OECS/USAID Partners with MoE to Conduct Training in Bloom Software

(EMU) – St. Kitts, January 9, 2019: Under the Early Learners Programme supported by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a Bloom Software Training is being facilitated for educators to produce early-grade reading materials. The three-day training is being conducted daily at the National ICT Centre.

The Training, which will run from January 9-11, 2019, aims to encourage book development locally by instructing teachers on how to use Bloom’s software to produce supplementary reading materials for their students.

“This software provides opportunity for teachers and students to create books of their own that they can use in their classroom,” declared Terres Dore, Education Officer (Nevis) at the opening ceremony. “We have lots of teachers and students with creative ideas and skills. This is a golden opportunity for them to showcase their talent and contribute to creating books that are culturally relevant to our classroom setting.”

It was further revealed that this software allows individuals to create their own collection of simple books in PDF format; it also comprises the feature to create audio and bilingual books using pre-designed templates.
In October of 2018, the facilitators of the software training, Kishma Wilkin, Jamilah Bristol and Kishma Isaac, all teachers, travelled to Grenada and received firsthand training on how to effectively use and teach the Bloom Software.

“You can go on any website and pull literature that would assist you in ensuring that your students become more competent readers,” advised Darryll Lloyd, Chief Education Officer (Ag.) During his remarks he urged the participants to fully utilize this and every opportunity the Ministry puts forth.

“The Ministry of Education realizes that in order for us to get it right we have to ensure that we adopt many of the training opportunities being offered in other areas. I want to encourage you to make good use of this training, we are hoping that you will go back to your schools and train others.”

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