The workshop called Parent Training was held at the Ngarachamayong Cultural Center on September 2 and 3. It aimed to let parents know their roles in terms of supporting their kids at home and bridging the gap between home and school. Parents who attended the training were selected by their principals.
“About a hundred parents attended the training,” Janet Ebil Orrukem, Chief of Instruction Implementation and Teacher Training of the MOE, said in an interview. “The workshop is all about teaching parents how they are going to be the link between home and school. We want to let parents understand their roles and how they can help the schools and teachers help their children.”
The major focus in the workshop was to teach parents some strategies with Math and English. “A lot of activities were focused on Math and English,” Orrukem explained. “So parents can also experience what the concepts are about. Right now, we are implementing an approach that helps students solve math problems without using their fingers to count,” Orrukem said. She said the try to let the parents know what they are teaching kids so parents can understand the concept and support the lessons back home.
Orrukem said parents need to establish the line of communication with their kids and their kids’ teachers and, of course, the schools. “They need to know how they can be a support system.”
Orrukem said the training was also fun for parents.
“This is the first time that we did this. But we plan to do this annually,” Orrukem added. She said some parents requested that MOE come to their schools and do the same training for the benefit of those parents who were not able to attend.
“So we’re looking at the possibility of being able to do that,” Orrukem said. “Parents saw the importance of the training and they learned a lot.”
During the training, parents listed down what they think the role of the teachers are. Teachers also did the same; they identified the roles of the parents.
“Out of the list, we are coming up with a booklet to share to all schools,” Orrukem said.
Math specialists Hadleen Medalarak, Melanie Yangrelbug and Hiroe Saito, and English specialist Apollonia Sasao facilitated the training.
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