Skills for Kids wins Youth Innovation Fund for Kosovo

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:34 -0400

Skills for Kids is a recipient of the Youth Innovation Fund (YIF) of the World Bank for the Europe and Central Asia region. The Skills for Kids team will use the fund to implement the program in Kosovo in collaboration with the Kosovo Education Centre (KEC).

An enterprising young teacher implements SFK in the Philippines

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:04:30 -0400

Joan Bondoc Antonio, a young, enthusiastic school teacher from the Philippines, contacted Skills for Kids in December 2008. She had been looking for an easy-to-use curriculum and found that Skills for Kids was intuitive and fun. The following is an excerpt from an interview from Ms. Bondoc.

How did you hear of Skills for Kids (SFK)?
I learned about SFK while I was researching on the internet for lessons on entrepreneurship for my students. I wanted something that was not expensive to implement and that did not require extensive training.

How did you contact SFK?
I emailed the group through the “Contact Us” page of this website and one of the team members emailed me back. We conversed over Skype a few times and this helped me understand the material better.

What attracted you to SFK?
What attracted me to the SFK curriculum was the simple and creative manner in which each topic was presented. I liked the fact that it was versatile and fun for the students.

How as it met your needs?
The SKF curriculum has met my needs as a teacher because it has provided a simple and creative way of imparting valuable entrepreneurship knowledge to my students. I believe that these skills are very important in everyday lives.

What would you change about the curriculum?
I made a few minor changes and added a few activities when I implemented the curriculum in my class. These were mostly very minor such as the names of places, addresses and names of characters - I changed these to better suit the Philippino context.

Did you students enjoy SFK? Did anything improve as a result of SFK in your classroom?
My students enjoyed SFK. They would look forward to each lesson and come to class prepared. They always listened attentively and participated actively.

Did parents get involved in SFK?
Last school year, we didn’t have time to involve the parents. But this year we plan to have a mini bazaar during Christmas time so the children, with the help of their parents, can really experience running a business.

Which module did you enjoy the most and why?
Honestly, we enjoyed all the modules because of the fun activities that were part of each lesson. But I remember the kids being extra competitive and excited during the supply and demand exercise.