This is fabulous:
New Preschool to Teach Only in Spanish

By MELISSA SÁNCHEZ
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Five years ago, Plano teacher Vicki Kelly wasn’t bilingual, but she wished her children were. And she wasn’t alone.

Kelly and two other mothers, one from Peru and one from Mexico, decided to teach preschool to five children — in Spanish.

“The Hispanic population is growing every year, and families who speak only English have no way to give their kids the Spanish language,” Kelly said.

Through word-of-mouth, the news spread to other mothers and by the end of the year, the tiny class that started in Kelly’s living room grew to 80 children, she said.

The class moved to a church classroom and later filled four. Two years later, the trio of mothers started the Spanish Schoolhouse in Frisco. In August, the program will expand to Grapevine and North Dallas.

The preschool offers cultural programs designed to teach and develop preschool skills speaking only Spanish.

The school is part of a trend toward a bilingual population, spokeswoman Tami Shinedling said.
Children enter the Spanish Schoolhouse preschool at age 2 and are immersed in the Spanish language and culture during the school day until they move to kindergarten.

At the beginning of the school year, both English and Spanish are spoken so pupils can understand the rules and expectations and get to know their teacher. A smooth transition to Spanish-only is easy and even fun for them, Kelly said.

Teachers act out what they are saying so that children will understand. If the teacher ever doubts the children understand something, she briefly explains in English and then continues in Spanish. Students also have a daily English class to help develop reading skills and prepare them for kindergarten in regular school.

“We are here to encourage the love of the Spanish language and will ensure that the children feel comfortable and secure in the environment of our school,” Kelly said.

Research shows that the best time to learn additional languages is from birth to age 12 or 13, Kelly said. Spanish Schoolhouse takes advantage of that “window of opportunity.”
She said the school’s teachers are native Spanish speakers.-

Sarah Salzer is a fan of the school. Her 6-year-old daughter, Peyton, has attended Spanish Schoolhouse since it opened three years ago, and now corrects her mother’s pronunciation of the word mango.

Spanish Schoolhouse “has made her more accepting of other cultures,” Salzer said. “I don’t agree with the opinion that because we live in the U.S. we should only speak English. In Aruba, people speak five languages, and if we don’t start soon we’ll miss the boat.”- IN THE KNOW Spanish Schoolhouse

This piece was interesting to me because I got an email from England from someone who was amazed that we could freely post pictures of our children on the blog. In England and Ireland and probably other places, you can’t do that.

From America, I’ve received several thank yous from the grandparents of our kids who are delighted with posted pictures because they don’t get to see their kids or grand children often enough. I can’t imagine losing that freedom.

This picture is of the kids getting ready for the play. It’s fru-fru day, and the girls are trying on their crowns.

The Corkman is convicted of breaching the Child Care Act

THE CORKMAN newspaper was fined €750 by Judge Michael Pattwell for breaching the Child Care Act.

The newspaper published a story and picture of a man who was protesting about accessibility to his children, who were in care at the time.

The paper was convicted of breaching section 31 of Child Care Act, 1991. Editor of The Corkman Brendan Malone was in court to answer the charge and was represented by The Corkman solicitor Graeme Murray.

Both legal sides agreed to amend the summons from Independent Newspapers to The Kerryman Ltd, the publisher of The Corkman.

Solicitor for the Health Service Executive (HSE) Southern Area, Denise Kirwan told the court the article, which was published, concerned a parent who made a protest regarding accessibility to his children.

“The article and photograph identified the children and the photograph of the father linked both together, and that’s why we are here today,” said Denise Kirwan. She said the newspaper had contacted the communications department of the HSE prior to publication and were advised not to publish the photograph and the article.

She said an e-mail from the HSE was sent to The Corkman regarding this but it had gone unopened before the paper printed the photograph and article.

Defending solicitor Graeme Murray denied the newspaper made contact with the HSE but an e-mail which had arrived at the editor’s computer prior to publication went unopened as it was one of 200 which he received on that day.

“Had the e-mail been opened before publication, it would not have been printed. On discovering the error we immediately wrote to Denise Kirwan explaining the circumstances. Again, there is just no way we would have printed the article had the e-mail been opened,” said Graeme Murray.

The Corkman Editor Brendan Malone said it was the second year in a row that The Corkman had investigated the same man making a protest regarding access to his children.

“We went ahead with the story unaware that any proceedings were taking place. I received the e-mail but, unfortunately, and correcting what was stated previously, it was not one of 200 there were, in fact, in excess of 300 on that day.

