More social stuff.

Designing and building toys for the kids

social service @ my place!

Brat & Omar playing around

My place after the class is done

Brian & Nestor not paying atention in class...

My mom, one teacher and the class manager

My cousin, her assistant

Another similar teaching iniciatives.

http://jalt.org/global/36Charity.htm

English for Charity: Teaching for Humanitarian Purposes

by John Small (Nagasaki Jr. College of Foreign Languages)

Teaching for Charity

My American friend's Japanese wife likes to remind us how good English speaking foreigners have it in Japan. She's right. A foreigner is a link to a world many Japanese hear so much about but have little access to. We are often given preferential treatment or far more attention than is warranted. The fruit lady always throws in extra fruit for me; the doctor gives me gifts of tea and sweets (my friend reckons the value of these exceeds my cost for the visit). My landlord gave me his old car, which runs just fine. Finally, I have a super job teaching here in Nagasaki.
Although my life has challenges, too, I think it's natural to want to give something in return. There are ways for English teachers to put their money-making potential to use beyond personal gain. While living in Nara, I read about a Save the Children program where foreigners taught English once every other week but received no pay. Instead, student fees went directly to charity. Here in Nagasaki, I've arranged similar classes.

Supporting a Charity in Thailand

Last semester, I taught an English for Charity EFL class. Students came when they wanted, and paid what they wanted, with the money going to charity. I gave everyone the chance to suggest a charity, but we ultimately went with the Patcharaporn Thai Education Fund (PTEF). A British man living in Thailand started this with hopes to help poor Thai girls -- who often end up in Bangkok as prostitutes -- get an education and a better life.
PTEF has built a dorm, paid for school books, and taken care of the basic needs of over 30 female students for several years now. It's presently working to save a young girl from sexual slavery; her drug addict mother is trying to sell her daughter to support her own habit. If allowed to enter the PTEF dorm, the girl will not only escape a bleak, scary future, but have a chance at an education. PTEF also helps finance a Thai hill tribe village school.
A month after my charity class, I had the chance to visit PTEF and its founder, Graham Enwright, in Chiangmai, Thailand. I saw that Graham and his wife devote large amounts of time to the girls and pride themselves on character building teaching the girls to take care of themselves rather than handing them everything. They also pay for materials and a teacher's salary so that underprivileged hill tribe children can get an education. Graham invited me to stay at the school and teach for a week, but my schedule didn't allow it.

The Bigger Picture

Anytime an individual makes a contribution to a charity, she or he feels a certain level of satisfaction. In Asia, many consider alms-giving a way to make merit for future births, but the immediate benefits of philanthropy for people, animals, and the earth are easily apparent. We make a tangible connection with those outside ourselves; we look beyond personal issues and problems; we put into practice a root teaching of all religions: to help others. When a class comes together for a humanitarian objective, not only can money be raised, but everyone can become more aware of global problems.
A charity English class is also the perfect venue for peace education. While Peace Education focuses on a wide range of issues -- environment, human rights, war, etc. -- its essential aim is to utilize the classroom to make the world a better place.
While my class wasn't devoted exclusively to peace education topics, we did respond eagerly to deeper issues of education, child / spouse abuse, and death. In one class, we read an interview with a prominent American Buddhist dying of cancer. This prompted discussion about Buddhism in Japan and America, and attitudes towards death. And just by paying the class fees, students were actively involved in alleviating suffering in Thailand.
When trying to decide on an organization for the class, I considered the fact that PTEF is not a registered charity a positive. Unregistered charity organizations can more fully utilize donations; big organizations often have high administration costs. I read newspaper articles about PTEF, and corresponded with a person in Japan knowledgeable about it. After this, I became convinced that the organization was legitimate. Since that first class, finding small, worthwhile charity projects has become something of an individual project of mine.

Guatemala Village Hospital

Last week I finished my second "English for Charity" class, this time for a project to build a hospital in a poor village in Guatemala. In class, we talked a little about the hospital early on, but I felt our purpose had an effect throughout. The eight students' English levels were quite mixed, but the lower level students made a big effort to learn. The most interesting class for me was when we did a "Values Auction". Students had $1,000 to spend on 18 different values, such as a good marriage, unlimited chance to travel, love and admiration from friends, and a world without war. One rather shy girl saved all her money to be in a position to buy the last one on the page: a world without poverty. I thought this a wonderfully appropriate attitude for this class.
These classes were a great pleasure for me to teach. I can honestly say that I learned a lot, too, and felt touched by my students' kindness and concern. One adult woman later joined my college Current Topics class while an extroverted high school boy shyly told me, "I'm really gonna miss you." I believe the purpose of the class (charity) gave us all a sense of meaning beyond ourselves.

