Issues and Trends Closure

It has been a touching and eye opening experience for me to read about the children of the world and the very had times that children have to live through.  I have been aware of the struggles of children across the global just not getting that up close view of how bad it really can be.  As a result I will pay closer attention to what is going on in the international world of helping children.  I will do what I can to help out the children of the world.  I will help the children that I come into contact with understand the challenges of living in totally different kind of poverty.  And just as a start I will be more aware of issues that I can help international children get excellence care and education.

The issues that we fight for here in the US are also issues that we can fight for on the global front.  All children should receive an excellence education and care, and the chance to live a real childhood. I hope that we can help the children of the world out without moving in and changing the culture that they live in.

I t has been a joy and very interesting reading these 8 weeks!  I hope that we all can continue on and use the new knowledge that we have attained.  Thank you for sharing!

Carmellia  

Getting to Know Your International Contacts -Part 3

I read a very interesting article written by Jessica Bell called Enhancing learning of children from diverse language backgrounds: Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in the early years.   Long title and a little bit of a long article, but worth the read. 

Children that have the opportunity to learn in an environment that the mother-tongue is used are more likely to enroll and succeed in school, and parents are more likely to communicate with teachers. There is a need for the children to stay connected with their communities and the family pass the usual household use of the language, formal education and exposure to positive attitudes should be used to encourage the use of mother-tongue language.

I find it very interesting that the definition of mother tongue instruction is not the same as mother tongue-based instruction.  Mother tongue instruction includes 1-2 hours of formal instruction.  Mother tongue-based instruction goes across the curriculum and throughout the school day.   The little that I know of different cultures from friendships and reading, I know that women across the country can have it hard, it is the same when it comes to language.  I had not seen it as clearly as I do now,, women are more likely to be exposed to scholarly information, be a part of a salaried labor force, and are usually migrated to the national language. 

A few interesting facts that I ran across are that children with learning disabilities (or low general intelligence) have the capacity to learn more than one language.  I think that all children can learn and at different paces and different ways, but I found it interesting that the author would use low general intelligence.  Children can learn 3 or more languages starting at an early age, and their cognitive and metalinguistic awareness shows up earlier.    The support to keep the languages up stills needs to be ongoing.  The article also states that languages don’t compete for mental space. 

I want to help children that I come into contact with to reach their optimal development- and like the UNESCO’s it means to help children to be effective in their own current context and be ready for changes that are coming, and to learn different cultures and skills that will allow that to happen.    

Sharing Web Resources

I have really enjoyed reading the National Black Child Development Site.  This week I read some of the Head Start’s Eleventh National Research Conference objectives, I read a little bit about the Pre-K program, but what I really took the time to look into this week was the Parent Empowerment Project (PEP).  PEP wants to educate and motivate and inspire parent to reach for excellence.  One of the things that we are now learning more about, so it was interesting to read about PEP even more. The program is to help lower-income African Americans it has been useful for others also.  PEP really involves its parents in many facets of the program it was designed by them and they are part of choosing what is to be studied, they do role-playing, and brainstorming among other things.  Parents are assisted by a facilitator so that they are being guided in manners of child development, parenting skills, and things that help to stimulate the growth and development of their children. As we have learned it is important to keep the children at appropriate developmental levels and the facilitator helps with that also.  Parents are informed of community resources, how to gain access to them, and teach parent to develop confidence and have a positive self- esteem.     

PEP uses educational publications and training conferences, direct services, public education programs, and training in leadership and research, to get their information out.  The curriculum uses affirmations as a base.  The affirmations are mostly African proverbs that are used to stimulate discussions and to inspire and be thought provoking.  Another part of the curriculum is Weaving the Story talks about history and culture, and then they have My Vision for the Future the focus of that is to teach self-sufficiency and how to balance home and work.

The website is changing and growing I am happy to see it!