EduLit phoneme alongside a picture to match the sound of something commonly found in Ghana , such as ‘ jollof rice ’ and ‘ tuk tuk ’, one of the main modes of transport .
We are also co-producing a book series called Kwame ’ s Adventures to provide books that Ghanaian students can relate to . Our main character , Kwame the bird , visits communities across Ghana . To begin , we sent each community a survey to find out what made their community special , for instance , the Mmoaninko Festival in Abofour . The community also inputted to the story ’ s narrative and Fleance Forkuo , a Ghanaian artist , created the illustrations . We have been delighted to receive reactions such as this from Justina , aged 14 , from the Tease community : ‘ It is amazing to have a book written about my community . I find the most interesting point is where Esi cries about losing her science book … it encourages us young readers to be serious about our studies .’
As part of the EduLit literacy programme , we have been working in close collaboration with Ghanaian students and communities to create educational resources , aiming to inspire creativity and critical thinking , as well as building communication skills .
Phonics is a very popular , successful method to teach reading across the world but there is a lack of cultural diversity in resources . To combat this we have created a set of cards showing the 44 phonemes of the English language , designed by Mai-Xuan Mantwill and Karoline Woggon ( Lower Sixth ). The cards show a
Additionally , we have produced a series of creative writing activity templates for EduLit Club leaders to use and have helped launch a creative writing competition for junior high school students . It was incredible to read the students ’ entries , which were so creative , although admittedly we faced a challenge when dealing with pieces written in Twi , a language spoken in southern and central Ghana , which none of the team understands .
One of our favourite moments was when Stephen Tettegah , who leads on EduSpots ’ literacy programmes in Ghana , visited us at Sevenoaks ( pictured ). We loved being able to put a face to the name of the person who has guided us from the beginning . It was fascinating to hear his stories ; especially memorable was our conversation about perspectives on magic and superstition in Ghana .
As the projects continue , it is amazing to reflect on the impact they are having in Ghana and on us . It has opened our eyes to new perspectives , encouraging us to take leadership over more EduLit projects in the future .
Elena Tsang and Alicia Ismail , Year 11
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