Ten minutes early. I was shocked the first time I walked into the classroom where reading club meets. A dozen students were already present. They had pushed the desks together into a big table and were all sitting down, focused on their books or finishing up some bit of homework. In Ghana, where things never really start when you expect them to, this was incredible.
GHEI’s youth reading club meets twice a week, is open to any junior high school students in the community and is advised by our library administrator, Lawrence Donkor. Normally, the group focuses on Junior African Writers’ Series books, but lately they have been experimenting with different titles. The students just finished E.B. White’s Stuart Little, and prior to that, particularly enjoyed working through Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. White was a significant departure from the norm for the group. His rhymes and playful use of vocabulary created a fun challenge by forcing students to actively think about pronunciations and creative word usage.
Each student shares a book with a partner and they take turns reading a few paragraphs out loud to the group. They are focused; almost every one of them diligently reads along, pushing their fingers under each line even when it is not their turn. Many bring pens and notebooks and occasionally reach to add to their list of new words to learn. Slower readers are not met with ridicule or derision, but patience and soft prompts of support as they stumble through their section.
After working through a couple of chapters, the group transitions to a discussion. They start by focusing on less familiar vocabulary. Often, one student will venture a guess while others race to see who can look it up first in one of the three dictionaries they bring to each meeting. Lawrence then leads the discussion to summarize the chapters and challenges the students to think critically about what they read.
The thing about reading club is that there are no bribes or incentives offered to coerce students to come. They come purely because they want a space to practice reading, engage in conversations about books and become stronger learners. Lawrence encourages them throughout their meetings and often closes with advice, reminding the students of truths like: “Nobody is born already able to read. So practice and don’t be too shy to ask questions and slowly you will learn.”
The issue now is that these students will soon run out of books. Take a moment to think. Do you know any teachers or school administrators who may have a classroom set that they can part with? Our students are happy to share. We can take as few as ten copies and GHEI will use these books both for our reading club and YEP English classes. If you are interested in donating, please contact communications@ghei.org.
GHEI’s youth reading club meets twice a week, is open to any junior high school students in the community and is advised by our library administrator, Lawrence Donkor. Normally, the group focuses on Junior African Writers’ Series books, but lately they have been experimenting with different titles. The students just finished E.B. White’s Stuart Little, and prior to that, particularly enjoyed working through Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. White was a significant departure from the norm for the group. His rhymes and playful use of vocabulary created a fun challenge by forcing students to actively think about pronunciations and creative word usage. 
Each student shares a book with a partner and they take turns reading a few paragraphs out loud to the group. They are focused; almost every one of them diligently reads along, pushing their fingers under each line even when it is not their turn. Many bring pens and notebooks and occasionally reach to add to their list of new words to learn. Slower readers are not met with ridicule or derision, but patience and soft prompts of support as they stumble through their section. After working through a couple of chapters, the group transitions to a discussion. They start by focusing on less familiar vocabulary. Often, one student will venture a guess while others race to see who can look it up first in one of the three dictionaries they bring to each meeting. Lawrence then leads the discussion to summarize the chapters and challenges the students to think critically about what they read.
The thing about reading club is that there are no bribes or incentives offered to coerce students to come. They come purely because they want a space to practice reading, engage in conversations about books and become stronger learners. Lawrence encourages them throughout their meetings and often closes with advice, reminding the students of truths like: “Nobody is born already able to read. So practice and don’t be too shy to ask questions and slowly you will learn.” The issue now is that these students will soon run out of books. Take a moment to think. Do you know any teachers or school administrators who may have a classroom set that they can part with? Our students are happy to share. We can take as few as ten copies and GHEI will use these books both for our reading club and YEP English classes. If you are interested in donating, please contact communications@ghei.org.
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