We all understand that kids can’t sit down for 40 minutes and stare at a computer screen during virtual learning sessions, but we expect them to sit down for 40 minutes and stare at a whiteboard in a typical classroom. We understand that parents are busy during the pandemic and have trouble finding time to […]
“What about special education?” As we continue our teacher training in Peru and Bolivia, and as their respective Ministries of Education gain more and more confidence in Alma, we are receiving additional requests for add-ons and new proposals to address all issues in education. Problems like how to manage a virtual classroom, work with trade […]
When COVID 19 hit North America schools shut down and teachers were told to teach remotely. Few educators had experience with online education delivery and teachers began scrambling to create new lesson plans and new ways of communicating those plans. In Peru and Bolivia, the same thing happened. In Peru, a national program called “Aprender […]
One of the most interesting pieces of using our Alma methodology within the official state curriculum and adapting it to remote and virtual learning has been seeing how many obstacles to distance learning are actually just obstacles to learning exasperated by the distance. We always need to keep students engaged, always need to get parents […]
By early August, Alma will have trained over 10,000 teachers in Bolivia and Peru; helping them to connect the gap between theoretical national curriculums and practical classroom implementation, all within the context of remote and virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our distance learning proposal was adopted first by the largest province in Cusco, […]
As I write this, the number of reported cases and deaths in Peru and Bolivia is not “flattening” and the situation is dire. Trinidad, our base in Bolivia, has the highest per-capita caseload in the country and the total cases in Peru puts them 10th in the world (twice as many cases as in China). […]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education in Peru is working hard to make sure the 2020 school year is not lost. It created a distance-learning platform called “yo aprendo en casa” (I learn at home) which broadcasts daily lesson plans for all grade levels through television, internet, and radio. In addition, the national […]
Since late last year Alma has been working with 14 educational specialists and 2,218 teachers from the UGEL Quispicanchi to use Alma’s unique teaching methodology based in local indigenous knowledge, critical and creative thinking, harmonious values, and state mandated academic competencies in order achieve the goals set forth in Peru’s national curriculum for all of […]
Robert, Armando, Rider and Wilber are all Alma Foundation Alumni’s. Robert and Armando are studying nursing, Rider is from Monte Cristo and studies veterinary medicine. Wilber is from Nuevo Amanecer and studies business administration. These four students work exceptionally hard to to reach their goals and, once they have finished their education, plan go back […]
Iquitos is a large city in the northern jungle region of Peru. It has a high level of economic poverty clustered into three neighbourhoods in particular. That is where we support two “partner projects” and I must say that when I visited a few years ago I was struck by the difficult living conditions. COVID-19 […]
My name is Nataly, I am 14 years old, I have lived in the Alalay Children’s Home for the last 6 months. I study here, eat here, and sleep here. This is my home. Before living in Alalay my life was not easy. My siblings and I were constantly trying to run away from home […]
Bolivia was just put in total quarantine throughout the territory because of the coronavirus crisis. We can no longer walk about the city or live our normal routine. Representatives from the Alma Foundation in Bolivia, along with the Bolivian Police, went to drop off food and necessary goods to our Alma Alumni project, located in […]
Have you ever wondered how the Alma Foundation teachers do their planning? Our teachers have to create practical and theoretical lessons and run through the lessons themselves before going to their communities. They want to ensure that the children are inspired, and they enjoy their learning and have fun. That is why our teachers are […]
In Peru and Bolivia, the start of the school year has been pushed back to April. Our teachers and coordinators are working hard from home on refining their lesson plans, reviewing teaching strategies, and creating new culturally-based projects. Instead of being a setback, these two weeks of state-enforced quarantine have given us time to clarify […]
In the months before the start of the school year, Alma is already hard at work training our teachers and developing culturally meaningful lesson plans in Peru and Bolivia. This year, however, we are happy to have the added challenge of working with the local branch of the Ministry of Education in the UGEL Quispicanchi. […]
If there’s one thing we all agree on, it’s that no one seems to agree about anything! There is no need to go into specific examples of the polarization affecting societies around the world – we all seem to have a list of examples on hand at all times. I was in Bolivia last […]
The political crisis we are going through as a country, the appointment of new authorities, the new deadlines for national and subnational elections, set a scenario with uncertainties not only for the inhabitants of Bolivia but also for the private entities that operate in our country. For the Alma Foundation, the good news is […]
Bolivia has experienced an unprecedented political crisis since October 2019. The conflict began earlier in the year, with the protest from many sectors of the Bolivian society against Evo Morales Ayma fourth consecutive run for president, contradicting what is postulated in the Political Constitution of the State, the country’s magna rule. Following the general elections […]