Cecilia Pos Ajquichí’s eyes light up when she thinks about the possibilities.

“My biggest desire is to make this a real library for the school,” the sixth grade teacher says as she rearranges books on a shelf. “At least we’d like to have some little tables for the kids and enough books to read. That is our focus this year.”

To get ready for the new school year, Cecilia and her colleagues are setting up reading corners in each of the school’s classrooms. They want to add more bookshelves in the school’s new library so staff members can create book displays, and Cecilia’s got plans to start lending books to students and encouraging teachers to bring kids to the library each week.

Cecilia’s mission is simple: get books into the hands of kids and create a culture of reading in the school that didn’t exist before.

Momentum behind Cecilia’s literacy mission took root last year when the La Fe school joined Child Aid’s Reading for Life program and the teachers received bookshelves full of books they could use in classroom activities and reading instruction. Child Aid also held comprehensive training workshops so educators could learn how to read aloud to kids and develop their students’ comprehension skills.

Expectations to improve student reading, but no support

As one of two members of the La Fey school’s Comisión de Lectura (Reading Committee), Cecilia, like thousands of other educators throughout Guatemala, had been tapped by the Ministry of Education to promote reading activities in her school. But the ministry provided little direct support or follow-up, so teachers floundered, unsure of how to begin, says Cecilia.

“We kind of put it to one side,” she says of the reading initiative. “We didn’t even have the idea to start a library. Each teacher in our school just read in their own way like we always did.  The teacher would say, ‘Alright, today we need to read this story,’ but we didn’t do any follow-up with students. Reading evaluations were rare and talking about the stories and helping students make connections was very rare.”

Child Aid’s arrival was a game-changer

With the training and resources from Child Aid, the school finally had an opportunity to make the ministry’s expectations a reality. Literacy Trainer Meliza Chacon worked with the Comisión de Lectura to plan and implement new literacy activities. Together, they categorized and labeled books. They set up the library in an empty classroom and encouraged kids to come in for free reading time.

“Meliza’s presence has really been a great blessing to us because many times we’d like to do something, but we don’t have the ideas or experience to be able to implement things. Through the training and support she gives, it strengthens our work.”

By the end of their first year, the Comissión had a long-term literacy promotion plan for the school and a commitment to keep the momentum going. Just a few weeks into the new school year, they’re already close to their goal of a reading corner in every classroom and well on their way to carrying out their other plans.

Now the teachers finally feel like they have the tools and know-how to meet the expectations for improving student reading.

“As a school we are making reading a priority,” says Cecilia. “Our focus is to create a love for reading, and our hope is that, in the future,  we won’t have to tell our students to read, but rather the love for reading comes from them.”

“We are always very thankful to Child Aid for being here in our school and working with us.”