Writing Together!

Parents at Pye Bank School have created a book as part of the Adult & Community Learning Unit 'Writing Together' course. Inspired by Dr Martin Luther King's words 'I have a dream' it includes students' writing about their lives and experiences.

Tutor Kath Swinney explained:

"There are Writing Together; Reading Together and Spelling Together courses, all of which have been a great success.Work from the Writing Together course has been used to create a booklet."

Student and mother Ifrah Ahmed told the Messenger how happy she was to have contributed: "Learning English, my second language, is really helping me a lot."

Jawahir explained how having a good teacher helped her to write and talk about things. "Especially things that have affected me in my past. My English speaking has improved and helped me to write about my sister whom I've not seen for 17 years."

Here are some extracts from the book.

My dream is that my children get a good education.

My dream is to meet my sister that I have not seen for 17 years.

My dream is to go Makka.

My dream is that all war is stopped.

My dream is that everyone is healthy and that everyone has food.

I have a dream that one day the remains of racist attitudes will be destroyed.

I also dream that world domination will no longer be an issue.

by Jawahir

My dreams are very good because I live with my husband.

I dream about children and education. My dreams are very beautiful about my life and family. I dream that the world becomes a good place because we all need the whole world to negotiate and discuss the future.

by Zeinab

I have a dream that one day the people of Somalia will stop the war.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and join hands and rebuild their destroyed country and bury their differences.

I have a dream… I have a dream that one day the nation of Somalia will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that one day the nation of Somalia will live by the true meaning of their beliefs.

I have a dream that one day the people of Somalia will create equal rights for men and women.

by Zahra

My Childhood Story

I was born in Somalia, Somalia is in Africa and it is between Kenya and Ethiopia. I live with my family. I had both my parents, five brothers and two sisters. My father worked in the bank and my mum was a nurse. I had a lot of friends in Somalia. The weather was always hot and sunny. The food was fresh, we ate fresh meat and fish we never used frozen things except water.

I started school when I was seven years old we learnt Somali, basic Arabic and maths. The teachers were very strict. If you were late for one minute you were punished even if you had a good reason.

We started school at 7.30 in the morning and finished at 12.30. When I came home, I ate my lunch then I did my homework. After that I helped my sisters with their homework. When my parents went to work I looked after the children because I was oldest child in my family.

Our education system was different from UK. We have one holiday in each year. My grandparents lived in the countryside. They were farmers they planted lot of things such as mango, bananas, oranges, guavas, apples, watermelon and vegetables. During the holidays I visited my grandparents. I was very excited when I went to the countryside. I worked with my grandparents. We fetched water a very long way. We travelled by foot.

by Zarah

The Writing Together course is held at Pye Bank Primary School. To join, contact Kath Swinney, Skills for Life Development Officer on 266 7503.