A network of teachers on Vancouver Island is helping bring literacy support to Africa.
Carol Walters, is one of the teachers on a 10 person network that is doing some creative work helping children both near and far.
The network of teachers on Vancouver Island, recently took on a literacy project to create books for young learners.
The books are designed to enhance place-based education where students are immersed in local sites, animals, and experiences using language and images that engage young readers.
Approximately 70 of them have been created using donated images and sourced photos of Vancouver Island.
While the focus of their project is Vancouver Island, these books were also shared thousands of miles away in Kenya.
The books were delivered in person by Walters’ network of fellow Vancouver Island educators during their annual trip to Africa this summer.
The best part for students was that the images in these books weren’t of Vancouver Island, instead, images local to the African children were inserted using photos from the previous year’s trip.
Walters says it’s amazing to see a local project impact students across the world.
“Little did we know the same format would be used to make books that would travel across the world and end up in the hands of children who normally never see books of this quality,” said Walters.
“We heard the African children literally stroked the pages and touched them to their faces!”
For more information on the Vancouver Island Literacy Network and its initiatives, click here.
