BTF’s Dictionaries4Kids Project Expands Children’s Vision of The World…
“Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world.” ― Rumi
Dictionaries4Kids project is based on the idea that teaching English to young school children will expand their vision of the world and learning new words will make them understand another language which will open a door to a new world. In other words, students will learn to understand different cultures and look at everything in a new light, learn to appreciate, recognize different languages and cultures. Our goal is to provide personal dictionaries to underprivileged students who are in elementary and secondary schools.
Flora Lewis
There are students in rural areas of Turkey who are eager to learn another language and passionate to know about other worlds outside of their village. Unfortunately, these students lack the resources. By providing a dictionary to each student, we give a chance and opportunity to that child to enrich his/her imagination, to understand other cultures, and to improve his/her vocabulary in another language.
As BTF volunteers we wrote a letter in Turkish and in English to students to be included respectively in the first and the second page of each dictionary. As soon as the students receive their dictionaries in their classrooms, they are required to read this letter and find the meaning of 6 words in their dictionaries. The words are goal, research, persistence, fortitude, integrity and honesty. The aim of this activity is to make students get excited to use their dictionaries and also to make them think about their future by finding the meanings of the words and applying them to their lives as they get older. As Bridge to Turkiye Fund, we would like to light a candle in the beginning of their lives and inspire them to reach further and be successful and happy… Below is our letter written in english to students who receive personal dictionaries:
Dear Students,
These dictionaries are being sent to you as presents by the Turkish people who live in USA and volunteer for Bridge to Turkiye Fund.
When you receive your dictionaries, we would like you to know that we are thinking of you and waiting to hear from you about your challenges and success stories. Which word are you going to be looking for when you open your dictionary for the first time? We ask you to do the following when you get your new dictionary: please look up the meanings of the words “goal”, “research”, “persistence”, “fortitude”, “integrity”, and “honesty”. Once you do that, we would like you to think about your goals and what path you will take to reach your goals. We hope that these six key words will be your guides to overcoming your challenges, achieving your goals and success in your lives. Continue to add new words to your vocabulary and enrich your life with new languages and knowledge. Your road to success may not be easy and can even be rocky: however, you must always remember that your education will be your most important tool and the best present you will ever get in life.
One day, you will complete your education and start your own journey in life. You should always remember to reach out to children, support them and be their guide in their journey of life. Please remember to love them just as we love you and assure them that they too can achieve their personal goals in life.
We wish you a great semester…
With Love,
Bridge to Turkiye Volunteers
Below are some of the schools that we sent dictionaries:
Each dictionary is $3 and our local supply partner in Turkey is Redhouse (SEV Matbaacılık ve Yayıncılık).
As BTF volunteers, we strongly believe in investing in children’s education because we know that our children are our future…
Now, we invite you to invest in our children’s future and become our partner in making dreams come true for rural school children…
