Last spring over Zoom and then in-person this early fall, I was delighted to meet online the friend of a friend, Heidi Cobbey, an ESL/EFL teacher who lived the first few years of her life in Vietnam, before moving to the US.
After completing an MA in linguistics, Heidi spent over 20 years living and working in Asia as a Literacy and Education Consultant, supporting students from minority language communities. Here is a photo of her recent book, which she so kindly gave me, through our mutual friend.
Heidi and her co-author, Susan Gary Walters, met in Asia to work in language development for the same faith-based, global, not-for-profit organization, SIL Global (Summer Institute of Linguistics). SIL supports the development of minority languages, linguistics, literacy and Bible translation and was founded in Arkansas in 1934). SIL, itself, provides training in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and sociolinguistics.
Heidi and Susan had both noticed in Asia that “while children and communities loved games, teachers and educators often lacked training on how to incorporate them into literacy programs.” To address this gap, Heidi and Susan integrated games and activities into teacher training sessions and literacy materials they developed.
Over many years, they explain, they “collected” and then “combined, expanded and refined these” games as “resources to support learners around the world in reading and writing the languages they value most.”
I’m honoured and delighted to have received a copy of Literacy Games: 100 Activities for Classrooms and Communities, and can’t wait to read it more closely. The book is available for independent booksellers who may order it from SIL Global Publishing Services (in Dallas, TX: publications@sil.org). It can also be purchased through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Thank you, Heidi! And thank you, Beth, for introducing us! I look forward to sharing Heidi’s and Susan’s insights, as I start to use more games in the classroom.