabulary, they provide support for the kind of character we hope to see
developed in our children, but they can also learn anything in and about the
world without the real experience.
Children books have only been around in this country for about 20 years, and
most adults have never been read to or read themselves as a child. A local
non-government organisation, the Tai Wisdom Association, has been working in
this part of the country to change this by offering education and training
about reading to children and the importance of it.
Six years ago the initiative of Past District Governor Somchai Chiaranapanit
and Rotarians in district 3340 of Rotary International was to help these
needy kids by providing them with opportunities to develop their brain based
learning and sound reading habits at a critical age of development - up to
the age of seven.
This ‘Library for Kids and Family’ project provides day care centres and
schools with books and bookshelves as well as training to the teachers in
how to read aloud and use the stories to educate the children.
Gale and Bryan are quite moved
by the Rotarians generosity.
Many teachers gain a lot of benefit from the training and
are very enthusiastic about using the picture books. One teacher commented,
“I never understood why there were only one or two sentences on a page or
sometimes no words at all, but now after the training I know what to do and
how to use these books.” The books are of high quality, not only in content,
as many of them are favourite classics, but also in making; the good quality
paper and covers are a pleasure to just hold.
The success of the project is not to just donate books. Even in the western
world there are many books around and yet we see a decline in literacy and
reading. The success is due to the dedication of the schoolteachers, day
care centre managers and solid training on how to use the books. Training
involves tips on how to read aloud to the children, activities they can do
based on the story read, how to look after the books, etc. Each trained
person than return to their own community, often training others, and
implementing what they have learned. Over the years we had some great
stories how this project has impacted children.
Chandra LaHusen (USA) holds a
baby eager to read books.
The 11 year old Nakarin attends a standard 5 class in a
very remote school in Nakhon Phanom, and cannot read or write and never
showed any signs that he wanted to learn. He refused any help from his
teacher and refused to participate. After the school received the books from
the library project a new approach of teaching was implemented by both
teachers and students. Slowly Nakarin started to join the group, and this
changed his behaviour. As he tried to read aloud very slowly, little signs
of happiness and hope spread across his face. Now he wants to bring his
favourite books and read them to his family, who attend the Buddhist temple
every Sunday.
So far over 81000 books have been distributed to 325 recipients like
schools, public libraries and day care centres. More than 700 teachers have
been trained. Thanks to 34 local Rotary clubs and support from Rotarians
from Australia, USA, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore already many
lives of children have been changed. And with each training and handover
more requests are made from other schools and day care centres far and
beyond to be part of this library project and to make a change in their own
local community.
Erich Fromm wrote in “The Art of Loving” that children need both milk and
honey from their parents and carers. Milk symbolises the care given to
physical needs like getting enough sleep, eating healthy food. Honey
symbolises the sweetness in life, that special quality that makes life
enjoyable. How wonderful to think that we can give the children the world by
giving them access to books and great stories.
Children welcome Past
President Michitaro Morita from Japan.
The expression in the little
children's face is worth all the effort we put in.
Famous author Cheewan Visasa
shows off his collection of children's books.
Teachers gain a lot of
benefit from the training and are very enthusiastic about using the picture
books.
Reading aloud really got
these children captivated even after reading it dozens of times.
