My First Words
Literacy project for children in refugee camps
“There is a lack of education in this camp.
By watching school programs on TV our children learned a lot.”
— Syrian refugee parents in Lebanon
Millions of young people are growing up in refugee camps in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan & Turkey. The schools and universities in these countries simply cannot handle the education requirements of millions of extra children. We are facing a lost generation- young people who grow up with severe mental and physical scars and suffering from a lack of education. If young people don’t get an opportunity to study, who will then be able to rebuild their countries after the war?
Television can play a key role in providing information and education when people are cut off from regular schooling. That is why Arab Vision, in cooperation with SAT-7, has produced a literacy program via television and social media. This basic program for reading and writing is for 6-8-year-old children.
In each episode we teach three words, showing the same letter in three different positions in the word: beginning, middle and end. (The shape of the letter often changes in Arabic writing).
After a short intro a child draws something related to the main word of the episode and a brief interview is done with children talking about the word. When the word is “house”, they talk about having a home, and what it means to have no home and be a refugee.
After the interview the child finishes the picture and writes the word, pronouncing each letter and the whole word. Then he writes two more words for the same letter.
Children watching this program are asked to send drawings and stories about the words to the Facebook page of the program. The clips will be frequently shown on TV and will be available on social media.
The first series consists of clips on all the letters of the alphabet plus clips on different shapes, forms and colours.
Watch a clip on Arab Vision’s YouTube channel.
