Belize once boasted a literacy rate of over 90%, but today that rate is quoted at roughly 77% among the adult population. The plain truth is that most young people don’t like to read, but the Belize Literacy Unit in the Ministry of Education is hoping to win back the love Belizeans once had for reading through a novel Literacy Carnival, which will take to the main streets around the country on Wednesday, September 8.
The event will be held in each district. In Belize City, the parade begins at 9:00 a.m., starting at Yarborough Green, going into Dolphin Street, Fairweather St., Magazine Road, Vernon Street, Youth for the Future Drive, over the Belchina Bridge, into North Front Street, and then on to the Memorial Park, where there will be a host of fun activities that will give children the chance to win prizes.
Literacy Coordinator, Rose Bradley, working out of the Belize Literacy Unit, hopes the event will spark something in young people to improve their reading habits. She told Amandala that they want to do a major event like this one to promote literacy every year. “We’ve lost a lot with television,” she lamented.
Students from as early as preschool and all they way up the university level will participate, although the emphasis is on younger children.
Sean Saldano, a primary student of St. Luke Methodist School, will join in the fun and will be performing “La La Literacy”, a song composed to the tune of “Waka Waka” by Jacqueline Sutherland, 16, a 4th form student of Wesley College.
Other students will present songs and do acting performances based on their favorite stories, among them Three Little Pigs (told from the perspective of the big bad wolf), Thumbelina, and local Anansi folktales.
The Belize National Library Service will also participate by bringing out a float, and Belizean entertainer based in Chicago, Nelson Gill, will also be performing for the event.
Among the schools listed to participate are Edward P. Yorke High School, Stella Maris School, Eternal Light Preschool of Sandhill, Bernice Yorke Institute, St. Joseph Primary School, Burrell Boom Methodist School, Hattieville Government School, Sadie Vernon High School, and Wesley College.
The Quality Assurance Development Services (QUADS) in the Ministry of Education, under which the unit falls, explains that the components of literacy include: phonological awareness, phonics and word study, fluency, oral language development, vocabulary development, comprehension, and writing.
Among the strategies that can be used to foster literacy are: reading to get information or to explore the work as well as oneself; planning differentiated instructions to meet the needs of every student; developing positive values to create a culture of child-friendly atmosphere, and creating an engaging and stimulating learning environment to promote learning for every student.