Avallain and partners contribute e-learning to Google’s “The Literacy Project”

Press Release | April, 23

Free content and tools available online in honour of UNESCO World Book Day

(Lustmuehle, Switzerland) In honour of World Book Day, Avallain and its partners at e-learningforkids.com and Teshkeel have put together some of the tools and material coming out of their projects and products that can be useful for learning reading and writing.

The three organisations are contributing to many aspects of Basic Skills Education and Literacy, in many different ways.

Among the material and tools offered to the community is the "Avallain ComicMaker", an interactive system for creating comics – or more generally “picture stories” – a method very much favoured by literacy trainers around the world. Originally developed for the OLPC (aka $100 laptop), the ComicMaker enables children to create their own story using given elements like figures and background images, and adding their own written texts in speech bubbles – including the indispensable "ZAK!" and "BOOM!".

The professional cartoon characters from Teshkeel and background photos contributed by the community round out an open source product that allows for the complete re-use and even publication of the user’s creations thanks to its generous "copyleft" license.

Several units from the free catalogue of e-learningforkids.org, presented in Spanish and English, cover topics ranging from Math to English as a foreign language for kids aged 5-12.

Teshkeel contributes entire comic books from its acclaimed superhero comic "The 99" for download, in English and Arabic. The now famous series is a successful and highly important approach to offering positive and inspiring role models anchored in Middle Eastern and Islamic culture to a worldwide audience, on a premium quality and entertainment level.

"World Book Day celebrates the power of change and development emerging from the access to information and the spread of ideas through the written word. As e-learning developers and educationalists, we believe that the internet can contribute to this ideal by making information widely available and bringing people together to enable learning – and thus unlock human potential", says Ursula Suter, Managing Director of Avallain.

A notion that is shared by Google: "The worlds of technology, literature and learning have a responsibility to play whatever part they can in helping to alleviate the problem of illiteracy. We're very excited to be involved in this project and help provide a platform through which literacy and reading promotion organisations can connect and share best practices and tools," says Jessica Powell, founder of The Literacy Project, Google.

Contact: Ralf Kellershohn, rkellershohn@avallain.com, +49 172 123123123

About "The Literacy Project"
“The Literacy Project” is Google’s contribution to Frankfurt Book Fair’s Literacy initiative “LitCam”, in cooperation with the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. Avallain acts as sponsor and partner of LitCam. “The Literacy Project” highlights information and statistics about literacy, features e-learning tools, links to classic children’s books and scholarly articles — users can find books, videos, articles, blogs, and groups about literacy, as well as share all of their own ideas and projects. An updated Literacy Map allows organisations to join “The Literacy Project” and input their project and contact information so that others can get in touch, and much more.
For more information about the site go to: www.google.com/literacy

About Avallain
With a passion for education, innovation and the potential of the internet, Avallain offers high quality services and products for the most demanding challenges in e-learning. Avallain develops award-winning e-learning solutions for public and private clients with one simple goal: to create choice and unlock human potential.
Avallain services include the design and implementation of complex e-learning-systems, as well as the development and provision of tools and software to create, maintain and publish interactive content and learning material. Avallain also offers customised solutions for the hosting of e-learning-systems, and provides organisations and institutions with consultancy and expertise. Find out more at: www.avallain.com

About LitCam
Together with the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, the German Association for Literacy and Basic Education and Avallain, and with support from Google, Frankfurt Book Fair launched the “Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign” (LitCam) to promote public awareness for the global challenge of literacy, support cooperation and networking of international organisations and feature projects and innovative approaches in the field of literacy.
For more information go to: www.litcam.org

About e-learningforkids.org
e-Learning for Kids is a global non-profit organization that is dedicated to opening doors to education worldwide. Established in 2004, e-Learning for Kids is dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children aged 5-12.
Find out more at www.e-learningforkids.org

About Teshkeel Media Group
Teshkeel Media Group, KSC is one of the Middle East's leading developers of comic books, magazines, and other forms of children's entertainment. Based in Kuwait, and with offices in New York and Cairo, the company's mission is to fill a significant void in positive, high-quality children's content in the region, including in print and electronic media, film, and television. In addition to working with global publishers like DC, Marvel, and Archie Comics, Teshkeel also develops its own original character properties, including THE 99, an award-winning original superhero property based on Islamic culture and history, which debuted in June 2006.
Find out more at www.teshkeel.com