FAQ

1. What is The BFF Gallery and how does it differ from the BFF Project?

BFF stands for Books for Friends! The BFF Project was an initiative to create student-written eBooks that better reflect the social identities and lived experiences of students, and the diversity of our communities.

The BFF Gallery was the result of the BFF Project. The BFF Gallery is a searchable collection of student-written BFF books in multiple languages. These books help students as they learn to read, and encourage families to spend quality time together as they learn, enjoy and discuss the eBooks. Families at Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and around the world can access these online books 24/7, on any device, in multiple languages. This is an ongoing project and as more books are written and translated, they will be posted at this website, The BFF Gallery.

2. What is the BFF Project?

The BFF (Books for Friends) Project was a pilot project developed in 2017. It was a collaborative inquiry of a number of Toronto District School Board (TDSB) educators who are passionate or interested in modern learning (technology integration), promoting inclusion, equity and culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy. In this project, students aged 8 to 13 (Grades 4 to 8) in Toronto, Canada, used Google products to create digital books, or eBooks, that better reflect their identities (e.g., culture, heritage, lived experiences, passions, hobbies) and the often missing voices in our diverse community. Aside from student engagement, some other benefits of this project included capacity building of a group of educators and community building that resulted from working with students, parents and other TDSB educators in the creation and translation process.

3. Why the BFF Project?

Studies have shown the importance of having diverse books that represent multiple perspectives and for children to be able to see themselves reflected or represented in the books they read. Such culturally responsive and relevant books have a positive impact on achievement and literacy development, but also contribute to the well-being and the feeling of inclusion for children and their families. They also help children develop as global citizens as they read books from the diverse perspectives of other children. Not only do the translated books honour the languages in our community, they instill a sense of identity and belonging. Research also suggests that intellectual and academic capacity can be served by bilingualism or multilingualism. The BFF project encourages creativity and collaboration as students, parents and educators collaborate in the creation process. It also promotes engagement and deep learning through technology and develops digital fluency as students explore the use of a number Google apps throughout the project (Drive, Slides, Sites, Search, URL Shortener).

4. How did the BFF Project begin?

The BFF Project was an idea created by Mr. Wai-Kin Chan of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). He was inspired by Ms. Jeanette Voaden's presentation at the 2017 Reading for the Love of It Conference in Toronto about using Google Slides to create a book writing club. Mr. Chan wanted to give students from his school an opportunity to reflect on the multiple identities that make up their person (e.g., gender, culture, heritage, passions etc.) and to write eBooks to better reflect who we are as a diverse, multicultural society. With a team of teachers from his school, the pilot project was launched in April 2017. Over the course of a number of sessions, students got to explore the use of technology as a tool to acquire knowledge, ideate, create, communicate and to provide and receive feedback to one another. The pilot project achieved one of its goals to promote student voice and choice, given the number of excellent books that were created by the aspiring authors.

5. How can my students learn to create eBooks?

For teachers, visit the BFF Project website where you will read and facilitate discussions with your students around the importance of diverse literature. You will also find a suggested sequence of lessons/sessions that include how to use Google Slides' functionality and how to cite sources. The how-to videos will help you and your students work at their own pace to quickly begin creating your own BFF books.

6. How do I search for books in this BFF Gallery?

There are several ways you can search for a book.

1. From the Home menu, search by alphabetical order of English titles, author's first name or translator's first name.

2. Use the "Title" box to search a title's keyword in ANY language available for that book (Note: this search is sensitive to accents in other languages).

3. Use the "English Title" box to search an English keyword in a book's title. This search will return ALL language versions of books with that keyword. E.g., A book "Getting lost in the Amazon Jungle" is available in English, German and Tamil. If you search "jungle", it will return all the language versions of this book and any other books that have "jungle" in its English title.

7. How can students, teachers or families use this website?

Readers can use this website to read eBooks that are accessible 24/7, from any location and on any device.
Families can read fiction and non-fiction books together in various home languages.
Discuss the topics addressed in certain eBooks with young readers such as, environmental protection, immigration, gender identity, gender expression, anti-discrimination, anti-bullying, well-being and mental health, disabilities, etc.
Educators can use these books for guided, shared or independent reading with emerging readers and language learners, such as English Language Learners.
Educators can use these books to inspire their students to write similar eBooks.

8. What is the URL/address for The BFF Gallery?

Note: The address is case-sensitive.

bit.ly/bffgallery

9. Who translated the books?

The student-written books were translated by hard-working volunteers which comprised mostly parents, teachers and students from several schools at TDSB. For students of French Immersion and Extended French programs, a number of the books were translated into French by the students themselves and edited by other students and adult volunteers where possible.

10. Are the BFF books professionally written books?

No. Students aged 8 to 13 years wrote these books, which is why the wording and flow of the text reflect those of children their age. Every effort was made to correct errors and guide students to improve on their writing. Ultimately, these books promote student voice and a sense of pride and accomplishment in having their eBooks published and shared around the world.

11. What technology was used in the BFF project?

Google (Sites, Slides, Drive, Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Drawings, Advanced Search), goo.gl URL shortener, bit.ly URL shortener, Screencastify Lite, Awesome Screenshot, Awesome-Table, and Youtube Editor.

12. How can I contact the BFF organisers?

To reach the BFF team, you can email the project lead, Mr. Chan, at bffproject2017@gmail.com.

13. How can I provide feedback?

Fill out the short feedback form.

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