Play-Based Pilot Preschool and Teacher Training (CDAF Grant)
In the spring of 2023, we won a grant from the State Department (Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund) which gave us the opportunity to develop the curriculum, philosophy, and methodology we hope to use in our preschool, train teachers in these new ideas, and test the ideas in a six-week pilot preschool program. We worked closely with two experts in play-based early childhood education (NBPTS certified Early Childhood teacher Julia Snyder and Dr. Gillian McNamee from the Erikson Institute) to develop our training and curriculum.
For the first week of our project, Gil and Julie led sessions for 16 local Preschool teachers where they experienced, discussed, and reflected on play-based methods that they could implement in their own classrooms. For most teachers, this was the first in-person professional development opportunity they had ever received. Their enthusiastic participation was truly exciting and inspiring! Many of them went on to re-create the materials they used in the training and eight teachers from the group led their own trainings in their local villages to help share the new methods they learned about. They were able to share Google Doc Kyrgyz language versions of the lessons and sessions we developed with their peers as well.
For the first week of our project, Gil and Julie led sessions for 16 local Preschool teachers where they experienced, discussed, and reflected on play-based methods that they could implement in their own classrooms. For most teachers, this was the first in-person professional development opportunity they had ever received. Their enthusiastic participation was truly exciting and inspiring! Many of them went on to re-create the materials they used in the training and eight teachers from the group led their own trainings in their local villages to help share the new methods they learned about. They were able to share Google Doc Kyrgyz language versions of the lessons and sessions we developed with their peers as well.
Both the training and the pilot preschool program were challenging to implement, but more successful than we had imagined. Teachers found the curriculum and training useful and inspiring; the teachers we trained planned and executed eight trainings around the region to share what they learned with their colleagues. In our survey of parents of the children who attended our program, parents universally said they felt their children were safe, cared for, learning well, eating well, and being taught by knowledgeable teachers. True to our vision, our pilot program included children with disabilities, was affordable for families, had low child-to-teacher ratios, and provided cross cultural exchange as well as early exposure to English through the help of several Peace Corps Volunteer teachers. Many parents also told us that their children could not wait to go to school; although this was not a stated goal or objective of our project, we feel that creating a school where children want to spend time can only be a good thing for those children and for the community where they spend their lives. We are really proud of the way our local and global community came together to create such a school. To read more details about this project, please see the project proposal and project reports linked below.
