Step2words

We use arts and storytelling to teach English to underserved children, helping them expand their thinking, express their ideas, and excel in life. We run a free 5-year program in the most under-resourced schools, teaching children aged 8–12 English through theatre, visual arts, and storytelling. At this age, their brains are still flexible, allowing them to catch up quickly on reading and writing, start asking deeper questions, and use their imagination to learn. They also begin to understand empathy and fairness, building confidence, analytical and reflective thinking. Through the program, children create theatre productions that share their voices and stories, often shining a light on issues they see in and around their communities. For this program, we recruit and coach final year literature/art college students as Teaching Fellows who are passionate about education, the arts, and creating social impact. The Fellows receive a monthly stipend and hands-on training to lead our program in the schools. Building on this, we have an Educator Lab for current educators working with similar age groups. We partner with NGOs, private schools, and the government to train educators to run our program through workshops and hands-on support (both paid and unpaid). The learnings from this program culminate in an annual Mini-Educator Conference open to all, offering paid workshops to deeply develop the skills of using the arts to build literacy, confidence, and critical thinking in children.