{"id":43377,"date":"2021-10-11T12:54:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T09:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/?p=43377"},"modified":"2021-10-26T12:55:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T09:55:30","slug":"in-the-world-of-books-with-asya-and-yavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zaednovchas.bg\/en\/in-the-world-of-books-with-asya-and-yavor\/","title":{"rendered":"In the World of Books with Asya and Yavor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teach For Bulgaria, EducArt, and the Trust for Social Achievement created specialized learning materials for children who need additional support at school, especially if Bulgarian is not their first language<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\u0411\u0443\u043a\u0432\u0430\u0440<\/a>
The set \u201cWe Are Reading with Asya and Yavor\u201d consists of three books: an alphabet book for children, a guide book for teachers and parents, and a manual on how to make tactile letters<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One day Asya and Yavor saw a poster that read, \u201cA long evening for reading at the library. Everyone is welcome to join us in the world of books!\u201d The children were interested and decided to go. The hallways of the library led them to different rooms full of bookshelves. There were books everywhere – thin, thick, with colorful covers, different illustrations, maps, books in different languages and with different alphabets\u2026 Asya and Yavor grabbed as many books as they could carry and sat on a cozy couch in one of the reading nooks for kids. They lost track of time, all distractions and sounds faded and suddenly they were transported into the world of books…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is the beginning of Asya and Yavor\u2019s adventures – the main characters in the new alphabet book \u201cWe Are Reading with Asya and Yavor\u201d.<\/strong> It was created for children who need additional support to learn how to read. Asya and Yavor are the main characters throughout the entire alphabet book – they have lots of different adventures, travel through time, meet interesting people, and learn many new things about animals and plants. This compelling storytelling technique gets children\u2019s attention while the practical exercises in the book help teachers boost students\u2019 concentration and reading skills. This allows children to catch up and be more engaged in class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Order the alphabet book here!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Going to school without speaking its official language<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Teacher Rozalia Mitseva from \u201cYordan Yovkov\u201d School is the first teacher to try the new alphabet book in her work<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The 3-part set – alphabet book for children, guidebook for the people who will be working with them (teachers, speech therapists, parents, volunteers), and the manual for tactile letters – is part of the project \u201cDo you speak the language of your school?\u201d<\/strong>. It was initiated by Teach For Bulgaria in collaboration with the international association EducArt in 2020. A year after the project was launched the Trust for Social Achievement also joined. The goal of the project is to create efficient learning materials for children whose mother language is not Bulgarian. There are no such resources in Bulgaria and this hinders children and students for whom Bulgarian is a second language. The curriculum assumes that all Bulgarian students are fluent in Bulgarian by default which is not the case. The lack of teaching resources for multilingual children hinders teachers as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they start first grade, children whose first language is not Bulgarian lack the vocabulary of their peers who speak Bulgarian at home. This creates huge gaps over time,\u201d comments Rozalia Mitseva, second grade teacher at \u201cYordan Yovkov School in Plovdiv and \u201cA New Way to Teaching\u201d alumna. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rozalia\u2019s students are almost exclusively Roma which made her the perfect candidate to test the new teaching resources for bilingual children. Her students do not speak Bulgarian at home or even in their neighborhood, so the first time they have to use Bulgarian is when they start kindergarten. \u201cThey don\u2019t understand most of the words I use, cannot grasp the meaning of the short texts they have to read in first grade, and do not understand teachers\u2019 instructions or questions,\u201d says Rozalia referring to the challenges teachers face when they find it extremely difficult to communicate with their students.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n