A couple Tuesdays ago, the third graders around the Island were once again the lucky recipients of dictionaries, courtesy of the Rotary Club of Martha’s Vineyard. I have taken pictures of this annual event in the past for the school files, but specifically went down to the classrooms this week with the intention of writing about this annual tradition for the paper. As a result, I had a different experience this time around.
Dick Pratt of the Island Group Realty, a longtime Rotary Club member, delivered the dictionaries to the Edgartown kids this year, as he has done for several years. “Dictionary” might be a bit of a misnomer, as the word brings to mind a stark, old-fashioned book of the old days. These books provide a plethora of information beyond just your standard definitions. They are small paperbacks, easy for the kids to handle, and easy to transport and store at home or at school. Mr. Pratt always talks to the kids, explaining what the books are and how useful they are. He also mentions to the class that very often, this is the first item that some of the kids receive that is truly “their own,” and how much kids in the past have enjoyed them. I can attest to the fact that my kids, now 13 and 15, still have, and use, the copies they received years ago when they were in third grade.
The dictionary gifting is part of Rotary International’s Literacy Program. One of the main missions of Rotary International is to increase literacy worldwide. As a result, the dictionaries our local children receive have also been printed in many other languages and distributed to children across the world. The local organizer of this endeavor is Dr. Arthur Spielvogel, and several Rotarians venture to all of the Island schools, including the Charter School, to distribute these books and ensure that all of the local third graders receive one.
After distributing the books, Mr. Pratt chose a few kids to pick a page to turn to and then select a word on the page. A third grader named Jameson chose page 220 and the word “Nebraska.” Victor chose page 516, which provided information about countries, in this case, Spain. This prompted a discussion about different countries and their capitals. One third grader, Bruno, moved here from Spain last year, and was able to tell us that the capital of Spain was Madrid, where he used to live.
This year Mr. Pratt was accompanied by Ann Hunt, a mortgage officer at Santander Bank and longtime Rotarian, as well as a young woman, an exchange student named Pia Olsen, who is visiting the Island from Germany. She shared some of her experiences with the children, who were intrigued by her accent and asked her how to say certain things. She ultimately taught them the universal phrase “Hello. How are you?” The event closed with a great big thank-you and goodbye to Mr. Pratt, the Rotary, Ms. Hunt, and Ms. Olsen from the kids, who also happily posed for pictures with their dictionaries.