This event happened right in the middle of the two busiest weeks of the year for our paper,” explained Mr Malone. Judge Pattwell said, as editor, he could not possibly do all of the work himself. “We would simply not have published this story, had we been aware of the forewarning, as it goes against everything which we stand for,” Mr Malone pointed out.

Denise Kirwan argued, within the body of text, it clearly stated the children were in care and therefore the newspaper was responsible for the identification of the children.

In response, Brendan Malone said the same thing happened the year previously and the paper had spoken to the HSE regarding same. “It was a news value story as it was the year previously,” said Brendan Malone.

When Judge Pattwell asked was news value more of a dominant feature for the newspaper than little children: Mr Malone said the protection of children was paramount to the paper. Graeme Murray asked Judge Pattwell to consider not recording a conviction because of the extenuating circumstances, and offered payment to a children’s charity.

This was rejected by Judge Pattwell who said the case was a serious matter. The monetary fine for a breach of Section 31 of the Child Care Act is €1,269 and the Judge felt this was grossly inadequate, but said he could only work within the law. “The apology the newspaper offered immediately must be taken into account, and maybe the individual who was protesting should have considered his responsibility to his own children,” said Judge Patwell.

He said it was with some regret that he reduced the ‘miserly fine’ to €750.

* In addition to the fine, The Corkman has decided to make a payment of €1,000 to a children’s charity.

News 5 Belize
Unlucky preschool finally catches a break

It’s an educational institution that we visit frequently … almost always to report bad news. Today, however, Jacqueline Woods headed to Yabra for a different reason.

Jacqueline Woods, ReportingIt was really refreshing to see smiles on the faces of these preschoolers. In facts everyone seemed to be in an upbeat mood at the Port Loyola Preschool in Belize City. The principal, teachers, and children have suffered greatly following numerous break-ins and other acts of vandalism at the school. But today, as the boys and girls celebrated a cultural day inside the building, there was another kind of activity taking place outside on the compound.

A concerned viewer, after hearing about the losses suffered by the students and staff, decided to use his contacts and extend a helping hand. Michael Cain is the principal and manager of Friends Boys School on Allenby Street. He says after hearing about the children’s plight he had no choice but to get in touch with friends in the United States who decided to use their alternative spring break to good use. The group of volunteers are from Huntington University, a Christian College in Indiana.

Norris Friesen, Academic Dean/V.P., Huntington University “For this group of students they decided they would go on a service project, a missions project to Belize. And so we found lots of sun here and we traded the sun for the grey skies and cold weather of Northern Indiana.”

Michael Cain, Principal/Manager, Friends Boys School “We welded broken bars, replace some bars that were missing, built some new bars where it was needed and those kinds of things. Moved bars there were inside, of the windows to the outside, so that they won’t tear up the windows then find out that there are bars in the inside.”

Principal Gwendolyn Jones says the repairs and the spirit in which they were made, has fostered a sense of renewed energy among her staff.Gwendolyn Jones, Principal, Port Loyola Pre School “We have been through so much disaster and for us to be blessed like this, it is very motivating, it makes us want to come to work. Like yesterday morning I woke up very, very early to come to school because I felt so good, because we have always wanted our school to look the best for the children.”

Investigations have revealed that most of the break-ins were committed by children themselves. Michael Cain“One of the causes that we see from our students is it’s a break down in the homes. Our students are coming with single parents, not enough time, not enough money to just take care of the family. And so the kids start looking for other areas to branch out and end up running with what looks like the macho guys on the streets and the gangs and then they end up getting into trouble.”

It is hoped that the new security measures will keep the burglars out and the school can focus on what it does best: early childhood education. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.The work is expected to be completed by Thursday. In addition to their labour, the group of students bought the materials with money raised through a fundraising drive held in the United States.

Edith and I went to see Eight Below on Saturday Night. We saw a promo for it at another movie. The movie was just as good as we thought it would be, although it didn’t get rave reviews. We thought it was a really marvelous movie for kids about age six and up. The adventure took place at the South Pole with the great sled dogs. It was sad, and it was funny, and well worth seeing. The lives of dogs are often an important part of a child’s life. You can go to this site, Eight Below, and hear a promo.

It was a good play, but it was different from my perspective, I think than from the audience’s. What I saw really amused me. For those of you who saw the play, I’d like to add a few extra delights.

Because it was Friday afternoon, which is the worst possible time in early childhood – end of the week – the kids were beginning to lose it. Edith had a terrible time with the cast who were tumbling and rolling around in Miss Kelly’s room.

