By Erica Heerschap | Development Associate
Shaped by constant innovation and a desire to bring the best possible education to students, Fabretto strives to make learning fun by providing an interesting and interactive learning experience. When visiting the education programs, it is immediately evident from interactions with the children that they have a strong desire to be in school and learn. This motivation, complemented by active learning methodologies that emphasize "learning by doing" and engage children on multiple levels, improves knowledge retention and empowers children to create their own success stories. The real victories are achieved by engaging children and promoting learning as something more than passing the grade and taking notes.
Recently, Fabretto has been implementing innovative teaching methodologies from the Montessori Method and other active learning strategies. Fabretto's primary and preschool teachers have participated in a series of Montessori training sessions. The Montessori Method is unique because it invites children to develop their abilities through active engagement with their environment. This is achieved by allowing children to work independently while being guided through the learning process by their teacher. This strategy is successful at catering to the learning needs and capacity for each individual child. Most importantly, this form of instruction encourages children to take advantage of the resources surrounding them by applying their learning, using the learning tools are available.
As an application of some of the skills learned through Montessori methodology, many students participate in reading clubs at their school. Fabretto has been an active member of a national reading competition in Nicaragua for the past two years. Winners at the school level are given the opportunity to participate at municipal, regional and national levels. These reading clubs encourage reading as a recreational activity, promote the development of reading comprehension skills, and participation in the competitions provides opportunities to meet other children from other schools across the country. It is an exciting chance to encourage a love for reading and improve reading comprehension in a supportive environment. The development of reading skills is critical to helping students achieve success in all of their classes.
When conversing with the young students, the joy they gain from learning is readily apparent. One such student is Keyner, who is seven year old first grader who just recently learned to read. Since his family cannot afford to buy books, and Nicaragua has very few public libraries, Keyner spends as much time he can at school so he has more time to read—he even spends recess reading! His love for reading is contagious, inspiring other children at school to begin reading for pleasure too. This example clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of encouraging children to interact with their environment and to guide their own learning. These methods not merely teach children to memorize facts, but let children take charge of their own education.
As summer here in the United States comes to a close, students in Nicaragua begin their second semester of classes and are preparing for the examinations given at the end of the school year. Once the tests are given and the results are available, we look forward to sharing the results. As always, much appreciation is due to all the individuals and organizations who together help make all these successes possible!
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