The Possibilities are Endless

A friend of mine has done something similar. While traveling in Indonesia, he met a young Indonesian man and decided to help him fulfill his dream to earn a university degree in Indonesia, something the young man couldn't possibly afford. My friend has been financially supporting this youth's university education with money he earns from teaching a private student. In April, he hopes to teach a class with all of the proceeds going to this young man's education.
For teachers interested in designing their own charity class, I have a few suggestions:

• Ask for a set fee, ideally for a month's classes. Students like the clarity of this arrangement better than asking for an unspecified donation. If students only pay when they attend, it's easier to skip a class; absences, of course, interrupt the flow of the class (and the cash flow as well).


• Try to find a good venue, ideally free (community center, Lion's Club, YMCA...)


• Finally, arrange to have students pool their donations and send this to a trusted charity organization that the class chooses.

Teaching my class, then visiting the charity in Thailand which we supported was an enriching experience. If the teacher can visit the organization, the financial contribution can open doors for wonderful experiences. I caught glimpses of rural Thailand that would have otherwise been inaccessible. Someday I'd love to visit our Guatemalan village.
A future idea involves teaching a charity class, then bringing the class to the donee for hands-on volunteering (and English practice). I hope to arrange this in spring 2000 for a US "Giving Away Gardens" project. Volunteers set up gardens for the poor, elderly or handi-capped and teach them how to tend them.
I like to think of this sort of class as a joint gift: the teacher's time and energy, and the students' generosity helping those less fortunate than ourselves. If anyone would like more information, or has experiences to share regarding "English for Charity" classes, I welcome your e-mail. I've recently connected with an American with a similar vision - Wade Nichols - who donated his time and energy to teach English to orphans in Korea. He's started the Banyan Tree project - a network of English teachers who use their money-making potential for charity.

Teaching for Charity: Reference Books

Everett, M. (1995) Making a Living While Making a Difference. New York: Bantam Books.

Gershen, H. (1990) Guide for Giving: 250 Charities and How They Use Your Money. NY: Pantheon.

Hollender, J. (1995) How To Make the World a Better Place. New York: W.W. Norton.

Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation. (1998) Kokusai Kyouryoku NGO Dairekutorii
[Directory of Japanese NGO Concerned with International Cooperation]. Tokyo: JANTIC.

Walls, D. (1993) The Activist's Almanac. New York: Fireside.

number 2

http://marcoscamara09.wordpress.com/tag/charity/

Dear family, friends and anonymous Internet users,

For me, it is a great honour (and a pleasure!) to welcome you to what it will be the journal of a little big adventure in which I will take part in during the following months, and the climax of which will take place next July in Rwanda.

This project is carried out by Camara (www.camara.ie), an Irish charity based in Dublin, the efforts of which aim for a better education in several African countries, through an approach and proper access to Information Technologies (IT).

But, how does Camara materialise such an ambitious project? Mainly, by means of three action channels. That is, through:

1) The collection of second hand computers.

from Irish companies and public institutions, as well as particulars. These computers go through a process of selection (they must reach minimum specifications), refurbishment –if necessary- and lastly a Linux operating system is installed on them plus some educational packages. Finally, they are packed and shipped to the countries with which Camara collaborates. So far, these are:Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Lesotho and Rwanda. All the process is done by Camara volunteers in Dublin and Belfastworkshops.

2) Volunteer teachers are sent out to the mentioned countries and, once there, their task is to give IT lessons in schools and universities that have previously acquired Camara computers. What is the point of having a computer if the user doesn’t know how take advantage of it?Camara courses take place in July, where around 80 volunteers travel to several destinations in order to give basic and advanced IT lessons to newbie students, local IT teachers and systems and network administrators. As you may think, the most advanced students will be responsible of transmitting their knowledge to other teachers and students, once the expedition goes back to Ireland.

3) The production of computer training materials for basic and advanced IT subjects, as well as educational multimedia in areas such as HIV/AIDS and gender equality. Again, all the effort is put by Camara volunteers.

This blog plays his part in the second mentioned issue. With it, I will explain our experience before and during the trip to Rwanda. Furthermore, I will introduce several aspects about Camara, my team’s destination (Rwanda) and the activities and initiatives involved in the preparation of the trip, the lesson plans and fundraising.

I encourage you, family, friends and anonymous users of Internet, to stay tuned to the upcoming blog feeds! And indeed, you are welcome to participate with your comments, suggestions and questions. I will be pleased to answer you!

Best Regards,

Marcos

number 3

http://www.teachinghouse.com/center/charity-work-old.html

Every year Teaching House donates the value of one tuition fee to a worthy educational cause. The donation is desinged to help a school or organization to realize a project or class that they would otherwise not be able to do. We are especially keen to support programs which benifit the community and involve ESL students.

