Educational establishments in the municipalities of Codegua, San Francisco de Mostazal, Machalí, Doñihue, Coltauco, Rengo, Quinta de Tilcoco, San Vicente, Pichidegua and Chimbarongo form a network to improve practices and enhance the education of children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.

The current health crisis forced to redesign much of the work programmed for the year 2020 and the virtual meetings have been the option to continue with a certain normality the daily work. This was the understanding of the 81 schools in the O'Higgins region that are part of the Improvement Network A Good Start (UBC) of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, who in pandemic have continued to collaborate, reflect and share experiences to support the education of prekindergarten and kindergarten children who today must continue their education at home.

These are municipal establishments in the municipalities of Codegua, San Francisco de Mostazal, Machalí, Doñihue, Coltauco, Rengo, Quinta de Tilcoco, San Vicente, Pichidegua and Chimbarongo. de Tilcoco, San Vicente, Pichidegua and Chimbarongo, which have the purpose of promoting the the continuous development of teaching and management skills in order to sustain improvement and and school effectiveness and thus have an impact on children's learning. learning of boys and girls at the preschool level.

In mid-March the first approach was made to continue the work developed in 2018 and 2019. 2018 y 2019. In those days, the first virtual meeting was held with the teams in charge of leading the work in each commune to teams in charge of leading the work in each commune to generate conversations of personal and professional and professional level and then gradually move forward in the search for topics to be addressed together with the the search for topics to address together with the entire network, which includes 207 educators and assistants in early childhood education. and assistants in early childhood education, 81 directors and 77 heads of Technical Pedagogical Units (UTP). Technical Pedagogical Unit (UTP).

"The key has been collaborative work, trust and humility when facing this new reality. and humility in facing this new reality have been key, and the commitment and vocation of the teams in charge of leading the admirable is the commitment and vocation of the teams in charge of leading the communes, concerned about the people, the emotional wellbeing of the concerned about people, about the emotional wellbeing of colleagues, children, and the the emotional wellbeing of colleagues, children and families," explains the coordinator of the UBC network and network and UBC supporters of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Carolina Zúñiga. Zúñiga.

The priority of the of the current work is to maintain the achievements of the past year, where they generated community spaces in which all members were able to contribute to the improvement of early childhood initial education, with key elements such as motivation, participation, horizontality and participation, horizontality, characteristics in the facilitation of the teams that lead the networks. the facilitation of the teams that lead the community networks.

"The work on the Network in quarantine time has been very important. has been very important, as it has kept me communicated, motivated and willing to make changes for the benefit of and willing to make changes, mainly for the benefit of continuous improvement in the learning the learning of the students at the initial level," says the principal of the Larmahue school in the of the Larmahue school in the commune of Pichidegua, María Margarita Miranda.

For her part, Alejandra Espinoza, a classroom assistant at the Santa Teresa de Avila school in the Rengo district Santa Teresa de Avila school in the commune of Rengo, Alejandra Espinoza, adds that "it has been very important to continue working in the network mode, as it has allowed us to has been very important to continue working in network mode, as it has allowed us to outline a plan to address the different challenges. to outline a plan to address the different challenges. Likewise, I appreciate the shared experiences that give way to reflections, which help us to define a working modality to define a work modality to be implemented in the commune".

The space, called "Escuchando aprendo", will bring songs, riddles, stories and games to homes to reinforce language-related content.

In order to support the current situation in which children are without classes and must continue with their teaching-learning process at home, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad created the radio program "Escuchando aprendo" which began to be broadcast on local radio stations in the regions of O'Higgins and Coquimbo.

This program is especially aimed at children from prekindergarten to second grade and will feature songs, riddles, stories and games for and will include songs, riddles, stories and games so that they can reinforce some of the to reinforce some of the learning that they are already doing with the activities that their activities that their schools send them.

This created by the team of the Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) program of Fundación Educacional Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, which since 2008 has sought to contribute to the improving the quality of early childhood education (prekindergarten and kindergarten), to support schools in the improvement of pedagogical and leadership practices so that children can and leadership practices so that children can achieve a better socioemotional and language development. language and social-emotional development.

The director of implementation of the UBC program, Perla Chávez, pointed out that "this program was born from the need to program was born out of the need to provide all children with a space for learning and playful space for learning and playful enjoyment that can be available to all families, regardless of whether or not they have families, regardless of whether or not they have technological resources". 

