Giant castles, princes and princesses, talking animals, adventurous islands—these were big parts of our imaginations in childhood, thanks to all the wonderful books that we’ve read and enjoyed. Many of us are still as passionate about reading and stitching ourselves into stories. What if we could turn this passion into something that will help children gain language access?
This led to the initiation of The Wordsworth Project, founded by Varsha Varghese, a Young India Fellow, and co-founded by her classmates Priyanka Roychodhary and Rahul Sreekumar. Varsha’s love for books and her experience as a teaching volunteer in Make A Difference (MAD) while in college inspired this project.
They aim to create interactive reading spaces in low-resource schools and learning centers equipped with books catering specifically to the child’s reading level. Mindful that books alone cannot make language accessible, they have volunteers who teach kids basic topics like nouns, prepositions, and adjectives through interactive activities. Each child’s progress is checked with the help of fun assignments and qualitative feedback from the volunteer reading facilitators.
Currently, they are functioning in two places in Delhi: a community learning center in East Delhi run by two Teach for India alumni and a community center run by the Kutumb Foundation.
In the following semester, the Wordsworth Project plans to expand to more centers, create its own curriculum and modules, and reach out to more kids. Over the summers, it is running an internship program that will build capacity to meet its goals.
So, if you are in Delhi or otherwise and would love to help The Wordsworth Project, do reach out!
Do check out their Facebook page: The WordsWorth Project.
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