International Education

To recognize the benefits of international education, U.S. Embassies around the world plan and hold programs every November to celebrate the International Education Week.

This year, the Embassy in Abuja participated in the first-ever virtual college fair which turned out to be the largest ever online international college fair.  This is in addition to outreach programs to some institutions within the city.

Catching the Reading Express

The American author Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a Dr. Seuss, a renowned writer of children books once said “the more that you read, the more things you will know…”  As cliché as that may sound, I’m sure we can all agree there is an element of truth to it. Reading opens up the mind and broadens our imagination. It therefore was not a surprise when over 200 children were signed up to participate in the American Corner Abuja Summer Reading Program for children aged 5-13.

The Library table was filled with books of all kinds, spanning a broad range of topics:  the Underground Railroad, the United States Constitution, history of the White House, American singers, American sports legends, animal and plant life, mostly written in a language that children can understand.

It’s fun to read!

"If fun is what you're after or you're looking for laughter, Read a book! (Read, read! Read, read a book)" So goes a children's song by American musicians Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink.
There is no doubt that reading can be lots of fun. Not only fun but it opens up new worlds, new experiences and offers exciting adventures. I still remember the first novel I read from the African writers series titled The African Child by Camara Laye. I can't remember how many times I read that book. The story was just so fascinating to me. Before then were the Lady Bird series of Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Beauty and the Beast, etc followed by Enid Blyton's famous Five, made popular of course by the TV series. All these inculcated a love for reading that has remained.

However for a lot of children today reading is an exercise primarily done as part of school work or to pass exams. In this age of video games, satellite TV and the internet, children are more familiar with Ben Ten than they are with say Eze Goes to School.
At the summer reading program for children ages 5 to 12 years organized by the American Corner Abuja some children said they'd never read any other books apart from their school books.