In addition, We are deeply grateful to the radio stations that have granted us a space and we hope to contribute space and we hope to contribute so that children can continue learning, exploring new explore new formats, strengthen new skills and, above all, we hope to bring joy and wellbeing in such difficult times for children. above all, we hope to bring joy and well-being in such difficult times for them and their families. them and their families".

If you are a member of an English teaching or management team, you can be part of the Poster Session of the 6th International Seminar Expanding Opportunities to be held in September 2020, in this version, in online format.

We invite you to publish your experience in an academic poster, within the following topics:

✅ Working with families for English language instruction.
✅ Innovative methodologies for remote English language instruction.
✅ Use of technology for English language instruction.
✅ Curricular prioritization in relation to context.

Proposals should include a description of the experience, methodology, evidence and results. The forms are available at the following link ➡️ https://bit.ly/2YSGVGd

 Applications are open until Saturday, June 20 at 18.00 hrs. For more information, we invite you to write to the following email: 📧 seminario@fundacionoportunidad.cl

In this video we answer possible doubts you may have about the process:

And in this chart the most relevant dates:

The activities framed in Fundación Educacional Oportunidad's #OportunidadDeAprender campaign are simple, brief, playful and varied so that they can be carried out by children between the ages of 4 and 6 in the company of any adult living with them.

The current health crisis has affected the face-to-face learning processes of around 3.6 million students in Chile. As a result of this, a series of alternatives have arisen for children and young people to continue with their education remotely, either through online classes, using social networks, WhatsApp, or through physical material that the same establishments have been delivering.

In the case of children who should currently be in prekindergarten and kindergarten, it is the adults who live with them who have had to assume the important role of becoming mediators of their learning.

At In this context, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad launched a campaign to provide families with short, playful and families, through social networks, short, playful and varied activities that can be carried out by children activities that can be carried out by children between 4 and 6 years old, and the attention and concentration span of children between 4 and 6 years of age. concentration they have at that age.

The proposed activities are aimed at developing knowledge and skills in areas such as language, mathematics, science and socio-emotional such as language, mathematics, science and social-emotional development, and have been created with the expected learning objectives for prekindergarten and kindergarten children in mind. kindergarten and kindergarten children.

"This is an invitation to families This is an invitation to families so that, through the generation of safe, nurturing and playful safe, welcoming and playful environments, they can work hand in hand with educational teams and schools, promoting educational teams and schools, promoting meaningful learning in their children. meaningful learning. Our previous campaign focused on the socioemotional children's socioemotional wellbeing, which is a fundamental basis for other learning in different areas of the learning, in different areas of development, can take place. We invite you to continue to focus on children's happiness, as well as to provide them with diverse learning opportunities," she said. opportunities for learning," said Marcela Marzolo, executive director of Fundación Educacional executive director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad.

The selection of activities of the #OportunidadDeAprender campaign is available on the Facebook fan page (facebook.com/FunOportunidad/) available on the Facebook fan page(facebook.com/FunOportunidad/) and the Instagram(instagram.com/fun_oportunidad/) and Twitter(twitter.com/Fun_Oportunidad) accounts of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad under the hashtag #OportunidadDeAprender.

We also invite you to visit our online resource platform where you will find the complete set of activities for early childhood education, as well as some of them translated into Haitian Creoles: https://oportunidadenlinea.cl/actividades-para-el-hogar/

The #NiñosFelices initiative seeks to mitigate the emotional impact that children may be having during the period of social isolation through simple actions, such as sharing hugs, conversations, games and laughter with the adults present in their home, among others.

With the global pandemic as a context, several problems have arisen at a global level and others that are born in the most intimate space of the home, where children begin to perceive the concern of adults.

In order to safeguard their emotional well-being, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad launched the campaign #NiñosFelices (#HappyChildren), which seeks that the adults in the home consciously carry out actions that favor positive and quality interactions with the children and thus reduce the stress that the health contingency and the quarantine confinement may be generating.

Specifically, there are 14 challenges that seek to highlight the importance of performing simple actions such as hugging, smiling, listening attentively, congratulating, thanking or promoting children's independence.

These challenges will be shared on Fundación Educacional Oportunidad's social networks (facebook.com/FunOportunidad/). Oportunidad(facebook.com/FunOportunidad/ and Instagram.com/fun_oportunidad/), and will also be made available to the more than 100 public schools in the Metropolitan and more than 100 public schools in the Metropolitan and O'Higgins regions that are part of the O'Higgins regions that are part of the early childhood education program Un Buen Comienzo and the and the nearly 20 schools that are part of the We Learn early English learning program in the We Learn early English teaching program in the regions of Coquimbo and Magallanes.

