With schooling having gone virtual overnight, we’re looking at innovative ways of learning. Being in education, it is so important that the Breteau Foundation adapts and adjusts its programmes quickly to continue to provide support and access to our children from our partner schools. Our Country Managers have shown strong leadership skills in the face of all school closures so we wanted to share a few examples of how they are supporting teachers, parents and students in this time of uncertainty.

Latin America

e-Scuela: Our country team has created an e-school project response to the Covid-19 emergency. The programme is designed to support distance learning and teaching in the areas of Numeracy and Literacy. For students, we offer online Maths classes through DoodleMaths software and an online reading programme through Fiction Express, sponsored by Boolino.

In both areas, student progress is 100% trackable by parents and by the Breteau Foundation. For teachers, the e-Scuela offer includes webinars and tutorials on technology tools and how-to-use them for virtual classes. Webinars and online videos are an excellent way to communicate with teachers whilst schools are closed. Take a look at our introduction to the e-Scuela educational platform here. How can teachers and parents gain access to the e-Scuela?
More than 200 Spanish speaking students from grade 3+  are already participating in our e-Scuela. If you are interested in joining either the literacy or numeracy programme, please complete our forms by clicking on the hyperlinks above.
How do you communicate with teachers and parents: 
Whatsapp and email. With our teachers, we regularly communicate through our Whatsapp groups and email. Direct communication with parents is something new for us, so we are first trialing communication through email, but we plan to create a parents Whatsapp group where we can share easy-to-follow pedagogical content and ideas to use at home. The link to the Whatsapp group will be posted in two weeks.

Africa

With schools closed indefinitely in South Africa and strict lockdown meaning no one can leave their homes, our country team has set up the three following initiatives in order to reach and support parents, educators and children.

Online Math Class: Our Country Team has created a Virtual Maths School. 135 parents from 8 provinces in South Africa signed their children up for the Doodle Maths Online school since it launched Monday 30th March 2020. Students are assessed in a wide range of maths topics including number sense, geometry, place value, problem solving, measurement, and all four operations (+ – x /). And then their daily practice is individualised to their needs so they can grow from the maths understanding they have.

How can teachers and parents gain access to the online maths class?
If a SA parent wants to sign their Grade 4-8 child up for the Doodle Maths programme, they can fill out this form.

Breakfast Broadcast Whatsapp group: 146 parents and educators have joined the daily Breakfast Broadcast Whatsapp group. Each morning we share useful educational resources, advice and tips for continuing education at home during school shutdowns. Feedback has been very positive and the numbers are growing daily as news spreads.

How do we communicate with teachers and parents: 
Whatsapp

How can teachers and parents gain access to the Breakfast Broadcast group?
They can add themselves to the Whatsapp group by clicking on this link.

Academic work packets for offline communities:  We are looking to partner with other organisations who are operating to serve township communities in South Africa to help distribute our fun academic work packets to deserving children in areas where online learning is not possible. If you are an organisation working in these areas and would like to collaborate, please reach out. You can email our SA country manager mona@breteaufoundation.org

MEA

During this stressful extended period of school lockdown in Lebanon, our country team has set up the following resources to support families and teachers. It’s not only education that has been affected but the impact on families in the refugee settlements has been desperate. We’re reaching out to them with hygiene kits to help answer their basic needs. Below are some of the online and offline initiatives we have set up to support and respond to everyone’s needs during this unprecedented time.

Qisas 3asafeer platform: in response to COVID-19 this library resource platform will be available for teachers, parents and students all over Lebanon for free. At the end of each story there are worksheet activities to develop literacy skills plus questions to measure comprehension. Each parent with an account receives a regular progress report of their child’s activities, with age based benchmarks.

How can teachers and parents gain access to Qisas 3asafeer platform?
To access this platform, please send an email to natasha@breteaufoundation.org with your full name and we will link you to qisas 3asafeer platform. The link for 3asafeer school is here.

Worksheet Booklets: these booklets have been created for Kindergarten, Grades 1-6 in our partner schools; subjects covered are English and Arabic literacy, mathematics and hygiene practices. The booklets will be printed and shared with the schools, who will in turn deliver them to students. They include simple activities that parents can do with their children at home, such as craft. The booklets will be provided as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Teacher training: There is a big gap in technology skills and programme knowledge that enable teachers to work online and facilitate distance learning. So for those teachers with internet access, our country team is offering teacher training via google hangout. We cover topics such as google documents, google classroom, google slides and powerpoint presentation. To sign up to this online teacher training, click here.

Offline Tutorials: For those people with limited access to the internet, we have set up tutorials via whatsapp. This programme of tutorials is focussed on the teachers needs and covers subjects like google classroom, google documents and powerpoint presentation. Once we have covered these topics, we will provide training about our programme and the apps we use. The tutorials are recorded and sent out weekly via whatsapp. To sign up to the tutorials, click here.

Hygiene kits: Our country team has identified a desperate situation in the refugee settlements in Lebanon. The settlements lack basic hygiene. So in response to COVID-19, we are providing packaged hygiene kits for the families living in the settlements.