Education Mexico Project #12744

Help marginalized Mexican children and teenagers

by Yo Quiero Yo Puedo

Project Report | Dec 11, 2014
December Update:"The program helps them emotionally to give better results"

By Anna-Emilia Hietanen | Project Leader

Workshop activities for teachers

Hi!

December is a time of giving and loving. We appreciate all the support you have given and will give to our program “Help marginalized children to study” in Coahuila and I’m glad to tell you that the programs is giving good results!

We have already told you about the positive results of the program with the teachers. The evaluation of the children shows that our program is not only showing positive effects in the teachers, but also in the children. They have increased their knowledge on gender equality, the importance of school achievement and civic values. They have also improved their attitudes towards gender equality, which is important in Mexico, where traditional gender stereotypes still tend to limits girls’ and women’s development, especially in marginalized communities. After participating in the program activities, they now show positive attitudes towards finding and developing their talents. As the students have commented:

“In life, we sometimes fall, stumble and bump into obstacles; the important thing is to know ourselves so that we can move forward and succeed.” (A 9-year-old girl)

“Today I learned what I´m good at and what I need to practice to improve things that are difficult for me”. (A 10-year-old boy).

These good results motivate us and the teachers to continue with the program. During this semester, the teachers have participated in new workshops to increase their knowledge on healthy nutrition and to continue to develop their life skills and improve their teaching skills. They have also started to replicate these new skills and knowledge to their students. At the moment, we are evaluating the effects of these new workshops in children and teachers, so that we can give you more results soon. The teachers have been happy with the training, as their testimonies show:

“After the workshop, I have more confidence in my abilities and I feel more confident about working with my own areas of opportunity. I want to be an agent of change.”

“The participation of the children has left me surprised, I didn’t think that they would have that capacity to grasp the theme, in addition, the programs helps them emotionally to give better results. (…) I´m also using the guidebook with my own daughters.”

“I’m surprised with the way the group is answering (to the program), they like the program very much and answer to it in a way I didn´t expect.”

I’m sure you can see their happiness also in the pictures we’re sharing with you!

During these Holidays, you can give a lasting gift to the children in Coahuila. Your contribution will help them to continue their studies, learn skills that will serve them for their whole life and help them to break the circle of poverty.

Thank you so much!

Teachers in a workshop

After the teacher workshop

Permalink

Sep 11, 2014
September Update: "I have seen several changes in my students"

By Anna-Emilia Hietanen | Project Leader

A teacher with her group

Hi,

I hope you are doing as fine as the children and teachers who participate in our program "Help marginalized Mexican children to study" in Coahuila! This program helps the marginalized students and their teachers to develop their life skills, such as decision-making, creativity, self-knowledge and assertive communication and reduce their psychosocial barriers such as guilt, shame and fear. Studies show that these skills are important protective factors against many social problems, such as violence, drug addictions and eating disorders.

Originally, our goal was to work with 26 teachers, 750 children and 650 parents. However, ou program has been received so enthusiastically, that we are working now with 891 children. In total, the program benefits 1571 persons (28 teachers, 891 students and 650 parents) in 17 primary schools in Torreon, state of Coahuila. The results have been postive and more schools in the area are interested in participating in the program.

In the last report we shared with you the positive results of the evaluation with the teachers. The program evaluation has also shown positive effects in the students. After participating in the program, they have increased their life skills and have now better group work skills and manage better their emotions. They are also more motivated to study than before.

A 28-year-old teacher in the "Dr. Habib Estefano" School told us his experience with his students after the first year of the program:

"I have seen several changes in my students with this program... in their skills. There were children that were afraid to participate in the class... that were very self-conscious and reserved. They have now shown a different kind of attitude. I have managed to generate that motivation or confidence to particiopate... It has had many results. It is a process and there will be many difficulties, but this year I see that my group is very active and motivated... They have also learned to be thankful, even when they simply borrow a pen, for example. (...) (After the program) the children have also learned to think things before acting, to think what consequences there might be... Part of them already did that before. They have reacted in different ways, but yes, there was a change, thinking before acting, and expressing their feelings in different ways... One example is that they started to avoid aggressions. Before starting inmediately a fight they stopped... And we analized situations, they were reminded that ´everything has a cause´. That would be one example: aggressive children have started to control themselves more, to restrain (their anger)."

This school year, we are continuing the work with the same children and teachers. The students will be now studying in the fifth grade in primary school. This year, the participants will continue to develop their life skills and we will work with them on new themes, too. This year, the program will be addressing healthy nutrition. In the Northern frontier of Mexico, bad food habits, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are a serious public health problem. Starting to work with the children in early age can make a lasting change. We also invite parents to participate in interactive conferences, so that the whole family can benefit from the knowledge and skills acquired in the program.

With your help, this program can have major impact and change the lives of marginalized Mexican children in Coahuila. Thank you for continuing to support this great effort!

Program activities

Everyone has their books!

Permalink

Jun 9, 2014
June Update: Advances in Coahuila

By Anna-Emilia Hietanen | Project Leader

A girl participating in the program

Hi!

I’m glad to tell you that our program “Help marginalized children to study” is going well. As we told you in our last report, our school-based program in Chiapas came to an end and we are now working in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico. Let me first tell you a bit about Coahuila and then share our results so far.

27.9% of the population of Coahuila lives in poverty and 31% of the population over 15 years old hasn´t finished the basic education. This is why it is important to work for education in the state. Due to organized crime and drug trafficking, the state has lots of security problems. The education will also protect children of many of the social problems that they may encounter, like violence, substance abuse and participation in gangs.

In Torreon, Coahuila, we are working with 1,571 persons (28 teachers, 891 students and 650 parents). We have already implemented a 40-hour workshop for the teachers of 17 primary schools in Torreon.

The evaluation of the teachers shows that after participating in our workshop, the teachers have increased their knowledge about how to improve the academic achievement of the children (e.g. teaching strategies and techniques, gender issues, promoting student participation). They have also increased significantly their life skills, especially self-knowledge, identification and management of emotions, empathy, creativity, decision-making and planning and organization. They now feel more empowered and more capable of promoting the academic achievement and talents in their students than before the workshops.

The skills and didactic techniques that the teachers have developed thanks to our program, will help them improve their teaching skills and to promote the life skills in their students. The teachers have been replicating the workshops contents with their students with the help of our facilitators who visit them to give them feedback and to monitor the quality of the replication. We are evaluating the impact of the program also on children and will soon tell you the results. In June, we are also giving conferences to parents, so that they learn how to best support their children’s education.

Thank you for continuing to help us! With your support, the marginalized children in Coahuila can have a better future.

Children with their "I want to, I can" guidebooks

"You can learn everything if you try"

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.