HAITI—Schoolchildren in rural Haiti are taking reading and writing into their own hands by utilizing their mother tongue, Haitian Creole.

In the video below by AJ+, students at the Maténwa School write their own books to not only increase the availability of schoolbooks written in Creole, but to also perform better academically.

For Jean-Benson Exima, a fourth grade teacher at the Maténwa School, the students advance quicker when they learn in Creole than in French, which is the primary language of instruction in Haitian schools.

"It's better for students to learn from their own country's books," he says in the video.

Students have been outperforming the rest of rural Haiti since taking this approach.

Watch the video below that spells out these young authors' creative process when they write a schoolbook in their mother tongue.