- Mote Oo Education
Transcription
- Mote Oo Education
Mote Oo Education Get Moteoovated Issue One, April - June 2016 Inside This Issue Page Ask the Trainer 2 Teacher Training Department 3 Staff Profile 4 Life Skills Project 5 Peace Education Project 5 Curriculum and Publications 6 Administration and Finance 6 Partner Profile 7 The Story of Mote Oo Places to Get Mote Oo Materials 8,9 10 Page 2 Ask The Trainers What do Mote Oo trainers do? We make friends with teachers from around the country and the Thai Myanmar border. We respond to calls from nonformal education institutions for teacher training. I find the remote areas particularly fascinating as the teachers we train there are so lovely and incredibly receptive to new ways of teaching. Shwe Htay (Trainer) Hi, I have difficulty keeping my class focused as the other class is only separated by a partition and is very noisy. I would feel bad if I bothered the other class with my own class’s activities as well. You could try activities that involve whispering. Or you can build a culture where students speak or repeat after you softly when you show them a certain signal with your hand. You can also talk to the other teachers to do the same. A respectful and mutual agreement between teachers sharing space to keep noise down when both classes are teaching could help to address some of these problems. Shwe Htay (Trainer) Page Teacher Training Department Training Location Land Rights Module Piloting Myanmar- China Pipeline Watch, Pyin Oo Lwin How do Learners Learn? (TNT1) Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Hpa-an General Teaching Skills Tedim Youth Academy & Cornerstone Children’s Academy, Tedim Personal and Professional Development Training Zomi Baptist Convention, Kalay Civic Education Knowledge Management Dedication, Kalay Introduction to Teaching English Immersion Program, Karen State General Teaching Skills Chin Institute of Social Science, Falam Teaching Methodology Ethnic Youth Foundation, Chiang Rai Communication Skills Enfants du Mekong, Yangon Curriculum Development Training Kayan New Generation Youth & Kayan Women’s Organisation, Loikaw Land Rights Module Piloting Earth Rights International, Yangon Library Management Training Level Up Academy, Loikaw Library Management Training PinnyaTagar, Myitkyina General Teaching Skills Myanmar Scholarship Alumni Association & Education Gathering Group & ZwekabyinMyay & Youth Learning Center, Hpa-an Library Management Training Education Gathering Group, Hpa-an Training of Trainers Mon National Education Committee, Mawlamyine Teacher Training and Mentoring Myanmar Indigenous Networking Educators & Shanan Education Networking Group & Eastern Border Community School, Putao Here are a few photos of our trainings. 3 Page 4 Staff Profile Aung Myat Soe (also known as Thet online, radio & video media with the Thai Myanmar border areas. Khaing) has a GED certificate from Maine Khitpyaing, Mizzima, Radio Free Asia, His favorite part of work is the opportunity State, USA and studied civil engineering at Democratic Voice of Burma, and Burma to work with people from different Thammasat University, Thailand. News International. backgrounds and contribute feedback to He worked to bring changes to Myanmar Working outside the country for over a curriculum. through teaching at the Intensive College decade, he decided to return to Myanmar to Under his pen name “Thet Khaing”, he Foundation Course (ICFC) with the Open use his knowledge and experience in the enjoys writing articles, short stories and Society Institute (OSI) in Chiang Mai and educational sector to support democratic poems that have been published in several DEAR Burma in Bangkok. He has also change in the country. He joined Mote Oo media outlets including Khitpyaing, worked in campaigns and advocacy for Education in June 2015 taking the position Burmatoday, Mizzima and Moemaka Burmese migrant workers and refugees as a of Director of Operations. He spends a lot media. His ambition in life is to be a writer representative of National Coalition of his time networking, building and today he is trying to publish his novel Government of the Union of Burma relationships and coordinating with that he has been working on for almost two (NCGUB), and also as a journalist in print, organisations from across Myanmar and in years. Director of Operations Curriculum Developer and Teacher Trainer for Peace and Civics Alyssa Paylor joined the Mote Oo team in restorative justice and alternative dispute pilot testing curriculum materials because 2015 as a curriculum developer and teacher resolution program. In 2012, Alyssa came to she loves interacting with students and trainer for peace and civic education. She is the Thai Myanmar border and taught supporting teachers. The biggest challenge currently working on the peace education English and Social Studies at the Bridging she faces at work is trying to do research for project and developing a women’s political Educational Access to Migrants program in curriculum with a slow internet connection. leadership curriculum for the Burma Chiang Mai, and