internation contacts part 1

16 out of 18 of the kids in my classroom have parents and other family members that came to the US from Guatemala. This week I decided to research the country that so many of the people that I have built a wonderful relationship with are trying to get away from. My thought for most of these families is that they came here wanting a better life. After having a heart to heart with one my families I found out they were living in poverty since the day they were born. In Guatemala Spanish is the countries official language. This is a multi-ethnic country where Maya is part of the 4 major and 24 minor subgroups. There are four major ethnic groups in rural areas, the Maya, Xinca, ladinos and garifunas. .Among these groups 71 percent of the population is poor. Guatemala has a high rate of illiteracy, infant mortality and infant malnourishment. Due to the widespread poverty rate, poor communities especially where it is just women are is a greater need. In general the women are illiterate and unable to speak or write Spanish. Because of the lack of schooling and education the women carry more of the domestic workloads and are not aware of their civil rights. In this country the causes of poverty is related to the lack of natural resources such as and and water. The lack of education the separation of the languages and dialects also contributes to keeping this country in a marginalization state. So many Guatemalans are unable to find work to support their families they migrate north towards Mexico and the US is search of employment.

I have supplied a link that gives great information about how the rural people and other families live in Guatemala. 

 This video also explains the damage of malnutrition and how effects the children of this area. 

www.euronews.net/

Guatemalan indigenous living in poverty

international contacts

As I reviewed the site Center on the Developing child at Harvard University (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/global_children_s_initiative__activities/) I found many interesting facts. With help from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Fundación Educational Oportunidad, the school is able to focus on language and literacy with children from low-income families in Chile. The university has helped over 3,800 at risk children from ages 4- 6. According to the centers objective the focus in around three main strategies:

• To reframe public discourse about the early childhood period by educating high-level decision makers

about the common underlying science of learning, behavior, and health;

• To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected countries

or regions to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed,

and how to get it back on track; and

• To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions

in low- and middle-income countries in order to increase the number and influence of diverse

perspectives that are contributing to the global movement on behalf of young children.

The Global Children’s Initiative includes activities in three domains: early childhood development; mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations. (www.thedevelopingchild.hardvard.edu).

Other programs that are found through this site include an internship Opportunity in the Brazil Early Childhood Development Initiative. This program allows a qualified applicant to participate in a leadership programs designed to implement the new Brazil Initiative.

Applying science in the early childhood field in Brazil is the programs next project. The Center will use the science of child health and development to build a stronger policy that will benefit young children and their families in Brazil.

We all understand the benefits of children being enrolled in an early childhood program. The benefits are the same in countries out side the US. These benefits include: Higher intelligence scores, Higher and timelier school enrollment, and less grade repetition and lower dropout rates. Other benefits are improved nutrition and health status, improved social and emotional behavior, and improved parent-child relationship. These changes will help to improve education and health to children around the world.

Sharing Resources

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/newsletter/ is a well know organization that has been providing resources for teachers and using media and technology to build knowledge, critical thinking, imagination and curiosity for all children. One of PBS kids focus is to encourage children to interact in the community and to be respectful citizens in society. By working as a team, parents, teachers, and caregivers can helps to encourage children to be successful in school and in life. Some of PBS’s resources include PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! The television series include pbskids.org, pbskidsgo.org, PBS Parents, PBS Teachers. PBS KIDS educational resources assist in the development of preschoolers in four areas. These areas are cognitive, social, emotional and physical.

PBS kids are funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the United States Department of Education. The main focus of the grant is to expose children 2-8 to age appropriate programs, games, playful Web sites, and easy-to-use learning resources for kids, parents, caregivers, and teachers.

Another website that I believe could be considered an international site would be the www.scholastic.com.  The scholastic site is focused on reading readiness for all children. I have used this site for many things from lesson plans, skill build, and information on classroom management and as a resource referral for my parents. The thing I like the most is that it can be used in English and Spanish.  

One thing that I noticed in each is that each offers professional development for teachers. This is important to have due to the many changes that is taking place in education. The professional development offered within the site includes effective teaching practices, self- development and standards based learning. Even though I have used each of these sites I tend to use the scholastic one more. I have gathered a lot of resource information for my parents and other teachers. Because I deal mostly with the Hispanic population it is nice to get information that is already translated into Spanish.