Working closely with the EduLit Clubs Coordinator in Ghana, Sevenoaks students in the Thursday afternoon EduLit service group have had another busy year. They have been actively involved in helping to create and judge a monthly literacy challenge which is rolled out across the EduSpots network. These challenges are designed to be relevant to the local culture and context, thereby, promoting diversity through widened perspectives on a common theme. They also aim to promote teamwork, student leadership, creativity and critical thinking through project-based learning.
As part of EduSpots storybook series, this month marks the publication of the third edition in the series: Kwame’s Adventures – Akumadan and the Talent Show. Co-developed between the Akumadan community, the Sevenoaks EduLit team and a Ghanaian illustrator, the key aim of this project is to enable Ghanaian children to see their communities represented in fiction, with characters and events that they can relate to. The book is being distributed across the EduSpots network at regional conferences (along with hard copy resources the Sevenoaks EduLit team have helped to produce over the last 4 years, such as phonics cards, phonics books and activity cards).
Kwame’s reach has now also extended to Kenya and copies of the first book have been distributed to both the MASH Foundation Spot in Joska and the Badili Zone Organisation in Nairobi (a small community library in a school in Mukuru Kwa Reuben Slum). Charles, who manages Joska Spot, is also a puppet maker and his hand-crafted puppet of Kwame is helping to engage the children at the Spot and to bring Kwame’s adventures to life.