In 2007, Teaching House was proud to support the Oral History project for 11th grade students at Kingsbridge International School in the Bronx, NY. The students at the school have all lived in the US for less than four years and receive ESL instruction as a part of their curriculum. The following is an article written by Jeff Walton about the project and experiences of the children who took part.

Social action: At work!!!!

1 month later.

About the course itself:

As we’ve learned in class: what we do in our free time to help others can really make the difference.

The teachers in the class remained the same: My mother Liliana montero: an experienced psychopedagogist with over 20 years of teaching, my cousin a 12 year old american school student and me. Plus there's allways at least 1 mother of the children during the duration of the class and when we take them back home.

The last four weeks have been pretty hard, Even if we make the 5 children come only 3 days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, still they find every single thing we teach them useful. Not only for them but to share with others inside their community. They sit and try to pay attention to every single thing we said even if they are pretty playful sometimes.

The class it’s been move form 10 o'clock in the morning to 15, because we’ve noticed the children are more relaxed and calm at this time of the day (not all of them)

Brat, Nestor, Brian, Omar and Emily have spend a lot of time with us and we got to know each other pretty good. They have made some friends around my condo too and go out and play in the park in the pause time we give them.

Even if the kids have gained some confidence in themselves we still see some shy behavior and some awkward moments during class, specially when strangers come. (that’s why we try not to let other people be in the living room during class) Even though they seem to loose all this unconfidence when they are together, to help each other it only takes their presence and a smile.

About the Teachings:

As we can be seen as an official course because of the time the course we last we tried to include everything we’ve found useful for the kids in the class: vocabulary, oral expression, grammar, writing and drawing.

About the initial problems in the condo.

Things have cooled down around here as nobody has touch the course’s theme during the condo reunions and nobody has complained anymore this whole month. It all happened after we introduce the 5 children to the propietaries that showed up (I ask all of them to come but only 2 made it instead) and explained our teaching project.

About the reflections on what we are learning in class:

providing feedback in society by teaching others how to help themselves and others its crucial to our society to grow and to become more advance and auto sufficient.

For example we’ve teach the children the basic of writing, reading and talking. At the beginning we were trying to help these 5 children, and only to focus on them, but as time passed we’ve noticed that, meaby because of the interaction between us, the children and the mothers we’ve help them too.

We’ve noticed how the mom’s grammar and the way they express have improved since we started the course ( ex: they don’t make wrong use of the plural anymore : they’ve learn to say 1 dollar, 2 dollars instead of 1 dollar, 2 dollar, etc)

This means these 5 children are practicing with their mothers at home and by doing the home works that we give, we encourage the ladies to learn and to express themselves better together with their children.

This can generate a lot of good things in their community as the learning might spread fast every day as they practice with each other.

This could help them to get better works, to help them help others and to provide more opportunity to people that really needs it.

Answers to Justins questions, again.

What are your personal reflections about this video?

The video is itself very revealing, It makes you reflect about what you do to contribute with the society you are living in and what a little effort can change it all.

Has it challenged you to think about your activities and how you spend your free time?

Well, this video made me think about how useful a second in our life could be, for example I’d like to talk about the Wikipedia I mean how sitting on a computer and start writing something can help another person in the world that can be looking for that specific thing we were writing before. It’s something awesome.

Are you primarily a consumer or do you produce and share as much or more than you consume? Does it help you appreciate the social action you are doing for this class?

I share my ideas indirectly, in the YouTube for example or even in the blog, but I’m a consumer too,for example when I Google something or when I search for something in the Wikipedia. So I thing I do both things. I always try to generate content for other people to reflect and to help society to expand its knowledge.

This video certainly helps me understand how important is the social action we’re all doing for this class in a way that It helps people that can share the knowledge you’re giving them with others, so there’s feedback.

4 week class program

This is what we teach to the children.
p.s. It's in spanish because we scanned the proper schedule from the class.

Social action: at work!

On the following document I’m going to give people an update on my social action project "be the change" In the last weeks there has been a very good reception of the project with almost all students coming to class on time and with great attitude.

Whenever I see them I allways note a worried/ sad face on them so I ask them: Why... so..... serious? and then I thing for myself: we should do something to change this, so... let's put on a smile on that face!

The mothers have dropped that uncomfortable attitude that they use to have and have started to cooperate with us and even to participate in the activities with the children, but a negative thing I can said about them is that they usually beat up their children for any reason and have little or no education at all because they can't control their voice tone (they scream all the time) for any reason.


On the other hand, the attitude towards the cleaning ladies in my condo hasn’t change that much, they still don't want the students to come up to the condo, even if it’s to my apartment and has a good porpoise.
My neighbors have started calling names to the student's and usually refer to them as "that people" which is something ignorant that they do to try to hurt them.

Even though we have had a few issues the program is still on.

On my next post I’ll upload the month class schedule of the program.

Thanks for reading mates!
cheers to everybody ;)