The Beautiful Tree – How the World’s Poorest People Are Educating Themselves

If you’d like to see what I am working on with the India & China projects have a look at this amazing presentation by Professor James Tooley. He’s  the guru of our  private schools for the poor, and who I’m very proud to say introduces me as his friend. Grab a cup of tea and have a look at this video, you won’t ever think of education in the same way again!

You can find the book on Amazon: The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World’s Poorest People Are Educating Themselves

Everyone from Bono to the United Nations is looking for a miracle to bring schooling within reach of the poorest children on Earth. James Tooley may have found one. While researching private schools in India for the World Bank, and worried he was doing little to help the poor, Tooley wandered into the slums of Hyderabad’s Old City. Shocked to find it overflowing with small, parent-funded schools filled with energized students, he set out to discover if the small, parent-funded schools could help achieve universal education. So began the adventure told in Tooley’s new book, The Beautiful Tree – the story of his journey from the largest shanty town in Africa to the mountains of Gansu, China, and of the children, parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs who taught him that the poor are not waiting for educational handouts. They are building their own schools and educating themselves.

Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!

3 Responses to “The Beautiful Tree – How the World’s Poorest People Are Educating Themselves”

  1. Kathrine Ross

    Hi Richard
    I’m very interested in this video about low cost private schools. I want to find out more and how Genki is involved? I see there’s some links on your website that I will follow. My year’s contract in Korea is up in May 2010 and I could well be interested in working at one of these schools. Thanks for posting this inspiring video.
    All best – Kathy

  2. richard

    Hi Kathrine,

    Genki English is one of the “new ideas” that James talks about in the video. They found that phonics worked really well and wanted to next improve the spoken English levels, hence why they called me. I went out to India and China twice to do training and the University of Newcastle has been testing the kids and seeing how much they have improved with using Genki English. I’ve also got a lecture I’ll be doing next week in Newcastle.

    If you do a search for James Tooley you’ll find lots more information online, and click on the “India” or “China” links to read my blog posts from there!

  3. Gumby

    Richard,
    It’s great to hear about teachers making a differences in places that really need it, and even more exciting to know that GE is playing a role in it all.
    Great job!

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