The play started with Jalen’s intro line. He had been very quiet up to play rehearsal, but he really liked the acting and asked for a larger role. He took to the narrator’s role very quickly. He liked the costume and lines, and was a quick study.

He wasn’t the only one who liked acting. When the O’Leary’s came out on stage, David was suddenly in his element. David’s beautiful face looked out at the audience with delight and amazement. It was as if he “found his niche.” His eyes lit up at the whole thing, and he carefully delivered his lines making love faces at his watchers.

Dawson, who generally is a terrible ham, went dead. He took one look at the audience and nearly shook himself into heart attack. “I’m not going out there,” he exclaimed at the door, “Oh yes you are.”

Poor Daymon couldn’t remember his lines from one moment to another for two weeks, but once he got on stage, he relaxed. It was interesting to see. He had real presence of mind and that amazed me.

Logan was our steady actor. He began the play with well delivered lines and carried it from beginning to end.

Morgan was a delight. She stepped out of her age into a kind of timeless mastery of stage presence and delivered her lines wonderfully. The costume was really cute on her.

The Leps were tough and rumble – but that’s the way Leps are supposed to be. My Jack delivered the line “A saint? Here in Ireland?” with great feeling. I was pleased with the costumes Edith made, and the leps seemed to take great delight in them. Adyson had the longest lines and he delivered them well. Ty was the brilliant Lep; Taylor was the complainer, Aidan was the matter of fact Lep and Justin was the so-say-it Lep. He had a great smile on his face. The Leps were at the heart of the story.

They were trying to earn their wings back so they could go back to Heaven. They were friends with everyone and although they were a bit scheming, they were good natured and tried to sell a good story.

Mayli did an outstanding job as Queenie. She really has a nice talent for acting. She added an MMMMM that really got a good laugh from the parents.

I think the girls got the most laughs. They were very willing to share all the fru-fru and they helped each other out. There was absolutely not one second of fighting over anything. Peyton’s line, “And I think I might be one of them,” (gods) was hilarious. When Faith said, “Would you consider a rain cloud?” they laughed in good spirit. I was glad the shoes held up.

Abby was our usual bright and shiny golden girl. She was also a goddess, “a real tribute to the universe. ” Madison is still young, but she did a good job with calling St. Patrick a brownie. Hadley who is generally very shy did a great job as the straight-man Druid princess.

Austin did an wonderful job as the Druid King. Behind his chicken feathers, lay the heart of a real shining king. “Is he powerful?” asked the king to St. Patrick? “Very powerful,” answered the saint, “He made you.” “That’s impressive” replied the king.

Yuta played St. Patrick. He’s a straight man. I saw some pain come to his face as he tried to remember his lines exactly. It was a matter of honor. I could tell by his intensity. I wish he could have laughed more, but he wanted those lines exact, and English is a second language for him.

The brownies were stage struck. Triston, who is usually a real clown came down to earth with too big an audience, but Briana loved it. She stood on stage not wanting to leave. She liked the moment and the costume, and the limelight. She liked being pink, pretty and on stage. Triston, who is always on stage in his mind was suddenly struck with the reality and cowed.
The chorus sang well.

The snakes were really funny. I’m not sure if any of you saw this, but Jasmine didn’t quite know she was on stage, MJ was confused by it, and the one actor who stunned me the most was Brian. He was one of our snakes. Now I worked with the snakes for days and they couldn’t repeat a line to save their lives. So we thought at the end of the play, they would say something endearing. Brian kept improvising. He kept adding things to his lines. He got a very matter of fact look on his face as if to say, “I really like this, and I’m going to keep talking until someone stops me.” So a two line role became about ten.

We don’t have a lot of room for plays, but we make the most of what we have. It’s an occasion that causes us a lot of work, a lot of stress sometimes, but if the kids are enjoying it, and learn what it means to produce a little piece of art, it’s well worth doing.

It’s play week this week so the Tattler has been put aside to shop and sew, but it was worth it. all the kids look great in their costumes and they’ve had a lot of fun wearing them in dress rehearsal yesterday. I wanted to see if the shoes would work on the carpet. Miss Kelly congratulated Miss Peyton on her high heeled strut yesterday.

The girls very quickly decided what belonged to whom, and it was a quick grab yesterday and there were no arguments. I was stunned.

Edith and I’ve been out till dinner time shopping, and Wednesday we closed. Yesterday was platelet day and today’s the play, so everyone is pretty tired. But most of the work is done, so it’s a matter of just having fun with it today. It’s always impressive to get what you get with kids. You work and you work, and then it’s up to them, and if they can yell out their lines, they will probably have the nicest play they’ve ever had.

