DILI, 29 june 2021 (TATOLI)- Let’s Read is a new initiative that draws on The Asia Foundation’s deep expertise and networks in communities across Asia to cultivate the skills of local authors and illustrators while building Asia’s only free digital library for children.
The acting Country Director of Let’s Read Program, Dylan Davis answered to TATOLI Agency through his email, today, on inclusive interviews for Let’s Read program.
The Reading program commenced in Timor-Leste with our initial translation event of children’s books into Tetun in december 2019.
The primary objective of the Let’s Read program is to develop a love of reading, as well as raise literacy levels for children across Timor-Leste. The program does this by expanding local language libraries through consolidation of existing materials (books from other countries) and creation of new local content.
Dylan Davis said that since 2020, Let’s Read has worked in partnership with Timor Telecom and the Ministry of Education to achieve greater accessibility for Timorese children and education providers. To date, we have achieved the following milestones.
Partnered with Timorese teachers through Peace Corps volunteers to translate books into Tetun working with Timorese university students to translate more than 200 children’s stories from across Asia for publishing on our Let’s Read platform during 2020 With Timorese writers and illustrators, we created ten Timorese stories with positive messaging related to environmental management and gender .
Collaborated with the Ministry of Education to translate and provide free children’s books for use, printing, and distribution by the Ministry’s program in rural areas.
Partnered with Timor Telecom to provide free internet access to the Let’s Read platform for its users throughout Timor-Leste.
In addition, as part of our Foundation’s flood relief efforts, we included a donation of educational bags full of Let’s Read books and educational stationery supplies to evacuation centers, as well as youth-led groups, across Dili. To date, we have printed more than 3,500 Let’s Read books covering various topics, such as COVID-19 prevention methods, families and friendships, looking after the environment, Mighty Girl, and STEM.
Our primary target is Timorese children. And based on our recent Let’s Read april Impact report, 324 Tetun books have been read online. During the last 12 months, we achieved a total of 3,277 books read.
He informed us that this month, we aim to increase this number twofold with an exciting social media campaign. This campaign showcases the Let’s Read library and will have some fun quizzes and competition related to reading and family engagement. Starting on July 5th, people can engage with @theasiafoundationtimorleste on Instagram to keep up with all we are doing.
To develop a love of reading, children need stories that reflect the local characters, themes and settings relevant to their lives. Books with local themes and stories are highly sought after. We wanted to create some local stories from Timor written and illustrated by local Timorese whilst, at the same time, promoting positive messaging!
Thus, we held Writing Stories for Children Competition last year with a total of 139 participants (80 female and 59 male), and fantastically we have got three female winners. Their stories have been developed and illustrated by Timorese artists and are now available on our platform – Luisa Fantastika, Ha’u Bele Halo Asaun Ki’ik Ida, and Buibere Asuwa’in.
In addition, our initial local stories – Doutora Nina, Elsa Hatama Golu Ida, and Ha’u Hatene Konta – are written and illustrated by creative Timorese writer and artist Milena Silva and Alfe RM, respectively.
For the time being, we only have established the Let’s Read program in Dili, though look forward to expanding the program to the entire country.
We are very grateful for our close partnership on this program with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
Yes. Our three initial local stories have been reviewed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport for the Tetun language. In addition, we also collaborated with the Ministry of Education to translate and provide free children’s books for use, printing and distribution of the Ministry’s outreach efforts in rural areas.
It’s never been easier to do so! There are two options to access the Let’s Read platform through smartphones.
Let’s Read has its own app named Let’s Read, which can be found in Google Play Story, which offers free and accessible digital library materials to children across Timor-Leste.
Go to the Play Store and search for Let’s Read. Once found, click the download option. You’ll then be able to start exploring our library. It’s that simple. Click at this link https://letsreadasia.org/
Please visit our Facebook page – The Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste – for further information.
We currently have more than 200 Tetun books available on the platform. Our team also, with the assistance from dedicated Timorese youth, has been working hard on the translation of more than 100 books. The work will be finalized within this year. Our book’s themes are various. We have stories about the environment, families and friendships, gender equality, Covid-19, and STEM.
We believe that providing children with high quality creative stories to read can have a positive impact on their lives. This is why TAF’s Let’s Read was established.
Yes. Given that our Platform has various languages, including English, Indonesian, Tetun, among others, we have reached 419,871 books read and 37,703 visitors alone in April. We’re only beginning in Timor-Leste, but were glad to see 324 Tetun books read and 115 visitors in April.
I know that the pandemic and recent floods have been very challenging for us all, especially for early childhood education. Due to the resiliency of the Timorese people, I am confident that we can overcome this difficult period of time we are experiencing.
Let’s Read can be part of the solution! We have a digital library that is full of creative and unique stories containing positive messages for children to read for FREE in TETUN! I hope that you will visit our platform and start exploring the library selections that Let’s Read offers to our young readers.
Journalist: José Belarmino de Sá
Editor: Rafy Belo
