The pedagogical reach of Adventist Education goes far beyond the classroom. With a playful method, it encourages children to develop their skills and acquire knowledge. And that involves students and even their families. At the Colégio Adventista de Florianópolis - Estreito (CAF-E) in Brazil, an example of this involvement in literacy was seen recently in the family of Eduardo Hinckel Brito, who at the time was in the first year of elementary school.
Through the Super Readers project, students were encouraged through online school to read at home the materials proposed by the teacher.
“Every Friday, Super Readers motivated children to wear masks and capes of heroes to read texts that were sent home,” explains professor Caroline Floriano. “[It was] a way of connecting what they knew with learning. They felt like superheroes of reading. It happened that Eduardo's grandmother did not know how to read and started to follow the classes and the project.”
Marlene Hinckel is 63 years old and was born in Bom Retiro, in the mountain range of Santa Catarina.
“As a child, I wanted to learn to read and write, but the distance postponed my dream,” she explains. “We lived far from the city. My parents believed that working in the fields was more important than studying, and so my brothers and I were raised away from books and any chance of going to school.”
Last year, Hinckel enrolled in a literacy course for the elderly, but with the arrival of the pandemic, the dream of learning to read and write was once again postponed.
“I was extremely saddened by the cancellation of classes,” she admits. “Depressive, isolated, and not in the mood to study alone. In the face of this obscure picture, came the chance to spend a few days at the home of my daughter, Karina, and my grandson, Eduardo, who was learning to read and write at school.”
And this is where Eduardo, Hinckel, and the Super Readers project meet. Hinckel started listening to her grandson's online classes, became interested, started to follow, started to learn, and soon was taking his texts to read.
“I use my grandson's religious handouts and the books that come from the library for him to read,” she says. “I have a lot to learn, but today I can already read the songs and verses used in daily worship. For me, I already consider it a big step, in addition to being able to buy shampoo and conditioner, because believe me, I often bought wrong because I didn't know how to read the label and differentiate one from the other.”
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site.