International Contacts

For this week's post, I was unable to establish contact with any international early childhood professionals, despite numerous attempts to email several people. Therefore, it became necessary for me to view the podcasts from the World Forum website (www.worldforumfoundation.org). I was able to access two different podcasts (video, not radio), by different presenters on different topics.

The first podcast I viewed was presented by Dr. Susan Linn, leader of the Working Group on World Play, and she presented on the importance of creative play in early childhood. During this podcast, she presented several ideas we learned about in previous courses, including the benefits of creative play (foundation of creativity, problem solving, learning cooperation, self regulation, self control, etc). She also presented the idea that despite the fact that children are born with an innate capacity for play, as a society we do everything possible to prevent children from playing. I completely agree with her, because this includes the academic demands we place on children, decreased recess, increased extracurricular activities, and all for what? In her podcast, she says "Each child's play is like fingerprints: No child's play is like another's, if they're really given the opportunity." From this we know that children express themselves through play, and if we take the time to listen and observe, we can gain some valuable insights into their lives that will help us help them learn anything they need to learn.

The second podcast I viewed was presented by two global leaders from the United Arab Emirates: Dr. Tariq Kashmiri and Samia Kazi. They presented a very engaging session about leadership, and how the future of the world depends on the quality of experiences children have in their earliest years. I was surprised to learn that across seventy two countries, regardless of how developed the country is, we all have three things in common when it comes to challenges of early childhood education: 1- lack of awareness about how important early childhood education and experiences are, 2- lack of funding for early childhood education, and 3- a shortage of qualified early childhood teachers. These presenters also reiterated that high quality education is not based on aesthetics or expensive toys, it is based in high quality relationships, interactions, and taking advantage of "now-moments", or moments in which children are ready to learn something specific. I have also heard these moments referred to as teachable moments.

For the second part of this assignment, I was unable to access the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre's page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org). Instead, I explored the Save the Children website (www.savethechildren.org), and learned about poverty in Guatemala. While I was vaguely aware that Guatemala is a poor country, I was surprised to learn how poor. Guatemala has the highest rates of child malnutrition for children less than five years old (in all of Latin America), with national rates at approximately 49%, but local areas as high as 78%. I learned that Save the Children's efforts to promote early childhood development through training for parents and teachers, targeting school health and nutrition, and promoting learner centered environments has benefitted approximately one hundred and ten thousand children. In a population of over 14 million this may not seem like a lot, but this is amazing because it gives these children and families opportunities that were previously unreachable, and contributes to the overall well being of children and families in Guatemala, so they can give back to their communities as they attain success and improve the situations of others.

Resources
www.savethechildren.org
www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv