Room to Read Blog

India: Shobha has a story to tell us all

DELHI, INDIA -- We walk into a class and hear a lion roar!  At the center of the room stands a petite looking young girl with her eyes wide open and hands spread out. There is a pin drop silence as she takes a deep breath before walking with measured steps towards a small boy and looks him straight in the eye. The child cringes, and moves back…

Obviously this is Shobha at her best, telling stories like only she can.  Her narration is packed with drama and action and it is amazing to see that every child in the class listen in rapt attention.

The twenty-minute session is exhausting and she wipes the small beads of perspiration from her face.  She joins me with a big smile.  “How do you manage this?” I ask her. “Well if you enjoy something then you give your all” she says still out of breath. “The secret to good storytelling is that you have to ensure the group is engaged – use simple language, modify our voice, maybe mimic at times and make it participatory by asking a question or two.”

Well, theoretically it sounded brilliant but to practice that and to work with children on a routine basis is certainly not that easy.  Shobha agreed and explained, “I actually plan my story sessions in detail. I read a few stories and mull over them. Then I short list at least three stories, keeping in mind that the story should appeal to both boys and girls. I then read it out loud, and put in the right expressions and keep a track of the time each story takes.”

I am curious to find out if she has a theater background. Shobha clarifies, “My family is very conservative and even in my school days I was not allowed to participate in such activities. I do get to watch plays and soap operas on the TV now and my skills for acting are all self-taught.”

Shobha added “Perhaps what really helped me was the training I received from SAKSHI” (Room to Read’s  NGO partners).  “The training helped me to get over my inhibitions and also understand how to take this exercise forward.”

Shobha is enrolled for a correspondence course and is also a volunteer at SAKSHI.  She visits this school each week to conduct story telling sessions. “The idea is to encourage children to read story books. Sometimes I narrate a story and just as we are close to the dramatic end, I stop the narrative and ask a child to read and finish the story."

-- Reena Luke

Room to Read Scholar in Zambia is Making the Grade

Meet Esther, a 15-year-old soon-to-be high school student thanks to Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program.  She’s gearing up for the national exams she’s required to pass in order to enter high school -– and she’s feeling pretty confident; so much so that she’s certain she will do well in math, her most challenging subject. 

“Math has been a tough subject for me, but after the tutoring organized by Room to Read, it is no longer a problem for me. I am very sure that I will pass the exams,” says Esther. 

As one of 107 girls supported by Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program at the school she attends in the Chongwe District of Zambia, Esther receives tutoring in math and other subjects as part of our holistic approach to provide academic support and life skills training to educate, motivate and empower girls in the developing world.

Like many families in Esther’s community, formal education is considered a luxury her parents cannot afford to finance. She is the third of eight children and her parents struggle to sustain their large family on her father’s income as a bus driver. That’s why Esther appreciates every ounce of support and encouragement she gets from Room to Read; she is committed to working hard and taking full advantage of the educational resources her parents never had.

According to Esther’s mathematics teacher, the study sessions are definitely making a difference.

“Until Room to Read began to help, Esther had been an average pupil with marked weakness in science and mathematics. The tutoring has helped her very much. She is now more confident and is going to make it to grade 10,” says Esther’s teacher.

Watch out high school, Esther is on her way!

Room to Read and Feed Projects launch the FEED/READ 3 Tote

Last night in New York, Room to Read and Feed Projects unveiled their new FEED/READ 3 tote bag which is being sold exclusively at Barnes & Noble bit.ly/2b3zg.  For every FEED/READ 3 tote bag sold, Room to Read and FEED Projects will support three local language children’s books published by Room to Read and three school meals for children through the United Nations World Food Program’s School Feeding Operations.

This collaboration began when John Wood met FEED Projects Co-Founders Lauren Bush and Ellen Gustafson.  They decided to partner to create a special FEED bag that would include a donation for global education programs since food and books are a basic need for any school day.  With over 75 million children not attending primary school (55% of which are girls) and 50 million hungry children not receiving any form of food aid, the bags are one way to make a difference and respond  to the need for more books and lunches in developing countries.

Read more about it.

The Parrot with the Missing Shoes: the Making of our New Cambodian Children's Book

Room to Read understands that writing and illustrating a new children’s book is no easy task -– which is why our Local Language Publishing (LLP) program works hard to train the creative teams in the countries where we work to learn from each other and share best practices.  Room to Read Cambodia is now in the final stages of printing its newest title, The Parrot with the Missing Shoes, written by a 19-year old woman about a baby parrot who is searching for his missing shoes so he can visit his grandmother.

But this fun, bright-colored main parrot character that children in Cambodia will soon be learning from didn’t start off that way. In fact, the writer initially conceived him as a dark-colored crow but after discussions with our local LLP team, the writer and illustrator agreed that since a crow is traditionally a bad luck symbol in Cambodia, they would change the character to be more culturally sensitive and thus he became a parrot. And why did the author decide to have the parrot find the missing pair of shoes? Well, Room to Read Cambodia, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, was asked to develop children’s books that support the 1st grade textbook which teaches children prepositions such as “under” and “in front” -– words that can be found throughout The Parrot with the Missing Shoes.  The book will be published by the end of the year and will be soon be stocked in Cambodia’s Reading Room libraries for all to enjoy!