Turning your classroom into a global reading village

Maupin House welcomes author and educator Margriet Ruurs as our guest blogger for today! Read on to learn about schools around the world and how you can turn your classroom into a global reading village.

Now here's Margriet...

Children rush to school every morning, all around the world. They may walk along busy sidewalks or climb aboard a school bus. Parents’ vehicles may clog the streets near your school. Your students will likely be engaged in learning activities throughout the day, including sport or art opportunities.


The school day for children of Tonlé Sap, Cambodia, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, looks different. Wooden houses float on the lake. The school itself is build on pontoons and floats up and down with the fluctuating water level. Children who have something which will float can paddle to school and are the lucky ones. They will get to learn. Some paddle to school in a wash tub, using a large wooden spoon.

In Sikkim, in the Himalayas, children live too far away from their small school (http://www.sikkimacademy.com/) to walk back and forth each day along the narrow mountain paths. So the school has a sleep loft where students stay overnight. This also relieves parents of the burden of having to feed their children. Local, Dutch and Canadian teachers who run this school have teach the children to grow a garden. They cook and do dishes together.

Ruairidh also attends a boarding school but his is quite different. Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Scotland was founded in a medieval castle. Ruairidh and his class mates learn and live at school, only going home for the holidays. But in Shedd, Oregon, Jessica and Victoria experience the opposite. They never leave home: they are being home schooled. Their classroom is just off the kitchen. Their teacher is their mother. School days never really stop and include science, Latin, math, vocabulary. “But at least we never get send to the principal’s office!” says Jessica, who loves to look after her 4H chickens and turkeys during a school day.
The United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights calls education ‘a basic human right’ and states that “all children deserve a quality education”.


During my travels to conduct author visits to international schools, I saw a wide variety of education offered to children. I have visited state of the art international schools across Asia, but also a school in the rain forest with nothing but a dirt floor and some wooden benches. No books, no computers.


I wanted to show children how different a school, or a day in school, can be for others around the world. My book My School in the Rain Forest, How Children Attend School Around the World is a photo collage of thirteen different countries and schools. It includes a virtual school in Egypt, a school under a tree in Kenya and the School of the Air in the heart of Australia. it also highlights an international school with children from many cultural background, representing over 50 languages in one school.


Some of the schools described in the book are well off. Others can use some help to achieve ‘quality education’. If your school is looking for a service learning project, you might want to "adopt one of these schools". The school in the Himalayas owned six books when I first contacted them. The teacher told me “The books are kept in a locked case. We can’t afford to let the children use them in case we lose these books. They are too rare.” They only brought the books out to read them aloud, allowing one child to carefully turn a page.


My local reading council collected quality picture books. We bought pencils and paper when they were on sale at the office supply store. With the financial help of a local Rotary group, we mailed several boxes of books and school supplies. Now the children can read, borrow and use the books!

For a list of addresses of schools in need of books and teaching materials, click here: http://www.margrietruurs.com/books/adopt_a_mobile_library.html

Margriet Ruurs is the author of 28 books for children. She conducts author visits to schools around the world and lives on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada. Her Maupin House titles include: The Power of Poems and Virtual Maniac, Silly and Serious Poems for Kids. Vistit Margriet's blog at http://margrietruurs.blogspot.com/ or her website at http://www.margrietruurs.com/.