Well, I finally did it!
I was able to find a contact in Spain through a community blog, Early Childhood Educators. Her name is Lucy Moretti and she teachers ESL to children ages 3-12 in Madrid. It is an extracurricular English class in both a Catholic (semi-private) school and in a public school.
She told me that she has lost 25% of her students because of the crisis. She said prices for the English classes are extremely low and they are set by the school parent association. Even with low prices, they are still seeing a drop in enrollment. Many families have only one working parent. In the public school, children eat breakfast and lunch in the canteen, but due to the rising costs of this service, the school is currently meeting with families to discuss changing the times so that children can have lunch at home. In the semi-private school, it is not such a problem because it is mostly wealthy families who choose to send their children to this school. She also states that in Europe public schools are free and every child must go. Madrid has taken many initiatives to provide food to children and has also done fund raising for this purpose.
I was a little shocked to learn that the public schools were considering restructuring times so that children would be home at lunch time. I know that would never work here because most of our families have 2 working parents. They already make a big stink about half-day kindergarten and trying to find care for the kindergarteners.
Hi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that your contact responded. Cutting short school time so that children can go home for lunch seems harsh but with number of children dropping coupled with the economic crisis, it is understandable. Thanks for sharing
Sonali
Hi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on successfully getting a contact! I still have not...I am envious. :-) I agree with you that the 2 hour lunch would not work in the states! I enjoyed reading about how Madrid is providing programs to get food to the children through fund raisers. Thanks for the great info and great job on making a contact! Tammy
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing to see how America funds our schools with USDA programs in conjunction with our farmers and how other countries have to fund raise to find a means to offer lunch at schools. If I paid for my children's lunch at school I would pay 300 a month for all three of my children. To say the least my children take their lunch. Families who qualify for reduced for free lunches are often in poverty and need that support from the government and USDA for their children to receive lunch and breakfast. We also have a program in MS, that offers breakfast and lunch for children throughout the summer. You have to go to the school to receive it but it is free to any child under the age of 18. In your blog you discussed how the children would go home for lunch, and in the United States we send them to school so they can get lunch. Great Post, Melissa
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome that you have been able to establish contact with an international educator. It is said that poverty is affecting the enrollment in her class. I can understand why the program is reviewing the idea to have students go home for lunch in order to save money for the program. But, as in the United States, I can see how this idea can be troubling for single parents who are responsible for the family's entire income. I hope that they are able to find a way to accommodate all of the children and increase enrollment in the program. I am looking forward to more updates from your educator!
Tiffany
Hi Lynn!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on contacting someone for this unit of study! I found your posting to be very exciting and interesting. I think children having lunch at home is a great way to keep parents involved in their child's education however it seems as if it would be a very challenging concept with having to break up the parent and child's day. As a teacher, I have been met with may challenges with parent involvement even in after work/school hours so I could only imagine the level of difficulty splitting their day would be.
Thanks again,
Berdetta
Hi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you have gotten in contact with an early childhood professional abroad, and that you guys have been communicating and interchanging beliefs, and ideas about younger children. I too feel that it is difficult that they are trying to modify the school day around children eating lunch at home. Children need to eat at least 3 healthy meals a day in order to provide gain energy and provide their brain with what it takes to function appropriately. It just bring tears to my eyes when I see or hear of people going hungry, especially children. I hope they will be able to collaborate with organizations who are willing to provide funding so that these children will be able to be provided a meal.
I was shocked when reading your post about changing times to eat lunch at homes. Most That would be OK for families that only have 1 working parent but that would be extremely difficult for families where no one is ho me during the day. Parents do make a stink about half-day kindergarten and have to pay an arm and a leg for full day unless they work in a low income area. This would be really hard to do in the US. Thanks for the information!
ReplyDelete