"A Very Useful Tool"
/Since SIL LEAD first began teaching Bloom training workshops, we have run over a dozen of them in almost as many countries, teaching hundreds of educators, writers, and artists to use Bloom software to easily create books in local languages. These teachers have gone on to teach others, and Bloom has rippled out into the world exponentially.
Our most recent Bloom workshop recently brought us back to the beautiful mountain cities of Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. We were last there in February, and were excited for the opportunity to share this amazing tool with more people. Working in conjunction with Juarez and Associates, with the support of the Guatemala Ministry of Education and USAID, the August workshop trained over 40 men and women in the use of Bloom to write decodable and leveled readers.
Bloom is a basic, straightforward tool that allows anyone who can type on a computer or laptop to create reading materials in their local language. We love what Bloom can do, but the most fulfilling aspect of these workshops is watching local educators get excited about the possibilities.
So here’s what some of the Mam and K’iche’ workshop participants in Quetzaltenango had to say about Bloom: *
Josué Jerónimo Domingo
- Director
- Ministry of Education
- Language: Maya Mam
Bloom is a tool that will strengthen student learning. It enables a teacher to create their own books. I will use Bloom to create books with my fellow teachers in order to strengthen the reading ability of students.
María Magdalena Pérez Felipe
- Director
- Ministry of Education
- Language: Maya Mam
The Bloom program is very interesting for teaching children and for other activities and it will also allow us to create our own materials and share them with our fellow school teachers. This, for me, is very interesting.
Hipólito Alberto Hernandez Lacan
- K’iche’ Educational Assistant
- USAID Leer y Aprender Program
- Language: Maya K’iche’
The Bloom software is a very important tool for writing value added books as it includes the graphemes for the Mayan languages of Guatemala. It is very user friendly and permits any writer to express their ideas. It is also a good method for promoting reading and writing.
Carlos Eliseo García Talé
- Area Manager
- DIDEDUC, Totonicapán
- Language: Maya K'iche'
The Bloom software will enable me to produce books in the K'iche' language and I can share it with district coordinators, pedagogical consultants, directors, teachers, and coworkers.
Luis Enrique Macario Ajcá
- Technical Coordinator for Middle Schools
- Departmental Director of Totonicapán
- Language: Spanish
In my opinion Bloom is a very user friendly program that promotes the development of writing abilities. Through the standardization of levels and stages, it causes us to think a lot and to be even more creative. It is a very useful tool that middle school students can use without difficulty.