The executive director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Marcela Marzolo, said about the campaign that "our first concern is the children and their socioemotional wellbeing. and their socioemotional wellbeing. We want to show adults that, through simple actions, it is possible to create a positive and supportive environment for children. simple actions, it is possible to create a positive and nurturing environment for them, which will mitigate in some way the negative effects that confinement can bring. confinement can bring.   

Psychologist María Virginia López, coordinator of the organization's early education area, added that "these simple and concrete actions develop an emotional connection of respect and mutual enjoyment, which allows us to generate a climate of support that accompanies the children during the time they remain at home".

This Wednesday, April 22, the first chapter of the program will be broadcasted by the We Learn team of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, which will have entertaining sections that will allow children, young people and even adults to learn this language.

Since 2006, the early English teaching program We Learn of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad has been collaborating with public schools in the Elqui Valley with the objective of expanding the opportunities for children from pre-kindergarten to learn this language. Considering the efforts made by the schools to continue promoting learning when classes are suspended, the We Learn program has sought new ways to support this work and found in Radio Elquina an important ally.

Starting this Wednesday, April 22, at 3:00 p.m., the radio program "Con el Valle aprendo inglés" will be broadcast, hosted by Daniella Restuccia and Miguel Ángel Domínguez, who for one hour will share songs, games and other playful activities to teach the language even to adults who are interested in learning.

The head of the We Learn program of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Paz Collao, said that "we are very grateful for the space that radio has given us, We are very grateful for the space that Radio Elquina has given us, demonstrating its commitment to education. Elquina has given us, demonstrating its commitment to education. This radio program is an initiative that seeks to support the community of the Elqui Valley with the learning English, reaching homes in an entertaining way. We will have sections where children can send us their audios of songs to sing and dance. sing and dance".

He also added that "it is important to keep learning at home during this period, It is important to keep learning at home during this time," she added, "but it is also very important to have fun, to have fun, to move around. but it is also very important to have fun, have a good time, move around, so it is a very dynamic, playful so it is a very dynamic, playful space so that everyone in the family can learn English from the learn English from the comfort of their own home.

"Con Con el Valle aprendo inglés" will have a premiere broadcast every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. and will also have a repeat and will also have a rebroadcast of the episode on Saturdays at the same time. same time. Those who wish to participate by sending their audios for the different sections can send them to sections, can send them via Whatsapp to +56 9 3763 1838.

The E-learning section of our website contains innovative strategies, methodologies successfully tested in Chilean public schools, best practice videos, planning and downloadable material, which will be useful both to support parents with activities at home and to plan activities for back to school.

In a challenging scenario for the Chilean educational system, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad makes available to the educational community a new online tool, free and freely available, which will allow educators, kindergarten education assistants, teachers and management teams from Chile and other Spanish-speaking countries to train in language strategies, natural sciences, promotion of class attendance, English and continuous improvement.

Today this resource is even more important, because with the schools closed, it becomes a training opportunity for these teams, who, from their homes, can learn new strategies for when the schools open their doors, learn about examples of material for families and prepare their own from the available resources, to share with their parents during the contingency.

It is a platform with content based on the learning and based on the learning and experience acquired by the Un Buen Comienzo program, which since 2008 has been working Since 2008, this program has been collaborating with public schools in the Metropolitan and O'Higgins regions. Metropolitan and O'Higgins regions.

The resources are available at www.fundacionoportunidad.cl, where users must log in to the E-learning dashboard which leads to the learning modules and contents that will allow them to work on units such as phonological to work in a first stage on units such as phonological awareness, emergent writing, listening comprehension and strategies to expand the vocabulary of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children. kindergarten and kindergarten children.

The platform also includes a Science Corner, with a selection of materials, activities and activities and lesson plans that allow to approach in a playful way the core "Exploration of the Natural of the Natural Environment" of the new Curricular Bases of Kindergarten Education, through 6 thematic axes: human body; healthy life; living beings and their environment; nature and their environment; nature and ecological habits; shadows and reflections; and movements. movements.

In the coming months, the platform will incorporate resources for other educational levels and will for other educational levels and will add new areas such as English teaching and continuous improvement. continuous improvement.

