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The Intensive Intervention program had a lot of fun with the theme: My clothes. The children enjoyed washing the clothes and roleplaying all the steps of washing, rinsing, drying and hanging the washing up on the washing lines.
The children exercised their fine motor skills through all the activities involving the washing pegs. We counted our clothes and sock and improved our number recognition and consistency that way.
Visual perceptions skills were used and improved through matching games using socks. This theme lent itself to the use and expanding of the children’s vocabulary – not only did they have to build on the “my body” theme using and naming all the body parts they had to explain and reason where and why each piece of clothing must go and how to put it on their persona dolls.
In-between all this fun, we had our first parent observation sessions. The parents were invited to come and observe a Therapy group of their child with us. This was a big success and the parents were very grateful for what the program does to help their children’s scholastic development.
The feedback from the parents was very positive and the team members had the opportunity to talk and help and assist some of the parents who have concerns regarding their child’s skills and abilities.
Published: 23/08/2018
KET greatly values Skills Development. We love growing our teachers and our staff.
Persona Doll Training (PDT) South Africa provides anti-bias training, materials and support for adults working with children in a range of settings, in partnership with key stakeholders in the NGO sector and the Departments of Education and Social Development. The Persona Doll approach offers a practical, innovative and effective way to teach important life skills and encourage diversity, inclusion and respect for human rights. It originated in anti-bias work in the United States in the wake of the civil rights movement, and was adapted to tackle the persistent apartheid legacy of discrimination and prejudice in South Africa during the early 2000s.
Our ‘hands-on’ experiential training assists adults to deal with issues of poverty, violence and abuse, racism, and stigma in their own lives and the lives of the children and young people they work with using the unique Persona Doll approach.
Persona Dolls are hand-made 70-cm tall cloth dolls each with their own identity, life history, family and cultural background, likes and dislikes, fears and abilities. They are used by ECD practitioners, teachers, social workers, community health workers and NGOs to help children and youth:
PDT is an accredited training provider and NGO in the early childhood development (ECD) and education sector. We offer a range of training courses, including a 4-day training of trainers (TOT) programme, designed specifically for trainers and leaders. The core curriculum covers basic principles of adult education and the values underpinning anti-bias / diversity work, in addition to practical training on how to use the Persona Doll approach – and can be tailored to meet the specific needs or challenges of an organisation or institution.
| Day 1 |
Setting the context: Who am I? Who are you? ~ Introductions, self awareness exercises, theory input, noticing & intervention, journaling |
| Day 2 |
Adult learning, anti-bias and diversity ~ Experiential learning cycle, learning process, attitude exercise, identity exercise, understanding diversity and an anti-bias approach. |
| Day 3 |
Groups, facilitation and communication ~ Working in groups, facilitation skills, tasks and maintenance, respectful practice. |
| Day 4 |
Persona Doll Approach ~ The Persona Doll approach, Persona Dolls, role-plays using the Dolls, developing scenarios, identifying issues and posing open ended questions, feedback. |
The optimum size for training groups is 25 participants. We provide a training manual for each participant (in isiXhosa, English or Afrikaans), a training DVD and other materials. Clients provide the training venue, which should accommodate small and large groups, preferably with access to a TV, DVD or data projector. Training excludes the cost of Dolls, which should be ordered on our website before the training session (3 weeks’ production time).
Since 2004, we have trained over 8,800 trainers, ECD practitioners, teachers, social workers and home visitors in using the Persona Doll approach to explore culture and identity, uncover and address negative bias, and promote psychosocial development. If you would like more information about PDT or to book a training, you can contact them at:
Telephone: +27 (0) 21-797-1204
Email: info@pdt.org.za
Website: www.pdt.org.za
Published: 19/07/2018
A great second term was had at KET and we have lots of great news to share.
Our FET student teachers are doing well. They have had First Aid Training, which is required to make our course internationally recognised. They also had a Drama Games Workshop, with Larnie Groves, which is always well received by our students. Students covered puppet making, storytelling, science and nature table presentation, and had a lively debate lecture around the “Nature versus Nurture” (The nature versus nurture debate involves whether human behaviour is determined by the environment, either prenatal or during a person's life).
Our occupational therapists, who are part of the IIP team (Intensive Intervention Programme) are visiting the pre-schools and doing wonderful work in the therapy groups. This term they focused on fine motor skills, counting and sorting, colours and shapes, and my body. These vital lessons are taught through drawing, sensory play and role playing exercises.
The parent training evenings have been extremely well attended and there has been much excitement around the inclusion of the “CareUp” mobile phone application, which is being shared with all of our parents. This app is designed to encourage and motivate parents, with simple ideas to help develop their child to achieve their full potential and be school ready.
KET has been appointed as the approved service provider tasked with the registration of ECD centres in our area. There are currently 128 ECD facilities that will need to be registered, a big job, but one which has significant long term benefits around the health and safety of the young children attending these preschools. We are very happy to report that 9 centres have been approved for registration this quarter including our very own KET model pre-school, The Learning Tree.
There are currently 280 children on the ACE (Adopt a child’s education) programme, and thanks to the loyal support of our kind donors these young children are able to attend preschool where they previously would not have been able to. There is an on-going drive towards increasing these numbers annually. The only way to tackle the alarming national literacy and numeracy statistics is to teach these vital lessons to pre-schoolers. The ACE Programme continues to be a top priority for us.
To further assist with the Literacy and Numeracy development of the young learners we serve, the FONIX literacy and NUMICON mathematics programmes are implemented daily in 75 preschools in our area. These programmes tackle the essential skill of learning to read and count, in a fun and interactive way – Play is after all the best way for children to learn.
We remain humbled by the dedication of our preschool teachers who despite scares resources, trying conditions and a lack of fee paying parents, still strive every day to make the preschool years count, for every child in our community. WE salute them!
Regards from the KET team.
Published: 16/06/2018
Since 2016 we have been offering accredited FET ECD qualifications.
The course is broken up into 2 modules which covers an extensive range of theory and practical application. The course offers a lot of chance for students to practice newly acquired skills through completing tasks and handing in assignments. The content of the lectures include the entire range of developmental norms of children from conception right up to their formal years of schooling. The students learn how children learn through PLAY and that play is essentially the work of children. Many of the students have surprised us with their creativity in tasks and enthusiasm in presentations. We are extremely proud of them.
Many travel far to get to their weekly classes. Some as far as George. Others carry their tasks while walking to class or catching taxis, through all weather conditions.
It is wonderful to see these students grow and succeed in their chosen field of study.
Article by: Angelina Smith, Education & Training Manager
Published: 29/05/2018
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