The New "One on One" Reading Programme at Olives

After 42 years in the education game, I thought I’d finished with lesson plans and the day to day involvement in teaching. That is until Mary and I arrived at Olives Rehabilitation Centre in Bombolulu as part of the GVI support program.

It had become obvious to local GVI staff that in each class several children were really struggling to read in English. After discussion with GVI staff-member Lou, I was asked if I could set up a pilot program to help the children who had not been able to effectively learn to read. Luckily, I’d had some experience with this kind of program in Australia but that was a long time ago and I was fairy rusty.

Paul doing one on one with Duncan from Standard 2

The first thing I did with Mary’s help was to test all children in standards two and three to see if they knew the sounds made by letters of the alphabet, to see if they could blend and sound out simple 3 letter words and to see if they had a basic sight vocabulary. We found that there were really 3 groups. Many of the kids had really good foundation skills and would not need specific help. Some kids had a few problems but were quite functional readers. Mary would support these students with daily one to one reading. The remaining 14 students had serious problems and were not really able to read in English. These boys and girls would receive an intensive reading recovery program each day.

Mary with Judy from Standard 2

My group of 14 was extended to 16 to include 2 standard 4 boys at the request of the standard 4 volunteer teacher.

And so the program began. There were many obstacles.

1.     There was no space in the building, so I would have to work outside in the dust and the wind, and the many distractions caused by other children crowding around to watch. This included village children not enrolled at the school. I even had the experience of a goat nibbling at my foot. Then a new verandah was built around me with a team of men sawing wood, hammering nails and dumping gravel around us.

2.     We had no table so I bought clip boards for us to work on.

3.     There was really no suitable reading material so we bought books in Mombasa and set them up in sequential levels.

   GVI volunteers, including Paul, giving one on one to pupils at Olives under the new veranda. Until it was built, Paul would give lessons on the  dirt ground.

The program was soon under way. The kids were so keen. While I was working with one child, others would keep coming out of the classroom and demanding, “Me read next Sir”. They soon discovered I had a daily running order and they would look over my shoulder and tell everyone else when their turn would be.

At first with no books to read, I got them to dictate some things about themselves such as their age and name, what games they liked playing, what they did in the holidays etc. This was then formed into a little book which they practiced reading. When they were proficient, this story would proudly be taken home to share with their family.

The daily lessons involve a lot of repetition as they learn the sound made by each letter and develop a sight vocab. using flashcards and games to enable them to read the graded books.

Hamisi getting time with Paul. As a result, Hamisi's confidence has soared noticeably in class

Some issues I found centre around the difficulties people have trying to read in a foreign language. Many of the children only speak in broken English. For a start, their accent is very different and they pronounce the vowels in quite a different way to us. So many common words mean nothing to them,(vet, mat dim etc) so I find myself constantly explaining the meaning of words.

Because some of their oral speaking is not correct, they tend to leave out words in the text as they read. The word “I” seems to provide a real problem to them as do ‘he’, ‘we’ and ‘she’.

These challenges have really tested my brain but have given me a much deeper understanding of how hard their task of reading in a second language is.

The old teacher in me has come back to life and I have totally enjoyed the opportunity to set up this program. In only 5 weeks, I have seen virtual non readers make such exciting steps. They try so hard and are realizing that they actually can do it. They are so excited and boy, so am I. I now remember that feeling I had as a teacher over the years when you see the lights turn on and a child suddenly discovering how to do something.

Paul working in the house on his schedule and one on one lesson plans for the next day

We came for 6 weeks and now I wish we were here for 6 months. My hope is that the pilot program continues to develop both here at Olives and at our partner school Precious.

Paul, October 2010

The New "One on One" Reading Programme at Olives