Hello, my name is Kuya David, the new teacher at Ruel and I wanted to give you an insight into how schooling at Ruel Foundation works, and what we have been doing. Despite the difficulty presented by the fact that most volunteers only stay at Ruel for a short time, we are committed to giving the kids under our care a quality education, and I am happy to be part of that (hopefully for a long time, God-willing).
At Ruel, all school-aged children receive at least 2 hours of organised schooling per weekday. The Kinder-1st Grade aged children are with Ate Nemia from 7.30am to 9.30am, and the older kids are with me. I completed six years of teaching elementary/primary school back in Australia.
There are currently six kids in the K-1 class and five kids in the older class. They all communicate in English (at different levels).
For the last month, the older kids started at 10.00am for an hour and a half of literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening), then started again at 1.00pm until 4.00pm with Kuya Alvin for maths/science/art/whatever else. Last week Kuya Alvin finished up his teaching role at Ruel, so I took over.
It was decided to change things around a bit, as of this week. We now start at 7.30am, and go to 11.30 (with a half hour merienda break). This means that they're done by lunchtime, which will be good for them as the weather starts to get warmer. I will mainly be covering Literacy and Maths, leaving the art/craft stuff to any volunteers that happen to be around (and there's a few in the next couple of months).
While I am not arty or crafty, I am very musical and dramatic, so we have been doing lots of action songs and plays, which I integrate into our literacy time. I have found this has been a good way to develop their speaking and listening skills, and their vocabulary (lots of new words). When I read a story, I get the kids to repeat a phrase at a time, while I point at the words.
The Ruel schoolroom is very well-resourced, and I am determined to use everything in there the best I can to help the kids learn and have fun. I did a "stocktake" last week, in which I pulled everything out from the cupboards and recorded them, so I know what's there and what I am able to use.
In Literacy we use lots of storybooks, alphabet and sight word flashcards, games such as bingo, picture dominoes, alphabet and phonogram activity sheets, as well as independent and guided reading. We have 10 boxes of reader books for the kids to choose from, and I have done my best to sort and level them so the kids are reading books appropriate to their ability. I do lots of speaking and listening activities as well, to help them improve their English
In Maths we have flashcards, hundreds charts, number lines, playing cards, blocks, clocks, dominoes, counters, dice, puzzles, board games, coloured teddies and shapes. I have noticed that much of their maths has been "pencil and paper" based, so I plan to use all these concrete materials to engage them further and help them understand and explain maths concepts that they may know mentally, but overall understanding isn't quite there. This week we have been estimating, counting and sorting teddies, consolidating knowledge of 2D shapes and the months of the year.
I have chosen to use the new Australian curriculum as the basis for my assessment and activities. I did investigate using the Philippine curriculum, but I found their standards and expectations to be very high. Also, most of the kids at Ruel will probably end up being adopted outside the Philippines anyway, so an international curriculum seemed to make more sense.
Please enjoy some pictures of life inside the Ruel classroom (for earlier pictures from February, please click here and here):
At Ruel, all school-aged children receive at least 2 hours of organised schooling per weekday. The Kinder-1st Grade aged children are with Ate Nemia from 7.30am to 9.30am, and the older kids are with me. I completed six years of teaching elementary/primary school back in Australia.
There are currently six kids in the K-1 class and five kids in the older class. They all communicate in English (at different levels).
For the last month, the older kids started at 10.00am for an hour and a half of literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening), then started again at 1.00pm until 4.00pm with Kuya Alvin for maths/science/art/whatever else. Last week Kuya Alvin finished up his teaching role at Ruel, so I took over.
It was decided to change things around a bit, as of this week. We now start at 7.30am, and go to 11.30 (with a half hour merienda break). This means that they're done by lunchtime, which will be good for them as the weather starts to get warmer. I will mainly be covering Literacy and Maths, leaving the art/craft stuff to any volunteers that happen to be around (and there's a few in the next couple of months).
While I am not arty or crafty, I am very musical and dramatic, so we have been doing lots of action songs and plays, which I integrate into our literacy time. I have found this has been a good way to develop their speaking and listening skills, and their vocabulary (lots of new words). When I read a story, I get the kids to repeat a phrase at a time, while I point at the words.
The Ruel schoolroom is very well-resourced, and I am determined to use everything in there the best I can to help the kids learn and have fun. I did a "stocktake" last week, in which I pulled everything out from the cupboards and recorded them, so I know what's there and what I am able to use.
In Literacy we use lots of storybooks, alphabet and sight word flashcards, games such as bingo, picture dominoes, alphabet and phonogram activity sheets, as well as independent and guided reading. We have 10 boxes of reader books for the kids to choose from, and I have done my best to sort and level them so the kids are reading books appropriate to their ability. I do lots of speaking and listening activities as well, to help them improve their English
In Maths we have flashcards, hundreds charts, number lines, playing cards, blocks, clocks, dominoes, counters, dice, puzzles, board games, coloured teddies and shapes. I have noticed that much of their maths has been "pencil and paper" based, so I plan to use all these concrete materials to engage them further and help them understand and explain maths concepts that they may know mentally, but overall understanding isn't quite there. This week we have been estimating, counting and sorting teddies, consolidating knowledge of 2D shapes and the months of the year.
I have chosen to use the new Australian curriculum as the basis for my assessment and activities. I did investigate using the Philippine curriculum, but I found their standards and expectations to be very high. Also, most of the kids at Ruel will probably end up being adopted outside the Philippines anyway, so an international curriculum seemed to make more sense.
Please enjoy some pictures of life inside the Ruel classroom (for earlier pictures from February, please click here and here):
Thank you so much for sharing! As a teacher of very young children, math to me has always been pattern blocks and counting bears. It is absolutely a great way to learn about numbers. I am happy to be seeing these kids loving to learn. Good job, Kuya David!
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