RC’s philosophy is that early childhood education is the foundation for growth, development and mental health. We have partnered with the school in Dichato, the Universidad de Concepción School of Education, and with the Fundación Educacional Oportunidad to provide trainings and materials for teachers and parents of preschool children about the basics of language and reading.

 

We have also introduced the concepts from the US program “Reach Out and Read” to teachers and families, and we have increased the number of books available to children through various libraries in the Dichato community.

 

 

MOLINO VILLAGE OPEN FAIR

January, 2013

Musical and recreational activities were held for children at El Molino village, in the kindergarten, in order to introduce the Recupera Chile team to the parents in the community. Circles of conversation were held with parents and educators about the importance of promoting early reading. The book Mote con huesillo was given to children and the band Florida, participated. Approximately 80 children and 30 parents participated in the activity. 7 clinical cases were detected which required follow-up and support.

 

UNIVERSIDAD DE CONCEPCIÓN (UDEC) - UN BUEN COMIENZO (UBC) PROJECT

All the towns where Recupera Chile operates face deficiencies in early childhood education. Compared to national averages, these children underperform on verbal test scores, nearly across the board. Very little exists in the field of strategic planning for education to address this issue, so Recupera Chile has teamed up with the world-renowned program Un Buen Comienzo to provide training to local teachers on how to leverage their existing curriculum and books to achieve better test scores and higher vocabulary proficiencies in the earliest years of the children´s education.

 

A real contribution has been the integration of students from the School of Education of Universidad de Concepción into locations affected by the 27 February 2010 earthquake and tsumani, specifically: Buchupureo (Cobquecura), Perales (Coelemu), Coliumo, Dichato and Punta de Parra, in the levels of pre-school education, making a pedagogical work associated with the reading and writing project Un Buen Comienzo.

 

To that end, the teaching and students team have been part of some of the training to use specific strategies in the development of expressive and comprehensive language of boys and girls under 6 years old. As a result of this project, establishments received a set of books to execute these strategies and remained under the possession of educators from each intervened classroom (one per establishment).

 

UBC DONATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

A 2 four-day visit to Concepción from a group of educators from Fundación Educacional Oportunidad to train 20 students and 8 faculty members from the Universidad de Concepción School of Education on language and literature strategies developed by the Un Buen Comienzo initiative. These strategies applied in preschools in the communities of Coliumo, Punta de Parra, Dichato, Cobquecura, Buchupureo and Perales. 

 

A set of specialized books was delivered to kindergarten in each school. There was a donation of more than 800 books to the preschool library in Dichato. Also, a donation of carefully selected children reading books by Fundación Oportunidad at each classroom of the preschools at the aforementioned communities. Follow-up and extension of some activities. An excellent evaluation was received by the school community and parents about the work done by the students, and the team is encouraged to return to replicate the experience.

 

2015

UBC held a three-day reading training course for 12 thesis students of education who work in kindergarten courses for 4 to 6 months in schools located in Punta de Parra, Buchupureo, Perales, Coliumo and Dichato directly benefiting 8 educators, around 100 children, and the parent community. A set of specialized books was delivered to each school, 4 thesis were written related to the promotion of reading and the scholar community of each establishment recognized and appreciated the effort expended.

 

UBC TRAINING

2014

During 2014, a UBC talk took place on reading promotion to 60 school teachers in Dichato, Perales and Coliumo. Then, a training-workshop was developed to 30 teachers from the 1st cycle from schools in Dichato, Coliumo, Punta Parra, Buchupureo and Perales. 

 

A training was held with 10 pedagogy students from the School of Education of Universidad de Concepción in order to transfer the methodology used to foster reading in kindergarten courses, in 5 schools, for 4 months. This directly benefited 10 teachers, around 100 children and the community of parents.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS