School children, teachers and personnel from the Education Department in Anguilla, appeared in pyjamas and nighties in an unusual event at the Teachers’ Resource Centre to celebrate International Literacy Day last weekend.
The centre’s spacious floor was transformed into a semi-sleeping area from 5-7 o’clock on Saturday, September 8, with a large number of Primary School children, in their night clothes, lying on beds and sheets. They only stood to their feet when it was time to actively participate in various exercises in keeping with the objectives of the literacy programme inAnguilla.
The obvious question is what does appearing in public in pyjamas and nighties have to with literacy? The explanations were provided by Sandra Fahie, Education Officer, Curriculum; and Vanessa Hobson, Literacy Champion.
“Our focus, over the past two years, has been literacy development and, in light of that, we are having this activity focusing on developing literacy skills in our children,” Ms Fahieexplained. “The event is called ‘Jim-jams Jamboree.’ Jim-jams is a name for pyjamas, nighties – night-wear – and the activity runs for two hours. The admission requirement is that the children had to have on their pyjamas and nighties.
“There is a variety of activities that the children will be participating in such as singing, story-telling, drama, a riddle segment, ‘matha-magics’ and juggling. The activities are geared towards capturing the children’s learning styles. So they will be doing, seeing, hearing and reading things.”
Mrs. Hobson said there were a number of story-tellers at the event whose involvement was to model good reading practices for the children. “As a result, the students will know how to read stories better. In terms of some of the activities, such as the riddles, they will be able to develop their problem-solving skills.”
Mrs. Hobson added: “I think too often people tend to think that literacy is just simply reading and writing. But it is a whole lot more to it because, at the end of the day, literacy is a set of skills that will help you to function in your society. Yes, it involves reading and writing, but being able to manipulate everything in your environment.
“The event involved all of us at the Literacy Unit trying to display our talent and our skills to promote literacy among our students.”
