One hundred and fifteen students are receiving a personal English Dictionary thanks to the USA Rotary movement.
The first dictionaries were distributed Thursday morning at Comboni Secondary School in Juba.Betty Mata teaches English to three Senior One classes at Comboni. She told CRN that she got in touch with the Rotary clubs in the USA through a friend working at the UN and she appealed for books to help students with English.
She said she received 115 English Student’s dictionaries: 90 were distributed among Senior One students in Comboni Secondary and 25 were sent to Marial Lou Comboni Primary School in Warrap State, where she also taught English.
Sr Mata, a Comboni Missionary from Mexico, said she organized a competition among her 255 students and each wrote a short essay on how the dictionary was going to help and what were their dreams for the future.
Thomas Sebit from Gudele was one of the students whose essay was rewarded with a dictionary.
He said it will help him to learn the meaning and pronunciation of new and difficult words.
Sr Mata said the dictionaries are important to expose the students to new English words and their pronunciation.
She explained that although the new curriculum is taught in English, many teachers mix it with Juba Arabic and the students at home speak either Juba Arabic or their mother tongues.
Sr Mata explained that in Marial Lou the 25 dictionaries will be distributed among upper primary classes and secondary school candidates.