Carla Gradiz is a third grade teacher in La Venta, Honduras, and this is her store.

"Before I started with the Center of Excellence for Teacher Training (CETT) in Honduras, I was a traditional teacher.  I taught reading and writing in much the way that I, myself, had been taught when I was a child.  This mostly involved memorizing syllables and writing words zillions of times.  When I became the teacher, I would have my students copy, copy, and copy while I dictated the lessons.   I repeated these steps throughout the whole school year.  I had not realized how dull and boring that was for them – and for me – until I used the CETT techniques.

After my CETT training, I began to incorporate the kids' own names, magazines and newspapers, maps, cookie and chip wrappings, recipes, poems, and storybooks into their reading and writing lessons.  It was a very powerful change: no more copying in my classroom!  No more memorization without understanding.  My students used to be very passive and could hardly read or understand short sentences.  They used to sound-out words with difficulty, and I used to think that their efforts constituted reading!  But now I see what reading really is.  My students understand what they read and are able to write their own stories.

My children are now talkative, creative, and inquisitive; it seemed like they magically came alive!  That's why CETT was an eye-opening experience for me as well as for them.  I learned how much my students could think, question, and create.  For the first time, I was able to appreciate each student separately, and I came to appreciate their individualities and unlimited potential. 

Through their classroom visits, CETT trainers showed me how to tailor my teaching to each child’s needs, and gradually they helped me to abandon my dull and rigid teaching methods.  Now, I work with CETT to train new teachers in the program, and I feel good about that.  I must say I am more motivated about innovating in my teaching now, and my students are the happiest kids in school.  I feel so proud of them because now they have become real writers and authors.  Learning to read has built the foundation for their future success in school and life. 

I must also confess that I feel proud of my own improvement, too, because all the parents in the community want me to be their kids' teacher!"