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MCLC staff

December Update

Dec 20th, 2011
by Joanne.
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Dear friends of Matènwa,

It is always with great heart-felt happiness and gratitude that the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC) direction committee, staff, and parents share with you some of the activities we were able to do this past month.

In November we had three full days of pedagogical training by our regional Educational Inspector, Jonès Lagrandeur.  Twenty five teachers participated – a combination of MCLC teachers and teachers from our 11 outreach schools.   We focused on three areas:  the State Curriculum, how to prepare lessons, and how to best present lessons.

Third Assembly: The kids confidently use this space to bring attention to positive and difficult things they are encountering in school.

The Arts:  The younger kids are learning how to weave and the older kids are learning how to embroider.

The Garden:  We have carrots, tomatoes, and cabbage in the garden beds right now.  In December they will be ready to eat as part of school breakfast.

Music:  The younger classes are learning to sing new songs.  The older students are learning to play drums, which they love.

Sincerely,

Ezner Angervil, MCLC Direction Committee

Translated by : Chris Low, Exec. Director, Friends of Matènwa

July Update

Jul 13th, 2011
by Joanne.
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Bonjou Friends of MCLC,

Music:  Our program is really advancing now.  Our friend, Owen Thomas, from the US came with a recorder and taught us how to record music.  With his help we now have a CD with songs from every class.  A group of youth are going to open a recording studio this summer in one of our new local art studio cottages.

Bookstore and book production room:  The space is almost done.  The walls are done and many of the tables have been made.  Our local Mother Tongue Books will be produced and sold here.  Many schools here and abroad are planning to produce books next year.  We are looking to make this a global collaborative.

Annual Open Space Meeting June 23-26th:  This  year Millienne, Chrislène, Esther, Samila, Eligene and Tiga represented MCLC.  People from all over Haiti, from different economic and educational backgrounds attend this discussion-based meeting.  This year’s theme was: What tools and practices do Haitians need to become an agent of change in their communities?  Our agriculture teacher, Eligene, brought pictures to illustrate how we integrate agriculture into our curriculum for all students.  Those who attended his session were eager to implement this in their schools.

The computer room:  The children in fourth grade are continuing to enjoy math games brought by Michel DeGraff for a pilot that we have been participating in this year to analyze what advantages there are to using computers when teaching fourth grade mathematics.

Friends, that’s a few things we have to report for this month.  We hope you have enjoyed reading?

Thank you,

Secretary Millienne Angervil and Co-founder Chris Low

June Update

Jun 4th, 2011
by Joanne.
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LKM collaborators, bonjou! It is always with joy in our hearts that we share some of the activities we have done over the past month.

maydayprep

Since the beginning of May we have been planning lots of things in order to present the best MAY 18th FLAG DAY CELEBRATION ever. All the teachers engaged in beautifying the campus and organizing class presentations. The whole school community paraded up and down the street and then entered the large circle to start our program. In years past several schools would organize parades, but this year we were the only school in these mountains celebrating, so we had many, many guests. Some were singing enthusiastically. All classes were involved, providing theater, songs, and poems.


In MUSIC students are working on songs for a CD. Preschool through third grade students were learning poetry and songs for Mother’s Day.

The elementary students have become more interested in the library. The librarian feels it is because they are enjoying the illustrated fables. The students are even more motivated to write Mother Tongue Books because they are so happy hear that people are interested in reading their work.

New Roof

The BOOKSTORE has a roof! Construction is almost finished.

We are in our 5th month of Michel DeGraff’s pilot on using computer math games in Creole with our 4th grade class. Teachers have been working with Cuisenaire rods so Michel brought us Cuisenaire rod computer games.

Sincerely,

Chris Low in behalf of the MCLC staff.

 

 

August Update

Aug 28th, 2009
by Joanne.
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Dear Friends of MCLC,

Even through the summer, there are many activities happening at the Matènwa Community Learning Center.

Ridge and Christie cam to visit in June. Christie teaches at St. John’s High school ( one of our partners) and Ridge just graduated from St. John’s. Etienne was their guide and translator. Etienne is our language teacher for English and Spanish. Etienne is one of our school librarians. You can read about their trip on Ridge’s’ blogspot.