supported the curriculum In her spare time, Alyssa likes to visit all of Women’s Union. She chooses to work in development process for the Migrant Yangon’s photography and art galleries, education because she believes that Education Integration Initiative Pilot drink beer while discussing feminist everyone has the right to gain the skills and Program. In 2014, Alyssa moved to Yangon literature with her friends, and learn to cook knowledge they need to actively participate to work at Theik Khar Myanmar Institute Shan and Kachin food. She is also an in their society. designing courses and teaching classes on adviser and trainer for a young women’s Alyssa studied anthropology, political peace and conflict, politics, gender, debate, leadership program based in Yangon. science and peace and conflict studies in the and community project design. U.S, and then worked in her university’s Her favorite part of her job for Mote Oo is Page 5 Life Skills Project What do communication, understanding others, self-awareness, confidence, resilience, problem-solving, decisionmaking and responsibility all have in common? How important do you think they are? Do you possess these abilities and do you know how to use them? Do you want to? To answer the first question, they are all skills that people use with varying degrees throughout their life. Unlike the skills of driving a car, brushing your teeth and knowing how to manage your finances, they are not skills that are either easily taught or easily acquired. Budgeting, crossing a road safely, knowing how to and why you wash your hands are all examples of “hard” skills; skills that we can relatively easily learn and that have rules that don’t really change. However, asking the right questions, planning your time, knowing when to listen and when to talk are what we call “soft” skills; there are no hard and fast rules regarding their use, they are far from easy to master and how we use these skills changes very much depending on our own frame of mind, the environment we are in and the people we are interacting with. When it comes to the other questions, we are in the process of discovering the answers to those by conducting an in-depth needs assessment amongst young adults and our partner organisations throughout Myanmar and along the Thai Myanmar border. The responses we get from an estimated 800 learners and 100 teachers from 50 organisations will enable us to prioritise the soft skills that the participants tell us they would like more help in acquiring. Skills for life, skills you need, skills you never knew existed…get ready for an innovative series of interactive materials which will guide and strengthen both young adult learners and teachers on their journey of lifelong learning. Expect to see the first volume in this exciting series in December 2016. Peace Education Project Conflict and Peace: An Introduction Mote Oo Peace Education Project started in January 2014 and is supported through cooperation with the German NGO KURVE Wustrow. Our aim is to produce a student book and accompanying teacher manual on peace and conflict education. The peace book will have two volumes. The first volume “Understanding Conflict” explores answers to the questions “What is conflict?” and “How can we deal with conflict?”. It explains concepts like goals, needs, identity, values and actors in the context of conflict. It provides learners with the tools to analyze conflicts and shows the constructive and destructive strategies people use to deal with conflict. The second volume, “Understanding Peace”, answers the questions: “What is peace?” and “How can we reach peace?”. The volume explains the concepts of complete and incomplete peace, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The peace module attaches special importance to interactive activities like roleplays and games, which allow students to experience the content they are learning and to practice their skills in dealing with conflicts. “Understanding Conflict” will be published at the end of 2016. The Peace Education Project also provides a library on peace and conflict learning materials at the Mote Oo office. Books can be copied on demand. We have also released a short introduction book (shown left), for people who cannot wait to see the full course. Page 6 Curriculum and Publications We have finished asean: A Beginners Guide and it is now available to order. Learners will learn about important and interesting topics including the ASEAN Economic Community, migration and the environment. The resource is user-friendly, it can be used in the classroom or as a selfstudy guide, with stimulating discussion questions and activities that engage skills such as data analysis and map reading. It also includes an additional multimedia DVD with videos and additional reading material. The third addition to The New Teacher (TNT) series will be on lesson planning. The first two books in the series were on learning theory and classroom management, and book three covers the knowledge and skills for new teachers in Myanmar classrooms to produce useful and effective