On Friday, February 25th, some TeachUNICEF Committee members – Daria, Jordan, and Sita – made a visit to the Beacon House, another “after-school school” in D.C. also supervised by Ms. MJ, the lady who runs the Peace Room at the Perry School. This is the first time we have sent volunteers to the Beacon House. The topic was disability awareness. Here is what the members had to say about their visit:
Daria: Jordan, Sita and I had a great visit to the Beacon House! The kids were so welcoming and eager to sit down and learn about the issues we had to talk about. We sat in a circle with around ten young girls, ages six to ten. We wanted to talk about children with disabilities and the work that UNICEF does around the world to facilitate and better life for these children. We first introduced the notion that there are different kinds of disabilities and that some are more pronounced than others. The girls took well to the subjects we were talking about; they especially had a lot to say about people in their lives who had certain disabilities. We asked them to reflect about the things in their lives that would be different if they were themselves affected with a disability and we had them write these down on a poster board. All of them were quite vocal in expressing their favorite activities, be it sports or any other extracurricular, and how much they would miss participating in these activities if they were affected with a disability. I feel that this was the most direct response to what we were teaching because it seemed to resonate on a personal level with all the girls. We then read out quotes from children around the world with disabilities and how they’ve been affected by this change in their lives. Jordan also presented a video on a young girl named Nodira, living in Uzbekistan, and her struggle with her disability. The girls listened attentively to the video and seemed to better understand the issues we had been talking about. We spoke about learning to treat everyone as equals, and not having pity on but rather approaching a child with disabilities with respect, compassion and love. In the end, Mrs. MJ taught us a special Peace pledge which we all recited and we answered any further questions that any of the girls had regarding children with disabilities, UNICEF’s work or our own involvement with this cause. It was a great experience and a fun afternoon with lively kids willing to learn about the plight of different children around the world.
Jordan: I think that our visit to the Beacon House went very well. We presented the topic of children with disabilities as clearly as possible. I believe that the girls were able to understand the main concepts, but we made sure to stress the point about treating children with disabilities with respect and love. They enjoyed the activities and were really enthusiastic during the Q&A portions. I think that showing videos during our presentations is very effective because it settles the children down, and visual teaching techniques make it easier for them to create a picture of what we are teaching them. Overall, I believe the visit was a success.
Sita: At the Beacon House, Daria, Jordan and I taught about 20 girls about children with disabilities. While on the way there we discussed how we were going to divide the lesson plan. Daria started off by introducing the topic and how one should define disabilities. The introduction activity went very well as the children were very interactive and although they were not able to completely grasp the understanding of disabilities, they gave many examples of children with disabilities. However, I found that they often confused the term disabilities with being temporarily hurt.
After Daria’s introduction activity, I asked the children to express what they would not be able to do if they had certain disabilities. We divided them into two groups and I asked them to draw/write what they love to do but might not be able to do. They seemed to really enjoy the drawing activity, as it was interactive.
We continued with the video, which Jordan loaded for the children. He explained the videos to the girls, which they seemed to respond well to. Finally, we read off the quotes from children with disabilities. They all wanted to participate and asked if they could read them too.
I had a wonderful first experience with TeachUNICEF Georgetown at the Beacon House. Though they kids argued at times, they overall got along very well with each other and seemed to understand the main point of the lesion. They understand that they should not be disrespectful or discriminate against other kids who are different.
