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Pueblo a Pueblo Blog

Right from Santiago Atitlán to your computer. Your window into our world. Thanks for reading and comments are welcome! ​

World Book Day at La Cumbre

4/28/2017

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In April, our beneficiary schools celebrated World Book Day. Observed around the globe every year on April 23rd, students and teachers at La Cumbre Primary School gathered for an afternoon filled with skits, games, puppets, and books. “A book is more valuable than new toys, shoes, or clothes. A book can expand your imagination and open up opportunities,” said Ricardo Sitan, La Cumbre’s School Principal, as he introduced activities for the day.
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World Book Day at La Cumbre Primary School
In rural areas of Guatemala, 28.6% of the population is illiterate. Among women and girls, this rate jumps to 35.3% (ENCOVI). Seeing the need to equip schools with tools to encourage reading among students, Pueblo a Pueblo began our Pathways to Literacy Project at La Cumbre Primary School in 2015. Before then, the school had no organized library lending system.

“At most, a student could check out a book once a week,” Lidia Quieju, the Project Coordinator, explains. “During the three year project phase, we helped the library implement cataloging methods, utilize call numbers, and also train the librarians”. Now students at La Cumbre have a running library with an ample supply of books, and a cozy place where they can sit and spend time exploring new stories-- and students are certainly making use of it.
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"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" puppet show
For students Helena, Rosa, and Juan, they were each awarded a prize at the start of La Cumbre’s World Book Day assembly for borrowing the most books during the school year.

After, three students ran on stage to set up a puppet show. The 141 students in the audience focused their eyes on the sock puppets, watching the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears unfold. “Ahhh, this porridge is just right," exclaimed Goldilocks, and students giggled as Goldilocks moved on to try out three different chairs.
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One of the four game stations
At the end of the assembly, students split into groups to travel to four different game stations. Each station focused on a different aspect of literacy. At Ms. Lea Tzina’s station, students were given the phrase: “The witch flies at night,” and had to make up the rest of the story from there. With Mr. Francisco Cutzal’s station, a 4-foot long poster covered the wall with the question “Why are books important in your life?” and students grabbed markers to write, draw, and illustrate their answers.
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La Cumbre students at the World Book Day assembly
World Book Day marks the gains that La Cumbre Primary School has made in encouraging reading in their community. On their pre- and post-literacy diagnostic tests, students increased their scores by 17%. And now more students are borrowing books from the library to bring home-- meaning that the learning continues outside school walls. We are excited to see La Cumbre Primary School, their library, and students grow even more!
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Bridging the Gap with RACHEL

4/14/2017

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Juan Reanda leading a training at Chacaya Primary School
Two years ago, our Pueblo a Pueblo team began to dream of a way to bring better quality educational materials to teachers and students throughout rural Guatemala. Many communities here lack internet access, limiting the types of resources that students can use in school. So last year, thanks to the generosity of the International Foundation, we began to install RACHEL in schools.

Far from just a name, RACHEL stands for Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning. It is a software that makes online resources, such as Wikipedia, the Khan Academy, typing programs, and more, available offline. Students and teachers can connect to RACHEL on their computers, phones, or tablets, and have immediate access to a wide range of resources used for research and classroom learning.

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The RACHEL system "router"
With the help of World Possible, an organization that provides educational technology and training in developing communities, we installed RACHEL at Chacaya and La Cumbre Primary Schools. Over the course of the year, World Possible also delivered three trainings to teachers at both schools, showing how RACHEL works and how to use its content in class.

For example, during the last training, Juan Reanda, Technology Facilitator at World Possible, spoke about the learning strategy SOLE--
Self-Organized Learning Environment. With SOLE, teachers ask students an open-ended research question. Students then divide into groups, and utilizing RACHEL, they sort through different sources of information to answer the question.

Students then present their findings in any creative form, such as theatre acts, songs, or drawings. With RACHEL and the SOLE method, teachers are encouraging students to expand their imaginations, research, and investigate-- rather than always being told the answer.
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La Cumbre students using RACHEL with a tablet
According to Virginia Baran, fourth grade teacher at La Cumbre, “The RACHEL system has helped a lot in the classroom”. Students are using language games to more effectively learn English, and are using the offline dictionary to look up words they don’t know. “We just completed the RACHEL trainings a couple months ago, and have not been using the system for a long time, but it provides many interesting resources. I am excited to explore more”.

​As we continue to work with Chacaya and La Cumbre Primary Schools on full implementation of RACHEL in the classroom, our hope is to bring RACHEL to more rural communities-- so that schools without internet connection can still access quality educational resources.

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • OUR SUPPORTERS >
      • COFFEE INDUSTRY PARTNERS
    • Annual Report
    • FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY >
      • AUDITS & FORMS 990
    • Partnership with Natik
    • Our COVID-19 Response
  • PROGRAMS
    • WHAT WE DO
    • WOMEN'S RIGHT TO HEALTH >
      • MATERNAL CHILD HEALTH
      • WOMEN'S HEALTH CHAMPIONS
    • SCHOOL HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND NUTRITION >
      • WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS
      • PRIMARY EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS
      • PATHWAYS TO LITERACY
      • SCHOOL NUTRITION
      • ORGANIC TEACHING GARDEN
    • SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS >
      • BEEKEEPING
      • YOUTH LEADERSHIP
      • WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
  • BLOG
  • MULTIMEDIA
    • IN THE NEWS
    • PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT