Dominican Librarian trains community members to support reading at home

OECS/USAID Early Learners Program (ELP) Media Release - Monday, June 22nd, 2020 at 2:25 PM
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Ashley Gustave, Librarian at the Coulibistrie Primary School

Ashely Gustave, the Librarian at the Coulibistrie Primary School, is fostering reading during school closures by supporting parents/caregivers and community members.

Concerned that children are not getting continuous learning while at home, Ms. Gustave is supporting reading efforts of early grade students.

From the onset of the closure of schools, Gustave ensured that the school library was opened for students in the Coulibistrie community to access books, two to three times per week.

With the support of School Principal, Mrs. Aurila Benjamin, Ms. Gustave went a step further in her support for the children. She utilized the Teacher Resource Guide from Hands Across the Sea and the books provided by the OECS/USAID Early Learners Programme (ELP), to teach herself to conduct “Read Alouds” and proceeded to train community members in conducting “Read Alouds” on a weekly basis.“Read Alouds” offer instructive reading sessions that are a critical component in the ongoing reading development of children in Kindergarten to Grade 3. Not only do “Read Alouds” and consistent reading build strong language skills, but they also engender a love of reading, a love of learning, critical thinking, a strong vocabulary and interest in a variety of topics.To date, Ms. Gustave has conducted training with six community members in one-on-one sessions and plans to continue to assist parents, caregivers and community members to increase the reading activities for more early grade students within the community.“I created this ‘Read Aloud’ programme to encourage the children to continue reading at home and to keep them motivated while they are out of school,” Gustave stated. “We want to ensure that when they come back to school in September, they will be well prepared.”

She encourages parents with whom she has partnered to conduct ‘Read Alouds’ at home with their children to share recordings of the reading sessions “for us to share on the Coulibistrie Primary School Library Facebook page.”

One of the recent recipients of the training, Pamela Laudat said she appreciated the training.

“I plan to use these skills to conduct ‘Read Alouds’ in the community and during Sunday School with Bible stories. I have always been interested in the welfare of the children of this community and I am keen to support their early reading development,” Laudat remarked.

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3 Comments

  1. Ashheavenly
    June 22, 2020

    Thanks for the encouragement

  2. wallace hussey
    June 22, 2020

    Good work we need more of this over the country. Now because this woman is not a politician nobody including that Zandoli not commenting they look for anything that the PM. say to jump and comment but have no time to read and see the good work that others doing to congratulate them.

  3. zaboca
    June 22, 2020

    Well done young lady. You deserve an award for your initiative to assist. Keep up the good work. God will bless you richly.

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