Magical Classroom

A very successful component of the program this year has been our parent training to use books as well as recycled and natural materials such as sticks stones and bottle caps. The parents learn how to reinforce the skills and concepts being taught by the teachers.

In November we completed our 2^nd year of operation with 27 teachers who have gathered 12-15 children each day to implement our mission of preparing them for success when they arrive at primary school.

The teachers in this year’s program ranged in age from 16 to 31. Most were trained to be teachers in the last 2 years of their Guatemalan high school education, but could not find jobs. Some have never been trained as teachers. They all had a desire and ability to use the curriculum that we provide on Android tablets. We also provided them materials and books and taught them how to use them.

We experienced a 85% failure rate with the tablets. They were covered under warranty, but because of difficulties getting them to and from rural areas, we are looking for a reliable tablet producer to partner with us and provide tablets for next year.

We were able to expand from just 5 teachers to 27 in two years because of partnering. Our thanks goes out to Tillotson Foundation, Miracles in Action, and Starfish One By One. The continuing support of these non-profit partners along with the addition of Go Philanthropic will allow us to expand to another 6-10 teachers in a total of 5 rural community centers in 2017.

More detailed plans strategic planning done this winter will lay out plans to replicate the program in more rural areas of Guatemala and other Spanish speaking countries.