Highlights

Summary

Literacy through Poetry/Heritage was designed for rural adults in Yemen who want to learn to read and write but are not interested in formal education. Adapting Freirean and “community literature” approaches, texts were created from classroom discussion and learners’ poetry and proverbs generated in class. These texts were written on large flip-chart paper pasted on the wall, which then provided the material for learning activities through which students developed reading and writing skills. The texts were also reproduced digitally in large type, so that students would learn to read typed, as well as handwritten, text. At the end of the course, each student received a bound collection of the texts generated in her class, a “book” that she helped compose. Stories, poems and proverbs covered problems faced by women, humorous parodies of extended greeting rituals that involve poetic competition between host and guest, health issues and concerns, as well as other topics. Two of the classes initiated community cleanup campaigns and other health interventions. For sample texts click here.

This method explores the effectiveness of traditional arts in improving learning outcomes. Incorporating poetry in teaching not only affirms intangible heritage, it facilitates learning and develops critical thinking skills. Using learners' poetic expression serves not only to promote literacy, but sustains valued and valuable tradition as well. In Yemen, short, two-line verse is utilized to mediate conflict. Poetry synthesizes the issue at hand and allows for disagreement without confrontation. When someone feels insulted, expressing anger in a poem is more sophisticated than physical violence or shouting. Moreover, rhetoric that one’s adversaries appreciate increases their willingness to accept compromise. This is critical thinking at its best.

Project outcomes surpassed expectations. Retention rates were high, at 81% and 74%, respectively. 72% of learners in the first 5 classes could read and write new material, 37% fluently and 35% by sounding out words. 63% of learners in the second phase, which met for only 6 months, could read and write new material. Empowerment indicators included greater respect shown to learners by their family members and increased community interest in the education of adult women. Learners developed a new interest in their children’s education, a greater appreciation of the utility of reading and writing skills, and participated actively in national elections. In two communities, they initiated health interventions. A major success with implications to the feasibility of the pilot is its grassroots component. The training of new teachers for Phase 2 of the pilot was conducted entirely by local trainers.

In response to teacher and student evaluations, plans to expand this project or pilot it elsewhere would include adding numeracy skills, developing a teacher's manual, and extending the teacher training workshop to two weeks. This method is appropriate for women and men in any country with an active oral tradition, including most, if not all, MENA countries, and many countries in West and East Africa, Central Asia and Latin America.

This pilot is featured by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), 2009:
https://uil.unesco.org/case-study/effective-practices-database-litbase-0/literacy-through-poetry-project-ltpp-yemen. A fact sheet describing this project is included in UNESCO's Kit of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage:
https://ich.unesco.org/en/kit#10.  The project was nominated for a UNESCO Prize in 2007 and presented at the UNESCO/Qatar Foundation Regional Conference in Support of Global Literacy in the Arab Region (March, 2007). Also in 2007, it was recognized as "best practice in women's empowerment" by the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research in Tunisia (CAWTAR). In 2004, the pilot was featured in National Geographic News, and in 2005 it was cited on p.21 in the World Bank's Beijing +10 report.

For a detailed description of this project, please see:
2008 Learning through Heritage, Literacy through Poetry. Adult Education and Development, 70:
https://www.dvv-international.de/en/adult-education-and-development/editions/aed-702008/literacy-and-efa/learning-through-heritage-literacy-through-poetry
 

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