lesson plans. The TNT series targets pre and in-service teachers. TNT3 will be printed in July. We are also working on life skills, peace studies and English language teaching materials. Additionally, Mote Oo's curriculum team have been working with partner organisations to develop curricula on teacher education, land rights and women, peace and politics, English reading and writing skills and social science. Administration and Finance Since moving the Yangon office to Hledan in January, Mote Oo’s Finance and Administration department has been very busy! In March, we welcomed Julian Phone Kyaw, Logistics Assistant, to the Mote Oo admin team, and he's been setting up the library - come by and borrow some books. Both our Thailand and Myanmar administration teams have been sending book orders out to programs across the country and along the Myanmar Thai border. The finance team has started using a new accounting software called ‘Banana’. It’s been very useful in supporting us to produce accurate and timely financial reports, although it is sometimes a little bit difficult to use! Next quarter we have more books to distribute, new HR policies to draft and new finance policies and procedures to write and introduce! Exciting. Page Partner Profile Pu Dooplaya Junior College to Htee WahK’Lu, a village in Karen State, in preparation for the anticipated closure of the refugee camps in Thailand. Plans for the buildings and the other practicalities of setting up the new facility are in hand. The intention is to open the new school in a year’s time and take first-year students from the area around Htee WahK’lu, while continuing to run the camp college; the main challenge being to provide enough teachers to staff both compounds. In order to form closer links with the community in Htee WahK’lu before moving there, PDJC ran a summer school in the village in 2014 for three weeks, with students from PDJC teaching Students of 2010-2012 Academic Year Pu Dooplaya Junior College (PDJC) is based course, teaching subjects including maths, in Nu Po Refugee camp in Tak Province, science, social studies, English, Burmese and Thailand, south of Mae Sot. It came into Karen. There is also an upper division which runs existence in 2008, when it took over the a course in Global Border Studies (GBS), which premises of the existing Teacher Preparation started in 2010. This consists of two years of Course, which had moved to another location taught courses and a one-year placement and in the camp. It is part of the Institute of focuses on leadership skills. In total there are Higher Education, run by the Karen Refugee about ninety students (including twenty in GBS), Committee Education Entity; the organisa- twelve teachers and two administrators. As well tion that co-ordinates the provision of higher as four classrooms, a library and an office, there education in most of the camps and one are two dormitories for the students who come school in Karen State. from outside the camp. PDJC offers a two-year lower division Currently the college is making plans to relocate English to school children aged from eight to eighteen. This was so well-received that the following year summer schools were run in Htee WahK’lu and Maik Ga Thau villages and in 2016 there are plans to expand the provision to two more villages in the area. This shows how successfully the students and staff at PDJC have challenged the reputation that many Myanmar people hold of camp residents – that of being rather uneducated - which was one of the underlying reasons for running the summer school, and this bodes well for the success of PDJC when it finally moves to Karen State. 7 Page 8 The Story of Mote Oo Page The Story of Mote Oo 9 Page 10 Places to Get Mote Oo Materials Yangon , Myanmar Mote Oo office No. A4, Mya Kan Thar Street, Mya Kan Thar Housing (near Hledan area), Ward No.2, Kamayut Township, Yangon Tab Book Shop (1) Taw Win Center, (2) Myanmar People’s Park, (3) Hledan Center, (4) M Bigshop (North Okkalapa), (5) Nagane, Culture Valley (Sanchaung), (6) Nagane (Thingangyum) Sar Pay Nan Taw No. 138/140, 1st Floor, Corner of Pansodan and Mahabandula Road, Kyauktada Township, Yangon Monument Books and Toys Shop No. 150, Dhamazedi Road, Bahan Township, Yangon Mandalay, Myanmar Nagar Sar Pay No. 290(B), 83 Street, 29 x 30 Street, Mandalay Lu Htu No. 221, Lat Sal Kan Yat, 84 x 33 Street, Mandalay Tun Oo Sar Pay No. 101, 84 Street, between 29 x 30 Street, Mandalay Taunggyi, Myanmar Millionaire Book Shop No. 71-72, Cherry Street, Kan Ought Yet, Taunggyi Mae Sot, Thailand Mote Oo office Youth Connect Foundation, 10/24 Samaksapphakarn Road, Mae Sot, Tak 63110, Thailand Border Line 674/14 Intharakeeree Road, Mae Sot, Tak 63110, Thailand Chaing Mai, Thailand Coming Soon! Modules Information No. A4, Mya Kan Thar Street, Mya Kan Thar Housing (near Hledan), Ward No.2, Kamayut Township, Yangon Phone (+95) 9777368290 Email - [email protected] 10/24 Samaksapphakarn Road, Maesot, Tak 63110, Thailand Phone (+66) 894610584 You can also find us at http://www.moteoo.org/ (or) https://www.facebook.com/moteooeducation