“I really like Read to Feed because it is fun to read books with my mother and sister,” says Pryinka Mongar, age 11, of Rochester, N.Y. “I really like when my sister helps me with words and things. We love this book Namaste! [by Diana Cohn and Amy Cordova]. We sit together and read it over and over.”
Pryinka, age 11, attends the Children’s School of Rochester. Her family moved to the U.S. from Nepal when she was in first grade. They are originally from Bhutan. She is part of an enthusiastic group of students at the school who participate in Heifer’s Read to Feed, a reading incentive program designed to encourage global citizenship and raise funds to end hunger and poverty.
Her teacher and the school’s devoted Read to Feed sponsor, Nancy Sundberg, interviewed Pryinka for World Ark magazine’s Mixed Media pages for the Summer 2014 issue. Yet her insightful comments and excitement were so infectious we wanted to share them leading up to Heifer’s Read to Feed Month celebration in April.
Read To Feed is motivating to students because there is a goal that truly matters beyond themselves, Sundberg said. "Youngsters are free to read what is important to them and what they care about. Reading then becomes a tool helping them connect, learn and do things that are vital and significant to each of them personally. They are in charge, and along the way are becoming the lifelong readers and learners that is our vision as teachers for them. Tracking progress toward the goal set is rewarding and reinvigorating to students. Read To Feed works for us as teachers because we can so readily modify to meet our own students' needs."
Pryinka adds that Namaste! “is also a good book for people who like to see other cultures. It will make them love Nepal, too. I wish the Nepal people have a better life like me. I wish they have more food like we have. Read To Feed makes me happy.”
Download curriculum and learn more here about how to launch Read to Feed in your classroom.
Check the Mixed Media section in each issue of Heifer’s World Ark magazine for more students’ favorite books. And download World Ark on your iPad, Android or Kindle HD tablet today.