The week has really gone spectacularly well. The kids have helped make paper flowers for the stage, and we had the rug cleaned and we hung Miss Molly’s backdrop. The children know all their lines, and know when to come on stage. We’ve had a lot of absences, but that doesn’t seem to bother the children.

I’m grateful for the weather this week. It’s given us a great opportunity to blow off some steam.

Well I wish all of you could see the play. It’s really cute. Next week is Medieval week, blood drive on Friday at 2:00, and the following week ( Thursday and Friday) is spring break.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Status Quo – something to think about.

There’s talk again about fostering a new learning culture within education. That’s what education does – fosters learning. The problem is in the word fostering. You can’t foster with a status quo that remains in neutral.

People make changes in education when they divorce the status quo and begin exciting projects on their own. Innovators receive no help from the status quo, of course, but it’s worth doing because children benefit.

One new idea is to remove the early childhood experience from day care and the public school and give it its own place to be. Early childhood learning begins about age three with a child’s desire to see and do, and finishes about age eight with reading for meaning, or intellectual independence.

Children learn more during these years than any time in their lives. So why does the status quo say “moratorium on learning” until the magic kindergarten cut off date? Is this 2-3 year absence of curriculum a control issue? Is it a failure to understand just how productive the early childhood years really are? Is someone asleep at the switch?

Because children three through eight learn through play rapidly, easily, and with little prompting and little repetition, the early childhood school should be an environment made for play with space that is adaptable to many variables, where education breaks are comfortable and become learning adventures and should unfold like all great stories.

Desks isolate children and retard play while common tables encourage secondary learning: from one another by doing things together.

Workbooks are classroom crutches for teachers with no imagination or integrity. If it can’t be worked out by hand with manipulatives and acting out, it’s a waste of time. What children learn from workbooks is how to do workbooks, and who cares?

All early childhood learning should be hands on and story telling because very young children need to make intellectual connections that they make through their five senses. Children need to do many things in a single day: acting out, building and creating, listening and perceiving, talking and sharing, seeing and doing – moving, in an unfixed, self generated working experience that teaches from many perspectives or intelligences.

It takes group discipline and organization to support the root of the learning tree. Discipline is much easier to accomplish when children are busy and engaged, go outside a good portion of the day, and receive a nutritious plentiful meal system. The unnatural demand for constant silence, chronic indoor play, and meager food only incites the worst behavior in the smartest very young children.

All this takes a tremendous amount of work on the part of a teacher. That’s where partnerships in teaching come in. Teachers working together can accomplish a whole world of learning. Segregated teaching only produces the status quo. No one can do it all by themselves for long. When mine-yours becomes ours, any project fosters learning – even among adults.

No way you say? Not a chance? Not in my lifetime? Well, it is happening. It’s happening right now with innovators and innovations that are defying the status quo. And the children are having the time of their lives learning, retaining and mastering little worlds.

The Bismark Tribune.com

What Is Women’s Work Worth?

Six local organizations will host a town hall discussion Monday to talk about women’s issues, including pay equity, single-mother challenges, child-care struggles and the glass ceiling.

The Business and Professional Women Foundation defines the glass celing as the “organizational and societal barriers that keep women from advancing up the career ladder.”

Titled “Women’s Work: What’s It Worth?” the discussion will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bismarck Public Library.

Billed as “the first of its kind” in the area, sponsoring organizations also will address higher education for women and the value of child-care professions.

The town hall-style meeting is free to the public and will feature a panel discussion, short vignettes, town hall questions and time for networking. Panelists include Barb Tengesdal, with Voices for North Dakota’s Children; Linda Wurtz, from AARP; Kathy Osteen, with Business and Professional Women; Marilyn Hudson, Indian Women in the Work Force; and Renee Stromme, with the North Dakota Council on Abused Women Services.

During the panel presentation, local women will share their personal stories.

Free tutoring and story time will be provided at the library for children ages 3 to 12, courtesy of University of Mary education students.

Sponsors for the discussion are: American Association of University Women, Business & Professional Women, League of Women Voters, N.D. Council on Abused Women Services, Voices for North Dakota Children and AARP.

The following facts were provided by the organizations described above.

A full-time working woman currently earns 77 cents to every dollar earned by a man. This percentage is significantly lower for minority women.