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During July our staff held classes for children that needed more one-on-one instruction. MCLC teachers received some individual training time. For a week each morning Meg Bruton, Tina Jaillet, Kathryn Delacourt, Sarah Roche, and Owen Thomas observed in individual classrooms and then worked together with the classroom teachers to design lessons and games for the next day.

In addition, for 3 weeks the staff had professional development time to practice speaking French and English.

Most impressive was their personal growth during the Education Is A Conversation Program on Children’s Rights. (See www.kathleencash.com <http://www.kathleencash.com/> ). This program consists of twenty two-hour sessions. It is a very effective methodology Kathleen Cash designed to stimulate people to have active discussions and role plays about problems in their community. This program enables communities to uncover deep underlying root causes as opposed to just treating surface symptoms of their problems. For MCLC staff, male teachers began to comment that the conversations were rich, but if they did not start being role models in the community for Children’s and Women’s Rights, nothing would change. In a society where men hold so much of the power, we were pleased to see that they saw themselves as part of the problem and the solution: they need to model respect for their wives and participate in chores that are traditionally for women and children; women’s rights means equal rights for all, not taking away men’s rights.

Thanks again for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Chris Low and Abner Sauveur Co-directors
Millienne Angervil Secretary

June Update

Jun 25th, 2009
by Joanne.
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Living here makes me remember daily that we are still fighting
colonialism. I went to a teacher appreciation day yesterday. It was 60
schools that were part of a health program for 3 years that Concern
World Wide conducted. They asked a director and one best teacher to
come to the event. The national inspectors were there who told them
how they should do their job well even if they aren’t paid, because
they made the choice to do the job and they are the ones who produce
the citizens of the country, the president, and the government officials.
What a slap in the face in some respects. The majority of these
teachers even in a public school will not get paid for months at a
time. Some people see 30 dollars a month. One dollar a day.
One of the inspectors made his speech in French. After I made my
argument for them to start thinking about the real problem of why
teachers can’t succeed in teaching the children concepts, because they
are teaching in a language no one speaks on Lagonav, one inspector
responded, “well yes we all know it is a problem but they say if you
speak Creole you are not educated.” Oh, we have so far to go.
Abner picked Robert Cajuste for our best teacher of the year. Here he
is receiving his appreciation gifts.

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Fayerweather: Beginnings of a long term partnership

Nov 11th, 2008
by Chris.
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During the Month of October Fayerweather Street School, a small progressive school in Cambridge, MA, hosted two teachers from Matènwa, Millienne Angervil and Benaja Antoine. Millienne, a 2nd grade teacher spent 5 weeks observing and teaching in the 1st/2nd classrooms. She also visited several classes where she observed or taught Haitian songs. Benaja Antoine, Matènwa’s office manager and now librarian, spent a week being trained in Fayerweather’s wonderful library by Connie Biewald. During the exchange, both Haitian teachers lived with Fayerweather families and were treated to a variety of activities on the weekends including a birthday party, a view from the Prudential building, the Museum of Science, a Duck tour, an ice skating show, a Haitian dance class, and a Sweet Honey and The Rock concert.

On October 23rd Fayerweather’s Diversity Committee sponsored a joyful community evening where parents had the opportunity to spend time with Millienne, Benaja, and Chris Low, cofounder of the Matènwa Community Learning Center. Millienne shared some of her impressions of Fayerweather, “What impressed me most was seeing how much love the Fayerweather teachers give their students. The children feel so at home here. It made me recognize that I have not been giving my students enough love. It makes me want to hurry home so I can start to show my students this kind of love.” Joanie, a Fayerweather 1/2 teacher, talked about how Millienne’s questions helped her to reflect on her own practice. We plan to deepen this relationship through teacher visits, sharing of student work and materials, joint curriculum development, and student exchanges over the Internet.

During a MCLC slideshow presentation 7th and 8th grade students reflected on how they could benefit from this exchange. “Wow, no garbage after meals at their school. We make so much garbage.” “I would like to have a school garden at Fayerweather like theirs.” “We only have a small compost compared to what they do.”

In February 2009, members of the Fayerweather staff will visit Haiti a second time. This group includes Fayerweather’s head of school Ed Kuh and six Fayerweather teachers. For more about Fayerweather Street School, please visit www.fayerweather.org

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