ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on teachers’ responses to the introduction of stories through the African Storybook Initiative (ASb) in the teaching of English and the practices they developed as a result. After independence in 1962, the education system in Uganda was considered relatively good, but it was severely damaged by the political chaos and civil war that ravaged the country in the following two decades. The language of instruction policy has changed several times, which is both an expression of political instability and of the fact that most Ugandan languages are poorly established as literary languages, making it challenging to use them for instruction. The lack of storybooks to support early reading development in African schools is the major driving force of the ASb, which was developed by Saide to promote multilingual literacy for young African students. The ASb pilot site is located in central Arua and has 1,700 students and 34 teachers.
