Tag Archives: reading

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Souns in “luv” with Colorado Springs!

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What an energetic and committed group of literacy minded folks are to be found in Colorado Springs. We trained teachers and volunteers and presented Souns for three days. I had little time to catch my breath, and that was not a result of the altitude. The beauty of the natural environment is only matched by the drive for every child to read in that bustling community. I applaud my new friends and the birthing possibilities for literacy through such a powerhouse of community support.

A fellow Rotarian determined to pave a road for literacy in Colorado Springs says:

What a delight it was to host Brenda Erickson on her great first visit to Colorado Springs, CO! She came to train and inform about thirty volunteers of the “GET SET!” program at First Pres Church. “GET SET!” provides one year of school to thirty-four youngsters from economically-challenged families of our inner-city area, preparing them for the following year of kindergarten. The teachers see SOUNS as an excellent opportunity to enhance the reading readiness of the two “Get Set” classes.

Brenda also presented SOUNS to our Rotary club, to the Director of our Public Library’s program for infants, toddlers, and young children, and was invited to present SOUNS to a meeting of a large ‘Alliance for Literacy’ group. Great groundwork was laid, and a solid foundation awaits Brenda’s future returns to our city/county area of about 650,000 people, scheduled for sometime in August or September.

I must say that we had great fun in these three days of connecting with other folks who are passionate about literacy! —Robbydale and Minor, June 6, 2012

Thank you all for making this trip so worthwhile. Every – YES, EVERY – child will read!

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Peace Corps, “Souns has been the calm in my sea!”

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Greater words to share hath no person than these: I have helped a child! Working with the Peace Corps on this Rotary District 9400/APC pilot for future literacy work has inspired me beyond expectations. What beautiful people demonstrating the very best of humanity. Thank you PCV’s! You are our promise of calm in the world’s turbulent sea! One PCV’s words on his work with Souns:

Souns has been the calm in my sea of first year turbulence. It has been a solid start to everyday, and seeing youth progress in something tangible has been rewarding to push forward in the times when content doesn’t not come so fluidly. Even teachers are picking up the concept of putting learning into the child’s hands.

I have seen the most success in my two days at the cretche. The learners have almost no formal exposure and are taking to it like fish to water. I still have a slower moving group, but even the parents of these children are coming up to me saying their child plays in the sand making their souns.

As mentioned above, teachers are picking it up. The principal of my own school slid in a challenge to his teachers to use more visual aids and study aids in order to improve learner’s retention. He proceeded to make a connection with souns and the vocabulary notebooks he was starting with his Grade 5 learners.

Moving forward, I need to improve my communication with the Grade R teacher in order for them to more congruent follow up during non-souns days. I also need to figure what to do with my grade 1s who have mastered their souns and are progressing quickly with building words.

I see souns not only having a lasting impact on literacy, but also parental and communal involvement. Being visible and informally teaching is broken down barriers to school. In my own house, the parents are talking more with their child about what they are learning and challenging them with new knowledge.

I think we could use a little more shop talk with each other, but I obviously haven’t been able to prioritize it.

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Len Breen Award – Souns Project RD 6900/9350

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KNYSNA’S SOUNS PROJECT                                                                                                        By Lesley Satchel,             Past President, Knysna

Knysna has been busy with literacy projects this past year, and most of our Matching Grants also have a literacy component. SOUNS LITERACY PROGRAMME Knysna RC, in conjunction with the Knysna Education Trust, has continued to expand the SOUNS Literacy Programme at 48 pre- schools in the greater Knysna area townships, and rural communities. This programme was developed by Brenda Erikson, a Rotarian from the Peachtree Club in Georgia USA, who be- lieves that literacy should be introduced from a very young age (less than a year old) and be mastered by means of the kinaesthetic sense (the dominant sense at that age) rather than the usual visual and auditory senses. Of course, all senses come into it later. Brenda managed to have all 48 sets of SOUNS letters sponsored by Rotary Clubs in her District, so it is truly a Rotary project. Brenda and her husband visit South Africa twice every year to monitor the progress of the programme, which is being used very successfully in Afrikaans and Xhosa in our area. Through KET, SOUNS programmes are being used in the Mossel Bay area, sponsored by Mossel Bay RC, and also Pretoria, through a local RC there.

