Recently our ESL/Curriculum Director, Heidi Hyte, went back to the Peery School for Rising Stars, sponsored by Rising Star Outreach (RSO), in Chennai, India. This amazing school for K-9 was created for the children who come from the outcast leprosy colonies.
Heidi spent two and a half weeks with school administrators, teachers, and students to train, observe, mentor, and model teach literacy strategies from the reading program software that was donated by Reading Horizons over a year ago.
Said Ms. Hyte, “The last time I went to Chennai, I was there to train the summer volunteers so that they would know how to use the Reading Horizons reading method to help students with their English and literacy. Volunteers only stay for a short time before they are replaced by new volunteers, so the original idea was to setup a literacy training program that could be sustained with the high turnover rate of each new volunteer who went to the Peery School to help children learn to speak and read English.”
“There are a lot of ESL needs in India. That’s why Reading Horizons will be helping with an initiative to bring 700 volunteers to the Peery School for Rising Stars this summer. RSO will be recruiting the best and the brightest business, medical, and education majors from the top schools in the U.S. Each volunteer will be learning the Reading Horizons method via the Online Reading Workshop and online meetings. The emphasis will be on sustaining literacy through one-on-one reading tutoring.”
“I know you don’t have to go to India to help with reading problems, but India happens to be a place where there are great needs that Reading Horizons is able to help fill. I have to go back. Don’t be surprised if you find me there again - I have a five-year visa!”
Check out Heidi’s blog, ESL Trail, to read more about her adventures in India!