USAID/Guinea: Storybooks Help Children Learn to Read in Guinea

JANUARY 22, 2004

Storybooks Help Children Learn to Read in Guinea

The USAID reading instruction program, bolstered by a U.S. Presidential Initiative, is showing teachers how to use storybooks, locally-made classroom materials, and child-centered teaching approaches to get kids hooked on reading.

"The children in my class are all reading," Says Aboubacar Touré, a third grade teacher in Mamou, Guinea. "Some are even writing their own compositions." Touré, who has taught the same class of children since first grade, has for the past two and a half years taken part in a USAID-sponsored national program to reinforce reading instruction in Guinea for primary school teachers. Touré says proudly that by following the teacher's manuals to the letter, he has learned new instructional methods that have allowed him to teach all of the children in his class how to read.

Aboubacar Toure teaching a first grade class in Mamou, Guinea

Aboubacar Touré teaches reading to first graders, who are now third graders, and all are now able to read. "The training we've received helps us learn how to get children interested in reading," says Touré, "and to love it."

The reading program, which targets Grade 1 and 2 students and their teachers, was developed over a two year period by Guinean researchers and educators, with technical assistance from USAID implementing partner the Education Development Center (EDC). The program underwent extensive classroom testing during the initial design phase and was field-tested in 96 schools nation-wide during the 2000-2001 academic year. The positive gains in reading comprehension realized by students in experimental schools prompted the Guinean Ministry of Education (MOE) to take the unprecedented step of proceeding directly to a nation-wide implementation of the program during the 2001-2002 school year. Today, 91 percent of Grade 1 and 2 teachers say they are using the program in their classroom, 96 percent of whom claim, like Mr. Touré, to have seen improvements in their students' reading abilities as a result of the program.

a teacher makes a "big book" which she will use as a visual aid inthe classroom

A teacher makes a "Big Book," a poster-size book made of locally-available materials. The book is one of the didactic materials that children enjoy, and that teachers are using successfully in the classroom.

The first of its kind in Guinea, USAID's reading instruction program represents an initial attempt to adapt the principles of balanced-literacy programs to students who are learning French as a second language, and to the African context. Teachers mix direct instruction of decoding and reading comprehension skills with word games and other engaging opportunities for students to read and respond to 6 poster-size books and 24 individual storybooks specifically designed for Guinean children. These storybooks include a variety of animal fables, tales about Guinean children, as well as descriptions of places and situations that they might encounter in their young lives.

Not surprisingly, the storybooks have proven to be immensely popular with schoolchildren. The high level of student and teacher enthusiasm generated by the reading instruction program also recently prompted the MOE to finance a reprinting of the storybooks. This reprinting will ensure that over the next five years, all Grade 1 and 2 students will have their own set of storybooks to use in class, and to take home to share with friends and family.

Another key to the success of the reading program, as Mr. Touré points out, has been the production and distribution of detailed teacher's guides. These guides contain daily lesson plans for each grade level, which demonstrating how to use a variety of instructional strategies to develop students' reading abilities and to increase their enjoyment of reading. They also explain how to create instructional resources that capture children's interest and imagination by using inexpensive, locally-available materials.

The recognition of the critical role these guides play in ensuring quality reading instruction has encouraged INRAP to include their reprinting as part of the national education plan. In addition, beginning in 2004, all elementary student teachers in Guinea will receive an introduction to the reading instruction program as part of their initial teacher training.

A young girl in a first grade class learning to read an identity card

A young girl learns to read an identity card, one of the more practical themes developed in a book for beginning readers in Guinea.

To ensure nation-wide implementation of the reading instruction program, USAID sponsored 5-day reinforcement workshops in September, 2003 for some 15,000 primary teachers, student teachers and instructional supervisors. These workshops have been instrumental in changing teachers' classroom practices. Says Touré, "The training we've received helps us to learn how to get children interested in reading, and to love it. The strategies have children playing games or working in groups. It's wonderful to see in the classroom."

The 2003 Grade 1 and 2 reinforcement workshops were funded through a special U.S. Presidential Initiative to strengthen basic education in Africa. The Presidential Initiative has also allowed USAID to design and deliver additional reading support materials and training workshops for teachers in Grades 3 to 6, as well as for student teachers and for instructional supervisors responsible for supporting the implementation of curricular innovation.

The U.S. Presidential Initiative recognizes basic education as essential to promoting democracy, improving health, increasing per capita income, and conserving environmental resources in Africa. In Guinea, in addition to increasing the effectiveness of reading instruction at the elementary level, U.S. Presidential Initiative funds have been used to address the critical problem of textbook shortages. Working though an innovative partnership between the MOE and a consortium of U.S. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, USAID is ensuring the development and distribution of 500,000 Language Arts textbooks for children in Grades 1 and 2. The textbook project is part of a $200 million, five-year commitment by the United States to improve basic education for Africa's children.

Children laugh along with their teacher as they discuss a story taught in class

New child-centered teaching methods for reading instruction are helping children in Guinea learn how to read, and have fun along the way.

Story by Laura Lartigue. Photos by Laura Lartigue and Norma Evans, Educational Development Center