With an unwrapped book and a big smile, students at St. James Christian Academy couldn’t wait to thumb through the pages in their newest learning tool. Even if some of the Fort Pierce students didn’t know what a phone book is.
NewsChannel 5 asked fifth-grade student Ariana when she last saw a phonebook.
“I’ve never seen one,” she replied.
Dex Media distributes the yellow pages on Florida’s west coast. When a representative found out the school wanted to boost literacy scores, he worked out a way to donate 1,000 phone books.
“Some people may take things for granted,” explained Kevin Bonura. “But children say there’s nothing taken for granted here, they just want to learn.”
The phone book may seem obsolete when you can practically look everything up on your cellphone. But there are several reasons the school wanted to step outside the box and have students look through the yellow pages.
From learning the alphabet to helping with pronunciation. Pastor Donnalyn Khourie said like the list of businesses in the phone book, the ways teachers can incorporate lessons from the yellow pages is endless.
Ariana’s class will create its own businesses, come up with ads and then create a directory, like a phone book, for every business in the class.
Others will compare and contrast the phone book to the internet in an exercise using Venn diagrams.
“I was excited to see that they’re excited about education and making learning fun,” Khourie said.
It gives a new meaning to checking the yellow pages.