"We are very proud to be able to share the experience and lessons learned and learning accumulated for more than 12 years by the Foundation, so that more educational teams and so that more educational teams and directors have the opportunity to access them and put their learning at the and put their learning at the service of the children in early education in our country. our country. This is even more relevant for us in the context of the country we are living in, and we hope that it will be an important and we hope that it will be a useful tool both for professional development and for the professional development as well as for children's learning," said Marcela Marzolo, executive director of the Marzolo, executive director of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad.

They completed a scholarship program of the U.S. Embassy in Chile, implemented by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad.

On Thursday, December 19, a ceremony was held to mark the end of the We Learn Access program, an English scholarship program of the U.S. Embassy in Chile that was implemented for the first time in the Coquimbo region by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, with the support of Beyond English, in which 27 students from the Elqui Valley reinforced their English skills thanks to a scholarship that allowed them to have 360 extracurricular hours of classes for two years.

We Learn Access was supported by English-speaking professionals from Beyond English and local English teachers, who English teachers, who promoted the use of the language to the youngsters of the Liceo Mistraliano (Paihuano) and the Edmundo Vidal Cárdenas school (Vicuña) in activities outside of the activities outside the classroom that were developed in a playful way and with 4 axes that guided their astronomy, environmental protection, cultural identity and leadership skills. cultural identity and leadership skills.

The big event where these young people put into practice what they learned at We Learn Access was the July solar eclipse, where they worked as tour guides. solar eclipse in July, where they worked as tour guides providing information English-speaking visitors who visited the Elqui Valley. Elqui Valley.

After the We Learn Access completion ceremony, student Celeste Troncoso of the Celeste Troncoso from Liceo Mistraliano said, "I am sure that speaking English will make it easier for me that speaking English will make it much easier when I want to go and live in another country or when I want to study, so I am very or when I want to study, so I am very grateful. It was a very good experience where we were able to speak English and develop other skills that will help us in life. that will help us in life".

Sebastián Sebastián Fábregas, from the Edmundo Vidal Cárdenas school, added that "it was an excellent experience and I wish many other young people could have this opportunity to participate in the program. to participate in the program. It was very positive to speak with native speakers from an English-speaking English-speaking country and interacting with our own peers in that language. language.

The #NiñosFelices initiative seeks to mitigate the emotional impact that children may be having during the period of social isolation through simple actions, such as sharing hugs, conversations, games and laughter with the adults present in their home, among others.

With training on the use of time for pedagogical purposes aimed at educators and assistants in early childhood education and another on emergent writing and use of time aimed at Heads of Technical Pedagogical Units, the pilot program "Learning for a Good Start", carried out in schools belonging to the Local Public Education Service (SLEP) Puerto Cordillera in the Coquimbo Region, came to an end.

"Learning for a Good Start" was implemented in the Coquimbo region thanks to a collaboration agreement between Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education.

This program is a light version of the Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) teacher and management professional development program that Fundación Educacional Oportunidad has been implementing for more than 12 years in public schools, and dispenses with classroom accompaniment processes, but addresses through training the strategies that UBC participating schools implement to improve the learning of children at the initial level.

Throughout the year, educational teams and management teams from 20 municipal schools of the SLEP Puerto Cordillera, made up of the communes of Coquimbo and Andacollo, participated, who not only participated in training, but also received various materials such as books for the classroom library, language plans for each title, attendance panels, alcohol gel, among others, those that are part of the language and assistance strategies promoted by the Foundation.

This pilot program focused on attendance during the first semester, presenting strategies to combat chronic absenteeism (missing more than 10% of school days), and language in the second semester, providing specific strategies to improve oral comprehension, vocabulary, emergent writing, and address the organization of time in the classroom.

One of the characteristics of this program is that not only preschool educators participate, but also incorporates the assistant in preschool education, as well as the heads of UTP, who were given tools for observation and feedback to the educational teams.

Next year, it is expected to deepen the assistance strategies by promoting the use by schools of the assistance platform made available by the Foundation, with the purpose of leaving installed capacity not only in the establishments, but also in the monitoring and follow-up processes carried out by the technical teams of the Local Service.

Trinidad Castro, Head of the Learning Transfer Area of the Foundation, the area in charge of this collaboration agreement, commented that "for the Foundation it was very gratifying that the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education wanted to implement a pilot with our programs (a pilot is also being implemented with our English program in Puerto Natales), since one of the requirements for the selection, it was that they were programs implemented responsibly, with trajectory and that had demonstrated positive results in children."