Check out the article about Akenkan written by Emma Dawson, one of our year 13 Akenkan writers, for the Guardian Young Journalist of the Year Competition
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/yoursay/schools/9394388.The_Akenkan_Project_or_The_Read_Along_Project/
AKENKAN is a charity founded by Suzy Pett and teachers based in the rural Akwapim Hills area of Ghana. We wanted to improve literacy and provide reading materials for school children in this rural area. Together, we came up with an idea.
Akenkan means "read along" in Twi (a local Ghanaian dialect). We want to promote literacy and reading in rural Ghanaian primary schools, where story books and resources are scarce. In order to attend secondary school and gain further education, Ghanaian pupils need to be able to read and write in English. We also want to raise awareness of other cultures and traditions in young people in the UK. We want pupils both in England and Ghana to be benefiting: Education working two ways.
As part of the Akenkan project, pupils in the UK are writing, illustrating and professionally printing their own series of reading books specifically suitable for Ghanaian children in the Akwapim Hills. These bespoke books are set in a context to which Ghanaian children can relate and were taken to schools in the Akwapim Hills by a group of 14 pupils from Surbiton High School in July 2012, who ran the inaugural Akenkan Summer School. This was attended by over 200 rural Ghanaian children. A unique experience.
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/yoursay/schools/9394388.The_Akenkan_Project_or_The_Read_Along_Project/
AKENKAN is a charity founded by Suzy Pett and teachers based in the rural Akwapim Hills area of Ghana. We wanted to improve literacy and provide reading materials for school children in this rural area. Together, we came up with an idea.
Akenkan means "read along" in Twi (a local Ghanaian dialect). We want to promote literacy and reading in rural Ghanaian primary schools, where story books and resources are scarce. In order to attend secondary school and gain further education, Ghanaian pupils need to be able to read and write in English. We also want to raise awareness of other cultures and traditions in young people in the UK. We want pupils both in England and Ghana to be benefiting: Education working two ways.
As part of the Akenkan project, pupils in the UK are writing, illustrating and professionally printing their own series of reading books specifically suitable for Ghanaian children in the Akwapim Hills. These bespoke books are set in a context to which Ghanaian children can relate and were taken to schools in the Akwapim Hills by a group of 14 pupils from Surbiton High School in July 2012, who ran the inaugural Akenkan Summer School. This was attended by over 200 rural Ghanaian children. A unique experience.
Thanks to Inji Kang, Hannah Parish and Ceara Bainbridge for the artwork and designs on this website.
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