ACRC Dictionary Project
Posted by Kathleen Varallo
on Feb 8, 2011
Bob Rufflo shares his experience with 9 & 10 year olds and The Dictionary Project.
Dear Fellow Rotarians,
I want to thank President Rose McCarthy for strong-arming me with her smile to take on the Rotary Club of Atlantic City Dictionary Project. I also want to thank fellow Rotarians Herb Stern, Denise Irvin, Cynthia Cortopassi, Patty Ferry as well as Rose, who assited me in visiting 14 different schools, personally handing out 650 dictionaries to local 3rd grade students on Absecon Island.
What an experience encountering these 9 & 10 year-old students with their bright smiles and wide eyes. In each classroom, we asked questions. When a student raised their hand and answered the question, they received a bright, yellow, paperback dictionary along with a laminated bookmark from AtlanicCare with the alphabet and healthy snack information on it. Even an incorrect answer garnished the student a dictionary. For many, this was the beginning of their personal library. We talked about the format, uses and benefits of a dictionary, and told the students their books were also zoos. With puzzled looks on their faces, I asked them what was their favorite animal. We then looked up the animal name in the dictionary. They then realized, behold, the dictionary was a zoo...and so much more.
Near the end of our presentations, I removed from a box a Webster's 2nd International Dictionary of the English Language printed in 1920. This 18 pound 9"x12"x6 1/2" thick behemoth book with 3 columns per page contained 100 words on each of its 3200 pages. 320,000 words even made the teachers gasp. We asked the students to take their dictionaries home and select a new word each night reporting their word to the teacher the next morning.
The warm smiles and respectful manners from these children made this project the highlight of my Rotary career thus far.
Sincerely, Robert E. Ruffolo, Jr.
I want to thank President Rose McCarthy for strong-arming me with her smile to take on the Rotary Club of Atlantic City Dictionary Project. I also want to thank fellow Rotarians Herb Stern, Denise Irvin, Cynthia Cortopassi, Patty Ferry as well as Rose, who assited me in visiting 14 different schools, personally handing out 650 dictionaries to local 3rd grade students on Absecon Island.
What an experience encountering these 9 & 10 year-old students with their bright smiles and wide eyes. In each classroom, we asked questions. When a student raised their hand and answered the question, they received a bright, yellow, paperback dictionary along with a laminated bookmark from AtlanicCare with the alphabet and healthy snack information on it. Even an incorrect answer garnished the student a dictionary. For many, this was the beginning of their personal library. We talked about the format, uses and benefits of a dictionary, and told the students their books were also zoos. With puzzled looks on their faces, I asked them what was their favorite animal. We then looked up the animal name in the dictionary. They then realized, behold, the dictionary was a zoo...and so much more.
Near the end of our presentations, I removed from a box a Webster's 2nd International Dictionary of the English Language printed in 1920. This 18 pound 9"x12"x6 1/2" thick behemoth book with 3 columns per page contained 100 words on each of its 3200 pages. 320,000 words even made the teachers gasp. We asked the students to take their dictionaries home and select a new word each night reporting their word to the teacher the next morning.
The warm smiles and respectful manners from these children made this project the highlight of my Rotary career thus far.
Sincerely, Robert E. Ruffolo, Jr.