Timor kids get kinder kits

HAVING visited East Timor in 2006
I was waiting for an opportunity to
return. As a kindergarten teacher I know how important resources, support and training are to a teacher.
All teachers share the ability to be resourceful but having the basics is a necessity and makes such a difference to the life of a kindergarten child.
Since my last visit to East Timor there have been many changes in the kindergartens in the Ermera district.
A combination of play-based programs and structured group times are in place in all kindergartens.
Enthusiastic, warm, caring and committed teachers are growing in confidence and it is the children who are benefiting from these nurturing and educational environments.
Of course, compared to the kindergarten experience of children in Australia, there is still much work to be done.
However, it is pleasing to see that the investment by the Friends of Ermera in enhancing resources and funding the training of teachers is producing dramatic results.
I had the wonderful opportunity to host Noemia from the Gleno kindergarten when the City of Casey funded her professional development visit to Australia in 2008.
During this visit she welcomed us into her beautiful classroom and demonstrated what she had learnt from the experience of visiting several kindergartens in Melbourne.
She is now sharing these skills with other teachers in the Ermera District.
Each day I had the immense honour of visiting kindergartens in the district and working with teachers and children while we introduced art and craft kits.
Teachers appreciated these much-needed items and quickly introduced these into their programs.
Children who previously sat in large groups now worked in small groups at a variety of drawing, pasting, painting and playdough activities.
Thank you to the families at the Woodbine Road Kindergarten and students at St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School in Warragul who provided a large proportion of the funding for the kits.
There were also some significant individual donors, who prefer not to be named.
After seeing the success and the need for these resources, the Friends of Ermera know that this commitment will need to be ongoing.
While we are hoping to source these resources in East Timor, we will need to raise the funds to purchase the kits for the 2011 preschool year.
Each kindergarten kit was valued at $500.
If you wish to support this program
contact me at jmkierce@hotmail.com.