 

 

Best community service project (The Len Breen Trophy)

1 A viable project that meets the community’s needs

2 Ongoing sustainability

3 Implemented in partnership and in collaboration with the community/authority structure and organization

4 Degree of participation of Rotary club members

5 Degree of participation by the community

6 Enhances Rotary’s visibility and public image in the community

7 Project should have been running for six months prior to conference

8 Project registered on the District database

9 Donation of money is not a criterion

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SounsZambia – new steps for literacy

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Souns is so happy to introduce you to the new friend we have in our global efforts toward literacy. Steven Putter of IRDI  (Waters Edge, an Imagine Rural Development Initiative) is a new advocate for Souns and together we have a goal for families and education in Zambia: every – yes every – child will read! Text below is from IRDI Blog.

“IRDI [Imagine Rural Development Initiative] are proud to announce our partnership with Souns, the greatest educational system we could find globally to fit in our educational system for Zambia. It is the only system we could find that actually satisfied all the criteria of working and designing systems derived from nature and incorporated into early childhood education.

Their playful and personal contact model in their learning environment is such a positive model that it just can’t be ignored as a great added benefit to an already brilliant model of early childhood education.

IRDI would like to take this opportunity to officially welcome [Souns] to Zambia and the IRDI project on Water’s Edge in Luangwa.. welcome and thank you for choosing a partnership that will see the quality training of locals who wish to give their children a head-start in life.”

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Peace Corps Reflections (from the field)

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Volunteers in the Peace Corps have the option to use Souns in their communities in South Africa. This opportunity is the result of a collaboration between Rotary Districts 6900, 9400, and Africa Peace Corps. The work is promising, even compelling when one considers the difference for children that is being made. It is a wonderful thing to see organizations join forces for building a literate world, which is the only route to a peaceful one.  Please enjoy the collection of quotes from the field. Keep in mind, Souns works in any language using the Latin alphabet symbols. You associate the sound of the symbol for the child’s language. What a bridge between differences.

“I really like the simple, realistic ideals of the souns program. The individualized program meets the learners where they are and provides small group interaction that is often missing in the regular classroom setting.” 

“It was nice to see despite the different language barriers how fast the children pick up on the idea of the program and the different activities you can do with it.”  

“One simple technique that I had not thought of was asking the kids to exchange souns with another learner.”  

“I am going to start grouping the students more as they progress, since I don’t want the students who are progressing to get bored.”

“Things are going well!
I’m learning that
writing must be done in smaller groups!
I recently had a little guy [who wasn’t feeling well] – but he
still participated… only afterwards did I realize [how badly he felt]. Poor guy! But he still was working hard.

I’m trying to get to every kid at least once a week. I’m seeing
progress. Using local words has been especially effective.

Souns is a great way for me to get to work with the younger grades,
otherwise I wouldn’t have the opportunity to interact with them.”

“Souns is doing well in my area! Before our training I had thought we needed to perfect each cluster of 4 sounds before moving on so I wasn’t as far into the sounds as the other volunteers. But now that I am on track things are looking really well! Just the other week we started our first combination of sounds to form short words. It was amazing to see the lightbulb go off in the kids head when the put together sounds to make simple words.” 

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Meet @tommmeeee!

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@tommmeeee is a tomato frog who tweets…an imaginary creature with a dream of teaching the children of the world to read. One small frog with one large imagination. Our blog SounsTalk is joining @tommmeeee in his effort to build global literacy. Souns is the way Tomee Frog teaches, so we are going to link with @tommmeeee to reach as many little people as possible to help them learn letter-sound associations, the most direct link to reading and writing.

Whatever their language, families, teachers, caregivers in the world who use the symbols of the Latin alphabet for reading and writing can learn from @tommeeee. SounsTalk is our blog to build literacy in a world plagued with children who cannot read. Please join us by following @tommmeeee on Twitter and advocating for early literacy naturally through the Souns program.

Reading leads to informed choices, informed choices lead to freedom, and feedom leads to peace. It is a journey of promise for the children of the world. Learning is fun, and learning to read should be no exception. Thank you @tommmeeee for all we can do together…Ready, set, go!