The New Day Children’s Centre has recently started using Kindles to help students improve their English. The Kindles have each been loaded with a wide selection of books and groups of students have signed up to reading groups. The Kindles have proved very popular, with students quickly understanding how to use the e-books. They particularly liked the built in dictionary that has helped them understand words that they have not come across before. The students were amazed that such a small device could contain so many books.
“Why am I carrying lots of text books to school when all I need is a Kindle”, Derese commented.
Katy Robertson, a VSO in Bahir Dar working at the Education Bureau, helped the students get started and is now running regular reading groups at the Centre.
Students at the Centre are often cautious about spending time reading for pleasure, feeling their time would be better spent reading their school text books. Katy hopes that by broadening what they read their vocabulary will improve and so will their English language. She also hopes that the students will begin to use the Kindles to read simply for their own enjoyment.
It is a very interesting project and it would appear from the popularity of the initial groups the Kindles will be a great success.
Students using the Kindles
