Lahijan

Geographical location: Lahijan, Gilan Province
Number of Members: 750
Start Date: December 2018
Supporter: Dr. Pourkhalesian
Read with Me started its activities in Lahijan in winter 2018.

A group of “Read with Me” experts travelled to Lahijan city in Gilan province in September 2017. In addition to examining the feasibility of the project, they visited Fatemeh Poorkhesalian School and had discussions with education authorities. During this visit, school’s conditions were examined and meetings with the members of parents and teachers community were held.  Afterwards, “Read with Me” group started planning to hold “Read-aloud” and “Rich Literacy Environments” workshops for teachers and librarians of this school and they also started designing a child-centered school library.

Accordingly, “Read-aloud” and “Rich Literacy Environments” workshops were held for 39 teachers from different schools on 5-6 December 2017. Among 19 primary schools the teachers and educators of which participated in the workshops, six are located in the villages around Lahijan and 13 are in the city. Teachers from other schools are also expected to borrow books from the library and hold Read-aloud sessions for their students.

By holding “Read with Me” workshops, the teachers of this elementary school started Reading Aloud, book-related activities in their classrooms.

Lahijan Library

Later on, the library team travelled to Lahijan and equipped the school library based on “Read with Me child-centered libraries” principles on 8 February 2018.

Lahijan Child-centered Library is equipped with nearly 1,700 volumes of books and handbooks and more than 200 activity sheets along with geographic maps and educational CDs.

Fatemeh Poorkhesalian School, which was built and equipped by Hussein Poorkhesalian, has 14 classrooms. Its students study in two separate shifts. By equipping Lahijan Child-centered Library and implementing the “Read with Me” project, 840 students can enjoy its quality books.

Read with Me experts travelled to Lahijan on 6-8 May 2018 to evaluate the progress of the program. They visited the classrooms covered by the library. During their visit, each of the teachers held a Read-aloud session in their presence. The experts then explained the most important points in holding a Read-aloud session and the correct methods of engaging children to books.

Ever since, each classroom has allotted an hour a week to read-aloud sessions in the library.