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Educational and Cultural Collaborations in Deschapelles
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You are here: Home / Education / Early Education Project Update: April 15, 2012

Early Education Project Update: April 15, 2012

From April 9-13, 2012, we held the first session of the Early Education Project with directors and teachers of three schools in the area of Deschapelles who teach 3-6 year old children.  “We” were myself (Jenifer Grant), Vera Dowell, Jenny Miller and Janine Fraser, all of whom have close ties to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, have graduate degrees in early childhood education, and all speak both French and Kreyol.

Familiarizing themselves with early education materials
Familiarizing themselves with early education materials

We chose to work directly with the directors and teachers to familiarize them with the materials and concepts which we brought to augment their curriculum.  The Descchapelles teachers then, rather than outsiders, would return to their classes as the source of the knowledge for the students.

We spent a week introducing hands-on manipulatives such as puzzles, unifix cubes, small 1″ blocks, geometric stacking “toys” and also included “found” materials such as bottle caps and small stones for numbers exercises.  We incorporated some of the wonderful ways that the Haitian teachers use to advance learning in their own schools, such as story telling, learning numbers and the days of the week through song, etc.

We also brought down story books, many in Kreyol, and some familiar to children in the United States such as Brown Bear Brown Bear,  Elmer the Elephant,  Tap Tap and Three Little Pigs which were either translated by us or came in a French version.  We modeled a variety of ways to extend the idea of “story” from discussion to felt board to dramatic re-enactments.

Sharing the materials
Sharing the materials

It was a wonderful week, and on the last day we divided the materials between the three schools to be shared in rotation.  The teachers will get together in their own schools to discuss what they find “works” and what they find more challenging, to remind each other of aspects of the workshop.  Beyond that all the participants will all meet once a month to share information on what was working for them and what they were finding challenging, and to rotate the materials.

Once the directors and teachers in the three schools become familiar and comfortable with the materials and their uses appropriate for their culture, we will do a second workshop with other interested schools in the area.  The “graduates” of this first teacher training workshop will become the leaders, with assistance from those of us who led the first session and others who might be interested in assisting. One of the goals of Sister Cities Essex Haiti’s collaboration with the people of Deschapelles is to establish meaningful relationships.  And that we did!

Deschapelles teacher "trainees"
Deschapelles teacher “trainees”

Tagged With: Teacher Training

Education Project News:

Robotics in the Library: August 2017

Book Buddies Update-May 2017

Legos Project

International Book Buddies Project

Cross Cultural Exchange: Update: Summer 2015

Learn more about the Education Project


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Tennis Update:

Kim Bergner, MD is a huge supporter of the SCEH tennis program at the Club Tennis Deschapelles (CTD) in Deschapelles, Haiti. She sponsors fundraisers and gathers donors for the program. Dr. Bergner created a website to share details of the history, operations, coaches, and players. Please click on the link here to explore more.

Sister Cities Essex Haiti
P.O. Box 26
Essex CT 06426
info@sistercitesessexhaiti.org

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