Eighth-grade honors students in Audrey Ferraro’s language arts classes at Millstone Middle School communicate via Skype with Neil Christiansen, founder and CEO of Give and Surf, for a distance-learning project with students in Panama. Eighth-graders at Millstone’s middle school are helping to bridge the cultural gap across the Americas. Through a distancelearning program headed up by language arts teacher Audrey Ferraro, two honors classes are collaborating with underprivileged youngsters in Panama to gain a better understanding of one another while providing help to the students there.
“We have come to realize … that even though we are living in a small corner of the world, we can still have a direct impact on others,” Ferraro wrote in a letter about the program to Millstone Superintendent of Schools Scott Feder.
For the program’s kickoff, 48 students at the middle school communicated via Skype last week with Neil Christiansen, founder and CEO of an organization called Give and Surf, who developed a preschool in Panama.
“It was like he was right there,” Ferraro said. “The kids were really amazed and really captivated by his ability to reach these kids in a unique way.”
The students were given the opportunity to ask questions of Christiansen, a former medical salesperson who was enjoying success in his career in San Diego before starting the organization, according to Ferraro.
“He decided to give everything up and go there and start a preschool,” she said.
Give and Surf is a nonprofit “whose mission is to empower the indigenous community of Bahia Honda through a number of educational and community development programs,” according to the organization’s website. One such program was the development of the preschool, Monso Chi Escuelita, which was started in September and has an enrollment of 20 children, ages 3 to 5 years old.
Located in Bocas del Toro, Bahia Honda is an indigenous Ngobe community of about 250 inhabitants.
“They live in thatched huts, travel by kayaks and survive off subsistence living,” Ferraro said.
According to Ferraro, the idea of the distance learning program, which involves helping the children at the preschool and other schoolchildren in the community through a variety of means, is not to impose on the cultural norms of Bahia Honda.
“Our hopes are not to disturb their way of life, but to empower their community through further education,” she said. “We hope better education will lead to better opportunities and they will grow a sense of confidence and comfort around foreigners while at the same time learning English.”
To this end, Ferraro and her students have initiated a book drive as well as a drive for art supplies to introduce the Panamanian children to reading and the arts. The father of one student — Pranaya Gade — is a pharmacy owner, and intends to donate supplies from his stores, she said.
In addition, the Millstone students plan to teach the English alphabet to the preschoolers using a literacy program called the Letter People. Part of these undertakings requires the students to learn about the youngsters’ educational process to prepare for teaching them, Ferraro said. “We did some research on the area,” she said. “The real planning and implementation is going to be … in preparing and presenting the lessons.”
Lessons will be given via Skype, which isn’t as simple a prospect in Bahia Honda as it is in the U.S. For the sessions, Christiansen will transport children by boat to a location where Skype is available, according to Ferraro.
Children in Bahia Honda only receive formal schooling until sixth grade, she said — and that is not the only difference between them and their counterparts in the United States.
“He said they have no concept of imagination, imaginary play,” she said. “He said their day really revolves around survival.”
To acquaint themselves with the children and their way of life, the eighth-graders are drafting bios outlining their interests and other personal details with the help of a Spanish teacher at the school.
The Millstone students will each be given a Panamanian “buddy,” with whom they will work until the project ends with the school year in June.
Some students are hoping it won’t stop there. According to Ferraro, a number of them are already seeking sponsors to help them make the journey to Panama to meet with the children there this summer.
A documentary of the distance-learning program made by Millstone students Abby Urban, Kathy Ann Drake and Alexa Trionfo, will help keep its legacy alive.
“I’m hoping to continue this for years to come,” Ferraro said.
To find out more about Give and Surf or to make a donation, visit http://giveandsurf.org.