Establishing Professional Contacts/Expanding Resources

Global Correspondence

In preparation for this assignment to establish professional contacts with early childhood professionals outside the United States I sent 19 emails to potential education professionals using the The Global Alliance of NAEYC website and one email from an alternate source I located by surfing the web. I also asked my niece visiting in the Netherlands to contact elementary schools for contacts, I asked my neighbor’s girlfriend living and teaching in Canada to correspond, and my daughter provided a contact from one of her friends that recently moved to the United States from Spain. Of the 20 emails I sent, seven were delivered. I received a response from one of the emails from an English teacher in Benin. I am planning to meet with my daughter’s friend tomorrow to exchange email addresses. I have not received a response from my contact in Canada.
Claudio Hounkponou is an English teacher from Benin with whom I have been corresponding. Claudio identified some issues in Benin that effect education as: “First, there is a low rate of girls attending school , most people in the rural areas especially peasants and farmers refuse to send their girls to school. For, according to them girls are to stay at home for household shores. Second, there is lack of appropriate materials for teaching.So, most teachers here lack adequate teaching materials. Besides, all the students don't have the books for learning. Third, the classrooms are narrow with great number of students sometimes exceeding sixty. Fourth, we have the issue of training and retaining of teachers. In today's Education in BENIN ninety percent of teachers are young people who need to be trained and retrained.”
The Republic of Benin is a small country about the size of Pennsylvania located in West Africa. Benin is bordered on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Niger River, on the west by Togo, and on the east by Nigeria. The country is under military democratic rule. The climate is hot and humid with an average temperature between 75 degrees and 89 degrees Fahrenheit. There are two rainy seasons and two dry seasons. Tourists are attracted to see the elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, and monkeys. The economy is agricultural with cotton being the main crop. There are 110 Peace Corps volunteers in Benin that promote sustainable development through activities in health, education, the environment and small enterprise development (infoplease, n/d). Claudio mentioned in an email that French is their official language and “Furthermore, we have some america's volunteers in our secondary school”.

Reference

infoplease, n/d. infoplease All the knowledge you need. infoplease. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/country/profiles/benin.html


Expanding Resources

I selected The National Association for the Education of Young Children website to explore and study because I would like to become a member to receive the many benefits offered including a subscription to one of their magazines. While researching NAEYC’s website I noticed easy access to their position statement, developmentally appropriate practices, an E-zine and many other resources I frequently reference. The home page to their website is visually appealing with alternating topics, publications and resources in the learn more section. This website appears to be very extensive and includes a section on publication that is of interest to me.
The NAEYC’s website supports the early childhood community by providing information about all of their publications plus the on-line publications including a scholarly journal, books and variety of brochures and other publications. You may research specific topics and authors using this website. The website provides research references as well as ready to use ideas and materials for classroom teachers.