Ecuador's name comes from the Equator, which divides it unequally, putting most of the country in the Southern Hemisphere. It may be the smallest Andean country, but it has four distinct and contrasting regions. The Costa, or coastal plains, the Sierra, or Andean uplands, the Oriente, or Amazon jungles and the Galápagos Islands, volcanic outcrops of land 960 kilometres west of Ecuador. The Book Bus is active in all four regions of the country.
Ecuador – some of the basic facts:
Whilst education and learning to read is taken for granted here in the UK, in Ecuador the provision of public schools falls far below the levels needed. Class sizes are often very large and in rural areas only 10% of the children go on to high school. The Ministry of Education states that the mean number of years completed is 6.7. With nearly 40% of Ecuadorians living in poverty, there is a real need for educational assistance and the Book Bus project will make a real difference to many young lives.
The Book Bus in Operation
Starting in November 2009, the Book Bus will work with schools in the Andes, the Amazon, the Pacific coast and on the Galapagos Islands (Book Bikes!) The Bus will be based in each region for 3 months according to the school academic year and weather conditions.
The bus will operate throughout the year and each school we visit will have a designated “Book Bus Day”. On this day we spend the day at the school and work around class timetables to provide resources, energy, ideas and time to listen to children read. Our visit day is often the only day when these schools will have access to a wide variety of books.
The Book Bus also provides additional manpower to allow small group reading mentoring.
Working in small groups volunteers will spend time with the children, encouraging them to read and develop literacy skills. Supplementary to this we encourage children to dramatise books they have read or even create a piece of art from it; the required resources are carried on the bus. This helps increase their understanding of literature, boosts confidence and allows them to develop new skills and most of all –discover the pleasure of reading.
Children are only part of our working relationship! Working closely with the teachers we share ideas and skills to help them develop after school book clubs with the books we loan.
The details
We are looking for volunteers with a minimum standard of GCSE Spanish to join us on board the Book Bus. It is important that you have a good grasp of the Spanish language however confidence and enthusiasm are more important than grammar and punctuation.
How are your language Skills?
Some Spanish If your Spanish skills are a bit out of practice and you feel you would benefit from a refresher course we have a well established language school in Quito where you can touch up your skills and familiarise yourself with the subtle differences between the Spanish language in Europe and Latin America. Extend your time at the school from 1 week to 1 year.
No Spanish If you are new to Spanish you can learn in country at our language school in Quito or in the UK before you depart. We also have links with Spanish schools in Puerto Lopez, Cuenca and Guayaquil.
Fluent Spanish If you are an experienced Spanish speaker then join us on board for a period of 2 weeks or up to 1 year.
When
The Book Bus in Ecuador operates all year round and you can join us on any Saturday.
Quentin Blake's marvellous artwork has now been applied to our Ecuador Book Bus in preparation for the launch in January.
The Bus will begin operations in the Amazon Jungle visiting schools and communities spreading the joy of reading and story-telling.
In Memoriam
On 12 April 2008 a tragic accident in Ecuador took the lives of 5 very special girls. Beccie Logie, Indira Swann, Sarah Howard, Emily Sadler and Elisabeth (Lizzy) Pincock died when travelling to join a VentureCo community project in Puerto Lopez. In their memory, the girls’ families formed BISEE Books to make a constructive contribution to young children’s education in Puerto Lopez.
BISEE Books and The Book Bus Foundation will work together to implement the Book Bus project in Ecuador. Making full use of the memorial reading corners erected during the families’ visit to Puerto Lopez in April 2009, the Book Bus in Ecuador will be a regular feature in the local schools.
Ecuador's name comes from the Equator, which divides it unequally, putting most of the country in the Southern Hemisphere. It may be the smallest Andean country, but it has four distinct and contrasting regions. The Costa, or coastal plains, the Sierra, or Andean uplands, the Oriente, or Amazon jungles and the Galápagos Islands, volcanic outcrops of land 960 kilometres west of Ecuador. The Book Bus is active in all four regions of the country.
Whilst education and learning to read is taken for granted here in the UK, in Ecuador the provision of public schools falls far below the levels needed. Class sizes are often very large and in rural areas only 10% of the children go on to high school. The Ministry of Education states that the mean number of years completed is 6.7. With nearly 40% of Ecuadorians living in poverty, there is a real need for educational assistance and the Book Bus project will make a real difference to many young lives.
Starting in November 2009, the Book Bus will work with schools in the Andes, the Amazon, the Pacific coast and on the Galapagos Islands (Book Bikes!) The Bus will be based in each region for 3 months according to the school academic year and weather conditions.
This helps increase their understanding of literature, boosts confidence and allows them to develop new skills and most of all –discover the pleasure of reading.
