Kouhdasht

Kouhdasht

Geographical Location: Kouhdasht, Lorestan Province
Age-group: Preschool to 6th grade of Elementary School
Number of children: 4000
Number of teachers: 126
Start Date: August 2014
In Progress

The Read with Me program first started its activities in Kouhdasht, Lorestan province in summer 2014 by the supports of a number of benefactors. In 2014 two series of workshops were held for 19 tutors and ۱۳۴۷ children were covered by The Read with Me program. Thereupon, 444 quality books (135 titles) were sent to the district in two phases.

In October 2015 Read with Me started its second year of activity in the district covering 1113 students from first to sixth grade of elementary school. In this second year of activity 1926 books for children and young adults, 42 books for teachers, 1775 activity packages and 133 handbooks were provided. A series of Read with Me workshops were held for teachers and tutors as well.

Overview

In August 2014, on a three day visit, Read with Me experts traveled to Kouhdasht. In addition to visiting nomad villages and schools in the district, they held workshops for ۱۹ teachers and book activists.

Participants learned about quality books, story elements, Reading Aloud and class management and “Theatre of the Oppressed”. In these workshops games were emphasized on as an effective technique in managing classes and holding Reading Aloud sessions. Also the participants learned practical artistic activities related to books as one of the main pillars of Read with Me. “Living Values” workshop was dedicated to the environment. The needs of the district and its environmental issues were considered in the workshop.

Read with Me’s second year of activity in Kouhdasht started by holding a two day workshop on 14-15 October 2015. In these workshops a total of ۴۱ teachers and tutors from 4 elementary schools were trained.

In mid-December 2015, project supervisors travelled to the region to visit and verify the teachers’ performance and the project’s progress. Since the restart of the project in October 2015 in addition to Reading Aloud and book-related activities, the teachers have prepared a Registration notebook for the libraries in each classroom and they lend books to children. A short while later, 643 books were borrowed by children.