Greece teacher using books to form a link with Ethiopia

If all goes well, Alicia Van Borssum of Hilton will be in Ethiopia this summer showing teachers and librarians there about using wordless picture books for language learning and literacy.

And she won't just be talking about books; she will also be bringing books to Ethiopia, a poverty stricken country with a high illiteracy rate.

Her time in that East African country will be the culmination of months of work and fundraising, of talking with students and teachers here as well as with civic groups.

Van Borssum, a teacher of English to speakers of other languages in the Greece school district, hopes that her efforts will bring the joys and power of reading to children in very tough circumstances.

"It's no big idea," she says with a laugh. "It's just peace on Earth is what I'm after."

Van Borssum is poking a little fun at herself.

However, she stresses that her experience as a teacher of students from several countries shows that people from quite different backgrounds can get along.

"I see peace every day with these kids," she says.

This week, that sort of peaceful interaction was obvious as Van Borssum worked on her Ethiopia project with the fifth-graders in Janet Boccacino's class at Craig Hill Elementary School in Greece.

The students are doing the groundwork for "Bucks for Books," a project to raise money to purchase the books for Ethiopia.

"This means a lot to me because I love to help people," says Sadé Green, 10. "It's nice to know we're making a difference."

"You know you're doing something good," said Ryan Fritz, 11. "And it's fun when you're doing it."

Van Borssum got the idea to help Ethiopian children and teachers when she attended a conference in March 2006 and met Jane Kurtz, a children's author.

Kurtz grew up in Ethiopia and is part of the group, Ethiopian Books for Children, that has begun to establish free libraries in Ethiopia.

And it has helped publish Ethiopian-themed books for children in English and in local Ethiopian languages.

Van Borssum hopes to raise $5,000, all of which will go toward books for Ethiopia, as she's paying her own travel expenses for her trip there this summer.

"With wordless books, you can teach vocabulary in context because they comprehend the story," Van Borssum says.

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