ELT Syrianrefugeescrowdsourced activity book English language teaching Julie Pratten4654524

A visiting lecturer with the University of Brighton has launched a publishing initiative to improve funds for educating Syrian children moving into camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. In October 2015 Julie Pratten told us that they received a Facebook message requesting the help of a logistics officer at the Domiz camp near Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan. She then launched a crowdfunding initiative to raise money to create a faculty within the camp.

Ms Pratten said she was told that this volunteers who are employed in the camping ground were so busy working with health issues that no-one had the capacity to actually engage the kids”, she said. “They didn’t have got activities, a computer, or craft supplies, they didn’t also have a room where they might play.”She proceeded to express that they were given permission to turn a “mobile unit, packed with old boxes” inside the camp right into a classroom, which Kaniwar, and a few other volunteers from the camp cleared out and stuffed with donated craft supplies and furniture borrowed from the local school away from camp. One's heart School operates by a local English teacher, who's also a refugee. So far, the project has raised around ?3,000.When we started “The kids were queuing up outside to go into the classroom,” Ms Pratten continued. “We can educate about 100 kids. These kids have been by way of a lot. A lot of them have mislaid their parents towards the war. Others have lost their friends for the sea. At this stage they only should play and sing this will let you little bit of fun. For Four years they’ve held it's place in that camp as well as their lives have been on hold.”The goal of the publishing initiative is to raise funds to support the school. ‘Now that this school is defined I am worried about the sustainability with the project. Asking people for the money is difficult i really chose to change my strategy and order help from the international community of ELT Syrianrefugeescrowdsourced activity book English language teaching Julie Pratten. I appealed to authors and teachers to ‘donate’ one activity each. The very first publication, A-Z of Hope is really a crowdsourced book of 26 activities for young learners to teenagers for the universal theme of joy and happiness. The response from authors has become overwhelming. Book 1 and 2 are fully subscribed so we use a waiting report on authors prepared to step up when someone can’t submit. We've over 160 authors enrolled that are willing to contribute to future projects. The initial book will likely be published at no more April and will also be launched in the Annual IATEFL conference to become held from 13 to 16 April with the ICC in Birmingham.