No products in the cart.
As they explore and play, young preschool children frequently talk out loud to themselves. In this month’s Ilm o Amal, Nuvaira A Dhedhi looks at how self talk contributes to young children’s language skills.
Dear Readers, Please check out our new Opinion Poll on whether small schools are better than large schools, and cast your vote by the end of February 2016. As you know …
your opinion counts
Our January 2016 poll was about whether television can be used to develop children’s minds:
Television is a window to the world and is a useful tool which can be used to develop children’s minds.
• I agree. Television helps children gain knowledge of current affairs and the world around them. It also helps children build language skills. (60%, 28 Votes)
• I disagree. Children usually don’t watch educational programmes on TV. Instead they prefer junk TV which reduces attention spans and exposes children to inappropriate messages. (40%, 19 Votes)
The result for this poll was a clear 40/60 split with the majority of the respondents agreeing that television is a useful tool for education and knowledge, provided it is used for that purpose.
Significantly a substantial minority (40%) believes that TV is rarely if ever watched for educational purposes, hence its value as an educational tool remains questionable. Do you agree with this result?
The internet can be a great resource or a great distraction depending on how children use it. For this month’s Ilm o Amal, Ayesha Umair has compiled a list of ten websites that teachers and parents should be aware of and that will add an element of interactivity to the learning process.
| Dates: 27 – 29 February & 1 March 2016 | Time: 9:00 to 3:00 p.m. & 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. |
Language plays an important part in learning and communication. Teachers need to explore ways in which they can promote the use of language in contexts that have potential interest for young children. This workshop will examine the nature of interaction between teacher and the child and analyse the skills and materials that teachers need to extend the children’s skills of communication.
| Dates: 24th, 25th & 26th February 2016 | Time: 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
Teaching literature is an uphill task for teachers of today. Books have to compete with iPods, X Box, TV, texting and social media, for children’s attention. However, the merits of teaching literature are undeniable and hence it is a compulsory component of every Language Arts syllabus. This workshop aims to not only provide teachers with strategies to create real, lifelong readers, but also ways to gear their students towards critical and analytical thinking.
| Dates: 19th & 20th February 2016 | Time: 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
The young child’s mind is always active, constantly seeking to categories, compare and pattern new information. This workshop will explore strategies to help teachers assume the role of a facilitator, providing new experiences to stimulate imagination and independent thinking in the children.
| Dates: 16th, 17th & 18th February 2016 | Time: 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
How should schools be judged and how best can they be improved? Studies of school improvement have much to contribute to these questions. This workshop will focus on a qualitative approach to improving school effectiveness and will highlight strategies and processes for improvement in school practices and facilitating change.
The October – December 2015 quarter saw the ECE-CP in process with the planned activities of Term 1, which included the three courses, Child Development (CD 0002), Learning Environment (LE 0002), Play Experiences (PE 0002) and the ongoing Field Education (F.Ed 0002) course.
Along with planned classes, the term was consumed with evaluations, concurrent assignments, presentations and group and class projects. An important highlight of Term 1, are the field visits to the students’ classrooms by the Field Supervising Teacher (FST). These visits are to observe them delivering a lesson and to see them interacting with the children within the school environment. Following each classroom observation, a post observation discussion is scheduled, during which the student and the FST meet to discuss the observation and ways on how the student can work on their skills and behaviours as an early years educator.
The quarter ended with conclusion of Term 1
Farewell to the Class of 2014-15
On Saturday, October 03, 2015 TRC-IECE hosted the graduation ceremony of its 9th cohort, which comprised of existing and aspiring teachers. The much-awaited event, which all the successful students look forward to, was attended by our beaming graduates and their proud family members.
The evening opened with TRC Director, Ambreena Ahmed who warmly welcomed the guests. Noshin Khan, Senior Manager, IECE, talked about her own journey which started from ECE-CP and took her to Canada for a full laddering programme and brought her back to TRC to lead the course. She also briefed the audience about TRC-IECE and its current work and future plans for the programme.
Following her presentation, some of the graduating students shared their feelings, thoughts and messages, reflecting on their ECE-CP experience and how they have been transformed into confident and able early childhood educators.
The ceremony concluded with the key note address by the chief guest, Ms. Seema Malik, former Director of
TRC and P
rincipal of PECHS Girls’ School. She awarded certificates to the graduating students and congratulated them and their families on this milestone achievement.
In the end, Director TRC thanked the audience for attending the ceremony and invited everyone to a scrumptious tea treat bringing the send-off to a cheerful close.
Orientation session
The Teachers’ Resource Centre hosted an Early Childhood Education Certification Programme (ECE-CP) orientation session on 9th of December 2015, at the TRC Office. The event saw a great turn out. TRC’s Early Childhood Education Certificate Programme (ECE-CP) has been providing trusted professional development guidance and opportunities to both in-service and aspiring teachers for nearly a decade now.
The orientation session was held to raise awareness about the programme and encourage more participation in the coming batch. Ms. Noshin Khan (Senior Manager ECE-CP) gave a power point presentation, highlighting the objectives and impacts of the programme and shared future plans for further enriching and strengthening the programme.
The orientation ended with a question-answer session. Each participant was given a feedback form to evaluate the orientation and let us know whether they found it useful.
The feedback received was very positive. Majority of the participants found the session informative and useful and said they would recommend enrolling in the programme to their friends and colleagues. Some of the participants also indicated interest to enrol themselves either for a full programme or for selective modules.
As part of the Thinking Classroom Project, the capacity building phase of public sector master trainers was launched and at least 180 master trainers from different parts of the country benefitted from the training. A series of events to promote critical thinking, including story telling sessions, art workshops and musical performances, was organised by TRC for children from both public and private schools. The 9th batch of ECE-CP graduated in a poised ceremony which took place at TRC Office and the 10th batch was ushered in. To boost enrollment in the ECE-CP, an orientation session was organised to raise awareness about the programme and it’s benefits for those seeking professional excellence in early years education.
TRC Trending…
TRC is on Facebook! Where we share ideas, tips and informative news for our online teaching community. It is a space to learn new ideas, share experiences and be informed of all the latest happenings at TRC.