Bilingual Backpacks

Bilingual Backpacks is a youth-driven idea that consists of three key components: - The "backpack," a backpack for each of the 158 students at the Arturo Quesada School filled with supplies the school lacks (pencils, pens, crayons, scissors, glue, notebooks, etc.) - The "bilingual-ness," bilingual children's books written in English and Spanish to fill the backpacks to curb low literacy rates, promote reading at home, and serve as teaching aides to short-term English language teachers. - "The teaching", a group of 10 University students who develop English language-learning lesson plans and ultimately implement their ideas in a short-term exchange program with the Arturo Quesada School using the books and school supplies as educational resources. School Supplies and books are expensive, which is why I have looked into wholesalers as the primary suppliers for my project. Simple math tells us that 158 backpacks at $10 each requires more than $1,500 - a huge amount of money that will require a great deal of fundraising. In working in conjunction with the Community Service-Learning office at the University I attend, I plan on developing campus-wide fundraisers involving the large student body to help support the project. Because both the teachers and the students of the Arturo Quesada School expressed an interest in learning English, I have looked into contacting publishers of bilingual books to retrieve a large set of books at a good price. To implement the English language-learning program, I want to establish an exchange program between my University and the University of Cuenca, Ecuador where I have already made contact with the Foreign Language Department who are thrilled with the idea. Students interested in the exchange program would work year-round to develop lesson plans for a classroom of their choice and ultimately implement their curriculum the following summer when they would travel to Ecuador and teach at the Arturo Quesada School. I want the the money Bilingual Backpacks earns to go straight into supporting the children of Ecuador. The money I paid out of pocket for my personal expenses was well worth the experience. Ultimately, if one child says that he or she is now pursuing further education because of an interest in books, I think it would be fair to say Bilingual Backpacks will have served its purpose.