Promotion of Early Childhood Reading at the San José Center in Ajusco, Mexico
A few months ago, Abriendo Nuevos Caminos Association was selected to participate in the project Libro abierto (An Open Book), organized by IBBY Mexico and Ghandi Bookstore. Abriendo Nuevos Caminos supports the work that the Community of St. Paul is carrying out in the San José Center for Child Development in Ajusco, Mexico City.
The project promotes early childhood reading: it attempts to reach out to children through books, to train facilitators who read aloud, and to create the space in which children can imagine what they are hearing. In order to accomplish these goals, two people from the San José Center completed a 40 hour training course and committed to the task of promoting reading among our children, through the practice of storytelling. The following is the testimony of one of them, Yomaira Cordero:
«For me, to be a reading facilitator has been a new experience. To create a reading space with and for the children is very fulfilling; it’s also something new and different for them, who no longer see reading as a boring activity, but as fun, as a real game.
It is good to provide the tools so that the children become involved in reading, and through it, understand that they can express themselves and discover an attractive new world. They discover that they can express new emotions, they find new ways of getting to know their own environment. And all of this is accomplished always with respect, solidarity and fellowship. A very significant aspect of this project is that parents can have closer communication with their own children, because they go once a week to the classroom to tell stories to the kids.»
From the San José Center we would like to thank the Gandhi Bookstore for the 455 books they donated to us. May the little ones continue to nourish their passion for reading!
