Les Fruits de Mer is looking for volunteers
The nonprofit association Les Fruits de Mer is looking for help making the Caribbean’s most exciting new science curriculum available in French. Their goal is to leverage the power of crowdsourcing to complete the translation of the BirdSleuth Caribbean program from English into French. Anyone interested in joining the effort is encouraged to contact the association.
BirdSleuth Caribbean is a set of fun lessons and activities that uses birds to teach youth about nature and science. Based on a highly-successful international program, BirdSleuth Caribbean has been specially adapted for the region—kids learn about the birds and habitats that they can actually see around them, a refreshing change from educational materials created for Europe or North America. Designed for students 9-13 years old, the BirdSleuth Caribbean program contains lessons, activities and learning games designed for the classroom and outdoors.
“The mission of our association is to promote wildlife education, so the opportunity to take a bird education program designed for the Caribbean and make it more widely accessible in the region is a natural fit,” explained Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “It’s also a chance for us to connect with volunteers locally who want to be part of something positive. Living on a diverse, multilingual island we have an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation, to tackle regionally-important projects like this.”
Les Fruits de Mer is leading the translation of the BirdSleuth Caribbean materials from English into French so they can be used throughout the French Caribbean. Once completed, Les Fruits de Mer and other organizations on French-speaking islands will conduct training workshops for teachers and youth leaders. Kits of BirdSleuth Caribbean materials will also be available to teachers who wish to use the program.
To participate in the translation project, email info@lesfruitsdemer.org or use the contact form on the association’s website. The association is seeking volunteers who can translate a portion of the text from English to French and who can review the French translation. Teachers are especially encouraged to participate in this effort, and knowledge of birds is not required for those who want to help translate.
Any teachers, youth group leaders, or other educators who are interested in the upcoming free training workshopsto learn the curriculum are also encouraged to contact Les Fruits de Mer. BirdSleuth International was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and adapted for the Caribbean by BirdsCaribbean. The BirdSleuth Caribbean materials are currently available in English and Spanish.
