Training the Trainers: All Change Now!
Elspeth Dugdale | November 5, 2023
Both Connect and READ for Life teams spent two exciting, creative 'awaydays' together in October for training, discussions, teambuilding and fun in Gulu. Who knew there could be so much competitive spirit, good food and great learning in such a short time? This all took place in preparation for 'The Next Big Thing'....
Since lockdown, the two teams have been working together much more and sharing weekly training sessions. The results speak for themselves - they are a stronger team, totally passionate about teaching children to read and to love books. Therefore, it really makes sense for both sides to come together officially and work as one big team from January 2024.
READ for Life will still continue with its main focus of training & mentoring primary teachers in phonics and literacy. Their reach now extends to an incredible number of over 250 primary & nursery schools in Gulu City and throughout the whole of Gulu District! To some extent, the Connect Education Centre teachers will continue their focus on supporting classes from local 'partner' schools, running quizzes and holiday programmes. However, through working together, the two teams will have a new combined focus on boosting literacy, gradually installing more mobile libraries into participating schools in Gulu.
Since June, the teachers at the Connect Education Centre have been actively working with local teachers going into their classes, visiting them weekly to help train them in Read Aloud and Literacy sessions. Already the response has been fantastic - children and teachers are all loving this new approach. The 'Next Big Thing' is to roll out the number of Mobile Libraries even more in 2024; the Gulu team is key to this success.
Of course, all this 'success' means that we will need to create many more mobile libraries and therefore thousands more books will be needed to make this happen. But there is a plan for that too, of course - and all will be revealed in the next article about the forthcoming The Big Give Christmas Challenge!
And, last but not least, one key person who needs introducing here is the new Team Leader in Gulu: Moureen, who joined READ for Life in June. Moureen will be leading the team into 2024 and was highly instrumental in planning the excellent, highly successful teambuilding days with Jody. Needless to say, there will be 'More about Moureen' in the next update!
