THE BACK TO SCHOOL MENTORS
Children are regarded as the country's most important asset being the same adults who will carry on into the future the work of building a just and humane society.
Our experience with slum children indicates that there is a desperate need for positive role models. Many of the kids come from broken families, abusive parents, and absentee parents. Other troubling data are the number of kids addicted to drugs , children involved in gang and criminal activities, working children, early marriages, unprotected sex.
Mentors are drawn from volunteer residents of the target communities who have had previous teaching or education-related experiences.
The Mentoring program therefore goes beyond mere academics. Its relevance are in the goal of enabling the child to fully realize and utilize his/her own potentials for development as well as his or her capability for self-expression consistent with the rights of others as he/she is protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation.
More importantly, he/she gets to form the right values of being god-loving and proud of being a Filipino, reared in the context of his/her cultural heritage.
Photo below The Back to School Mentors in their orange uniforms with the visiting Dream Team of Canada last March 2008.
TRAINING FOR THE MENTORS
SEMINARS TO HELP CHILDREN READ
Last June 6 at the UP Visayas Cebu College, Lahug, Cebu City, B2S mentors Amor Sanchez, Mary Jane Edil, Marjorie Omaňa and Roselle Avergonzado were sent to a seminar-workshop for teachers in Special Education and primary schools conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) Open University, in partnership with English Retorika Educational Services.
Dubbed as “Prevention and intervention of reading difficulties in the classroom,” the activity updated teachers on the early identification and intervention to prevent reading difficulties. The workshop also focused on the assessment and instructional support for children with reading difficulties.
Department of Education 7 Director Carolino Mordeno said reading is one of the weak areas among school children in the region.
The speaker for the seminar-workshop was Marie Grace Reoperez of the College of Education of UP Diliman and concurrently of the UP Open University (UPOU).She is an author of several books on the strategies for teaching decoding and writing for beginning readers, specifically on the use of the Ma-rungko technique and Fuller technique.
ORIENTATION ON THE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEMS
This followed the April Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) Orientation designed to bring literacy into the workplace, the streets and the marginalized communities. Last April 2008 Cebu, DepEd Region 7 and the Rotary Clubs of Mandaue East, Mandaue North, Mactan, Cebu East and Cebu North and their partners in service- The Rotaract Club of Mactan-CITE Chapter agreed to collaborate on an ALS pilot Project, with the former providing learning modules and the curriculum for the beneficiaries to enable them to take the accreditation and equivalency exams.
The government, through the Department of Education, institutionalized the Alternative Learning System in 2004 as a strategy for providing Education For All (EFA) Filipinos.
By creating the Bureau of Alternative Learning Systems or BALS, The Department of Education has linked the Formal and Non Formal Programs to come up with a more effective learning system addressing the problems of high rate of dropouts, shortages of school buildings and classrooms.
The EFA 2005-2015 incorporates The principle of Inclusive Education which means that no one should be left behind in terms of accessing quality basic education services – formal schooling or alternative learning systems. Basic Education should not only be the sole responsibility of Department of Education, but of the whole society. By initiating the Alternative Learning System orientation The Rotary Clubs in Cebu became the first partners in learning of the Department of Education in this regard. And the mentors they have sponsored in the Orientation Program were duly given accreditation by the Department of Education as “Street Educators”.
Children are regarded as the country's most important asset being the same adults who will carry on into the future the work of building a just and humane society.
Our experience with slum children indicates that there is a desperate need for positive role models. Many of the kids come from broken families, abusive parents, and absentee parents. Other troubling data are the number of kids addicted to drugs , children involved in gang and criminal activities, working children, early marriages, unprotected sex.
Mentors are drawn from volunteer residents of the target communities who have had previous teaching or education-related experiences.
The Mentoring program therefore goes beyond mere academics. Its relevance are in the goal of enabling the child to fully realize and utilize his/her own potentials for development as well as his or her capability for self-expression consistent with the rights of others as he/she is protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation.
More importantly, he/she gets to form the right values of being god-loving and proud of being a Filipino, reared in the context of his/her cultural heritage.
Photo below The Back to School Mentors in their orange uniforms with the visiting Dream Team of Canada last March 2008.
TRAINING FOR THE MENTORS
SEMINARS TO HELP CHILDREN READ
Last June 6 at the UP Visayas Cebu College, Lahug, Cebu City, B2S mentors Amor Sanchez, Mary Jane Edil, Marjorie Omaňa and Roselle Avergonzado were sent to a seminar-workshop for teachers in Special Education and primary schools conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) Open University, in partnership with English Retorika Educational Services.
Dubbed as “Prevention and intervention of reading difficulties in the classroom,” the activity updated teachers on the early identification and intervention to prevent reading difficulties. The workshop also focused on the assessment and instructional support for children with reading difficulties.
Department of Education 7 Director Carolino Mordeno said reading is one of the weak areas among school children in the region.
The speaker for the seminar-workshop was Marie Grace Reoperez of the College of Education of UP Diliman and concurrently of the UP Open University (UPOU).She is an author of several books on the strategies for teaching decoding and writing for beginning readers, specifically on the use of the Ma-rungko technique and Fuller technique.
ORIENTATION ON THE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEMS
This followed the April Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) Orientation designed to bring literacy into the workplace, the streets and the marginalized communities. Last April 2008 Cebu, DepEd Region 7 and the Rotary Clubs of Mandaue East, Mandaue North, Mactan, Cebu East and Cebu North and their partners in service- The Rotaract Club of Mactan-CITE Chapter agreed to collaborate on an ALS pilot Project, with the former providing learning modules and the curriculum for the beneficiaries to enable them to take the accreditation and equivalency exams.
The government, through the Department of Education, institutionalized the Alternative Learning System in 2004 as a strategy for providing Education For All (EFA) Filipinos.
By creating the Bureau of Alternative Learning Systems or BALS, The Department of Education has linked the Formal and Non Formal Programs to come up with a more effective learning system addressing the problems of high rate of dropouts, shortages of school buildings and classrooms.
The EFA 2005-2015 incorporates The principle of Inclusive Education which means that no one should be left behind in terms of accessing quality basic education services – formal schooling or alternative learning systems. Basic Education should not only be the sole responsibility of Department of Education, but of the whole society. By initiating the Alternative Learning System orientation The Rotary Clubs in Cebu became the first partners in learning of the Department of Education in this regard. And the mentors they have sponsored in the Orientation Program were duly given accreditation by the Department of Education as “Street Educators”.
