A New Year and A New Start to Male Patan Day-care Centre

Objectives:

For January 2015

To introduce a more organised toilet and rotation system with the children

To inspire the volunteers to be more creative and productive during planning for the week

including testing ideas and working with new people/resources

To continue the stability in the routine of the childrens everyday activities

To reinforce the teaching and testing of the theme words in the centre

Summary:

We began the month of January with printing key Nepali words that are useful when working in the

childcare centre with the aim to communicate better with them, hence making a more organised

group. We also worked closely with the two teachers at the centre to continue the day-to-day

running of the activities at the centre. Reinforcing the theme words when planning proved to be

both beneficial for the children and the volunteers. Volunteers are more productive when planning

now as they see the difference it makes to be organised and prepared. Also, the children are

learning new English words and continue to use them during our time there.

Report:

New System

With the help of a few of our long term

volunteers we were able to compose a

list of helpful words for daily use in the

centre. Words like sit, wash hands,

be quiet and toilet etc. have been

very convenient to have around as we

can now communicate with the children

much better now.

We have introduced a new toilet system

at Male Patan too. The children now line

up along a wall before going to the toilet

one by one. This helps us to control

where the kids are at all times and also

teaches them about waiting in line and

sitting quietly. We use this system with

all the children after teeth cleaning and

before and after meals to aid in stopping

the bed wetting in the centre.

Planning

The volunteers have been more productive

and involved in the weekly planning for

Male Patan since we have devoted

Thursday nights to the planning and weekly

reviews instead of the previous Friday

nights. With this slight change the planning

has been more efficient and great new

ideas have been vocalised to excite and

engage the children into learning the

theme words. Volunteers have also realised

the importance of back up plans and testing

new ideas before the activity is due after a

few failed attempts at Arts and Craft

activities.

I am so happy to see my son learn

so many new English words that

will help him when he starts school

in April. The arts and crafts are

always so much fun!

Mother of a child at the centre

Bina

Theme Words

Volunteers have been inspired to come up with

exciting new theme words for the kids to learn

and use more in their everyday lives after

observing the children using the previous words

learnt (e.g. naming all the fruit in both English and

Nepali after having a food themed week in the

centre).

Everyone, the two teachers included, have enjoyed this fresh new change and positive attitude

towards theme words and activities based around them. A wide range of subjects have been

covered too from apple stamping, science experiments and bubble play. The atmosphere in the

centre in the past month has overall been a very positive and productive environment with

optimistic results from all involved in the running of Male Patan.

GVI and the volunteers have been

working hard to improve the

childrens behaviour the lines

work so well and we are so happy!

Teacher at the centre Bhagwati

Baral