Reflections on Portugal

I have really enjoyed my stay in Portugal and most of all the people. Those who I have had the privilege to interact with in Portugal have been some of the most kind, patient, and caring people I know. I have been attending a church here and was invited to one of the family's home for a house warming. I was very excited to fellowship with them and try to home-cooked Portuguese food. The food was delicious. We had roasted beef, rice and beans, and potatoes in a tomato sauce. Here are some photos:

Also, I spent a lot of time with the children during the housewarming.

They had me sit down and watch Tico e Teco (Chip & Dale for all of those who remember watching). It was in Portuguese so I did not understand it but I remembered every episode they had me watch because my brother, sister, and I used to watch the show together. They had a particular episode they really loved and I vividly remember my siblings and I having it on replay because it was so funny to us. I just thought it was interesting that a new generation of children across the Atlantic, in a different culture, are still watching the same cartoons, laughing at the exact same thing ("Apple core, Baltimore, who's your friend? Me"), and put the same episodes on repeat. In fact, I wanted to tell the kids that I used to watch it when I was a child. The children and I communicate with nonverbal gestures, some odd form of broken Portuguese on my part, and with the English words they pick up from school or their father. In my attempt to tell them that I watched it as a kid, apparently I said my children watch it. I got some odd looks, like, well where are your kids then? :)

As I mentioned earlier, everyone in Portugal has been so kind and welcoming and I feel this the most from the children I have interacted with, whether in my personal life or during site visits. One little girl, who is 7, has been an absolute joy. She is so smart, so kind, always willing to help, and always has a smile on her face. She even teaches me Portuguese and corrects my pronunciation. My heart jumps every time she calls me, " Shahnohn vem aqui!" It's the little things like this that remind me of why I want to work with children and continue to advocate for them!

She made this for me when I came to visit

March Visits: Education

My month of March has been filled with visits to educational institutions, here’s a bit about each of them:

Town Hall –Lisbon, Evaluation of Law 3/2008
I attended a summary of the evaluation of the 3/2008 Special Education Law, by the Portuguese department of education. A beautiful first-step in assessment of laws that affect children with special needs; however, it was just that, a beginning; Portugal should be commended.
The law, for those interested is: Decree-Law No. 3/2008, 7th January, which defines the specialized support provided in state, private and co-operative pre-school, compulsory and upper-secondary education with the aim of creating the conditions to adjust the educational process to the special educational needs of pupils with major limitations in terms of activity and participation in one or more areas.

Tangerina –In Porto

Tangerina’s educational platform –for children age 6-10 years-old) was described to me as preparing you children through socialization and developmentally appropriate education. This stand (school preparing you for life), while seemingly mundane, appear to work well in this small, private institution.
The educational objects include: (1) cycling children through learning, so they know a topic to the point of mastery before advancing, (2) gradual development of the child, (3) strong promotion of expressive arts: music, drama, physical education, (4) learning and language development (reading, writing), (4) math is not only the acquisition of tools and techniques for calculating, but also contributes to logical thinking, helping the child to read and interpret the world, (5)develop problem-solving skills, dialoguing capabilities, and creativity.
The founder and director of the institution adapted the curriculum from the following people/programs: Frenés (French), and CSMP (St. Louis, Belgium). To the 4th point enumerated above, we were given a tutorial on the methodology, adapted from a school in Lisbon.
The children appeared very involved, eager to participate in classroom discussions. The curriculum was very prescriptive, but well-balanced with physical activity outside.

Escola Da Ponte -Vila das Aves (30 km from Porto)
I visited an innovative school which was studnet-lead. Initially weary, and ultimatley impressed by the balance of student-directed and teacher-lead public instruction… here’s a bit about the school:
The students aren't distributed by school years, or by classes. Instead, they use a three-pronged approach: Initialization, Transition, and Development

The students that enter the first cycle in "Escola da Ponte" start by sharing a space that is called "Initialization". Here the kids learn the bases of reading and writing on a natural method approach. Here they also learn to work autonomously in diverse areas of the curriculum, working in group and being people... In the "Initialization" the children elaborate, together with a teacher, a fortnightly plan that is "negotiated” amongst them all.
In the second phase, transition, When they are able to read and write with some corrections, solve some elementary calculations, help and be helped by the others, they move on the “transaction" space, which is characterized by group work and research. The children help to elaborate their individual plan.
When children enter the final phase, development, When they are able to work in group, elaborate research work, do auto-planning and auto-evaluations, as well as dominate a determined number of goals in the different curriculum areas, they are able to autonomously manage their learning time and space in what is called " working in freedom and in great level ". The space in which is developed the “development " phase is situated in the first floor of the open-area building. Here, the students work in total autonomy. In the beginning of each fortnight they elaborate their own working plan, negotiate amongst themselves and the teachers. They elaborate individual plans every day, not forgetting the school, the groups and their own interests. At the end of every fortnight they precede in auto-evaluating their plan according to the development of the project.
Rights & Duties: Every year, the students decide democratically, which rights and duties they consider essential. This is one of the first tasks of the School Assembly. The students do the list of all rights and duties they consider to be important.
Assembly: and also know that it is where teachers and students work together in order to discuss the school problems. Children know that when they help their school mates and pick up garbage form the floor, they are in the good way to become good citizens.
Help commission: Help commission serve to solve the most difficult problems that are presented at the Assembly. It is formed by four children. Two of them, chosen by the Assembly, and the other two, by the school teachers.
Debate: Debate takes place every day, from 15:00 to 15:30. There is discussed what they have been doing during the day and they also prepare the Assemblies.
We were shown around the school by two ‘volunteer’ students, who insisted that we read the visitors rules.
While little was said, or rather skirted around, about children with mild learning disabilities, their functioning, and inclusion in the classrooms; I was impressed with the level of inclusion of children with more severe disabilities (e.g., Down’s). One of the girls giving us the tour was one of the children who volunteered to work closely with a boy with Down’s –helping him with his course work, learning sign language, etc. I observed two children wholly participating in classroom-based activities: interacting with classmates, getting help from teachers when necessary, and completed their self-chosen-tailored curriculum.