If women received the same wages as men who work the same number of hours, have the same education, union status and are the same age (and live in the same region of the country), women’s annual family income would rise by $4,000 and poverty rates would be cut in half. Working families would gain $200 billion in family income annually.

According to the 2000 census, while 75.6 percent of women in North Dakota with children under 18 are in the work force, only 33.9 percent of those women are in professional and managerial positions.

Women are paid less in every occupational classification for which sufficient information is available, according to the data analysis of more than 300 job classifications.

Median annual earnings for women in North Dakota rank 42nd in the nation.3 Only 16.3 percent of North Dakota state legislators are women. Nationally, 22.4 percent of state legislators are women.

Another interesting approach to early childhood.

mlive.com

Chinese immersion program targets preschoolers
3/12/2006,

The Associated Press

(AP) — BAY CITY, Mich. — Bay City Public Schools plan to begin teaching some 3- and 4-year-olds in Mandarin Chinese as part of an immersion program that officials hope will help them become more competitive in the global economy.

The idea is that young children are like sponges, making it easier for them to learn a foreign language than for an older person, said Suzanne Murphy, the school district’s director of the gifted and talented program and special projects.

“The younger the child, the more open they are to learning,” she told The Bay City Times for a story published Sunday.

For half the day, the children at the Webster Childcare Center would be taught in Mandarin Chinese while being immersed in the Chinese culture and the Chinese way of teaching preschool. For the other half of the day, the children would be taught in English, using traditional American curricula.

Because of budget constraints, the school district cannot provide any funding for the project. Instead, planners are seeking grants and contributions.

Although Chinese classes are not yet an option at other Bay City schools, long-range plans call for the preschool program to be expanded to higher grades.

If it is, the preschoolers who have been exposed to Chinese will have the basics under their belts.

“Anything that you do … when you go to pick it up again it will come much easier than for someone who’s never had it,” Murphy said.

Chinese has been a part of the high school curriculum in Huron County for more than 20 years.
Annie Eichler, who teaches the language to about 115 students at Laker High School in Pigeon and four other schools via videoconferencing, said several of her students have been offered jobs in China. Others have put the language to use in fields such as in nursing, where workers may encounter non-English speaking patients.

A pilot project that began in January is bringing Mandarin Chinese via the Internet and Michigan Virtual University to 30 students at 21 high schools across Michigan. The plan is to make it available to all high schools this fall.

Speaking Chinese could provide students with opportunities across the globe. About 1.3 billion people worldwide speak Chinese, according to the Asia Society, an international nonprofit group promoting U.S.-Asia relations.

“Our world is Hindi, Farsi and Chinese,” Murphy said. “We want our kids to be prepared and to compete globally.”

Here’s what’s happening in Ghana:

Ghana Home Page:

Early Childhood Project Launched at Saltpond

Saltpond, Mar. 10,

GNA – An Early Childhood Development (ECD) project aimed at improving the lot of children and ECD educators has been launched at Saltpond, in the Mfantseman District.

The project known as the GNAT-BUPL is a collaboration between the Ghana National Association of Teachers and the Danish National Federation of Early Childhood Teachers and Youth Educators (BUPL). The Trade Union Council for International Development Cooperation (LO/FTF) of Denmark are the main sponsors of the project.

Mr Thomas Baifi, Central Regional Secretary of GNAT, who launched the programme on Wednesday, said since early childhood development had been accepted as the foundation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme, GNAT had seen the need to consolidate the foundation, which had been neglected for too long. Mr Baifi said in 2002, GNAT in collaboration with its foreign partner decided to set up the project in a 16 districts in four regions on pilot basis.

He said the number was increased to eight districts each in four regions. “The success story of the project has made us to decide to extend it to all districts in the four regions”.

“The main objectives are to improve quality of early childhood education in the country and to promote the professional identity, prestige and respect for the profession of early childhood development and also help to create awareness among policy makers about early childhood development”.

The GNAT Secretary said an Early Childhood Educators Association to be recognised by GNAT would be formed.

Miss Mary Enos, Mfantseman District GNAT Secretary, said childhood development educators who did not have any prospects could negotiate for a better condition of service through the association and upgrade themselves up to the doctorate level while still teaching. Miss Vivian Etroo, District Director of Education, said teaching in early childhood institutions did not mean only singing or sleeping and urged them to be innovative using objects as teaching and learning materials, adding that they should make their lessons interesting to make the children to remain in school.

Mr Ato Etua, Assistant District GNAT Chairman, advised Early Childhood Educators to take advantage of new courses at the University of Cape Coast and the University of Education, Winneba to upgrade their qualifications.