Educator Candace Francis goes online to show children why it's fun to read

Learning to read is the first step to all academics and many careers, but it is also something that could be enjoyed for the worlds and experiences that can be opened up.

With this in mind, educator Candace Francis founded two online entities, Bold Print Bookshop and the Desha Academy.

Bold Print was started with the hope of bringing back the joy of reading in children instead of just focussing on examinations.

“Reading was meant to be enjoyed. You can look at the depth of the language, how words are used, and take in the description of people and things.”

A teacher in the primary school system for 20 years, Francis said she has seen the decline in adults encouraging children to read or act out stories, or children contentedly reading for hours.

“I saw the shift in what reading is about. A lot of factors contributed to it but part of it is exams have become so competitive now, we tend to focus only on reading for that purpose. Also, until recently, we have not been integrating technology in teaching so children associated reading with school and technology with fun.

“Also, you would hear parents using reading as a form of punishment. So a child does something wrong and the parent would take away play time or a device and tell the child to go and read. After a while children associate reading with a form of punishment.”

As a result, Bold Print Bookshop was launched online in 2019. She initially intended to eventually open a physical space, but with the start of the pandemic she thought it was best to leave it online.

The books at Bold Print target children ages three to 12. They include colouring books, story books, and educational books but no textbooks, from international, Caribbean and local authors.

“I try to support local authors because growing up I was mainly exposed foreign authors. There were one or two of them (local authors) but most times they had to leave the country to become a writer. So I felt, as a TT citizen, I, or anyone else from the Caribbean, couldn’t write because I never saw it. I didn’t have a model.

“So when I opened the bookshop I realised I need to expose children to the works of Caribbean authors so they could probably use that as inspiration.”

Local authors featured in the bookshop include Betty Peter, five-year-old Coryn Anaya Clarke, healthcare professional Phillip Simon, environmentalist Katrina Khan-Roberts, Mikkell Khan, Charisse Broome and more.

In June 2020, she launched the Desha Academy as an extension to the bookshop.

“There were activities I wanted to do but I didn’t want it to be part of the bookshop per say, because it’s more on the side of educating. The bookshop is where I would have the resources to complement the education aspect.”

Her intension is to promote TT with videos on its history, culture, folklore, national emblems and more. These as well as some science, math, and English learning resources can be accessed free of charge on the academy’s website.

To get any further however, parents have to subscribe to access online classes, a book club for children ages nine to 12, and a separate book club where the books could be accessed while parents initiate discussions about the material.

Before covid19, Francis conducted exhibitions that celebrated literacy with the assistance of former teacher Winifred Assoon. Children and adults performed monologues and duets, there was storytelling, as well as the reading of poetry and verses.

“I wanted children and parents to realise literacy does not have to be boring, just sitting in a class reading a story. You could have fun doing it.”

During the pandemic, she conducted interviews with various writers including author Phillip Simon which gave children an idea of the writing and publishing processes before allowing the children to ask questions.

She said it helped the children to realise authors are just like them, can go through the same experiences, including writers block, and that writing is not just about exams or even books. It opened up the idea of writing careers including journalism, advertising, communications specialists, and teaching.

Francis is in the process of setting up a space on the Desha Academy website on the TT dialect and its different influences, highlighting Hindi, Spanish, French, and African words still used today.

She is also working on a Spanish curriculum, more on Social Studies and English language videos, and a curriculum based on science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM).

Francis expressed her excitement about the project and is working on building a team to get it all done bit by bit.