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4- The Oakville Beaver, Friday July 20, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com SABRINA BYRNES / OAKVILLE BEAVER ONE-ON-ONE: Fifteen-year-old C.J. receives some one-on-one help from St. Lucia volunteer Herb Goodhoofd. Donations free students from limitations Continued from page 3 with the teachers and the children, all the students came outside to sing us a song and say thank you for the week. Tears were shed as Simona thanked her teachers for a great year and wished luck to the ones who will not be returning next year. Anna Lisa, the Kindergarten teacher will be attending teachers college in the fall for a two-year course. The children gave all the volunteers a thank-you card, and it was a very warm moment when one child came up with a card and gave me a great big hug. The volunteers try hard to show the teachers that they are not telling them their way of teaching is better, they are just sharing techniques they have found worked in their classrooms. It is a partnership. The St. Lucia teachers don't have the opportunity to attend workshops like teachers in Canada. They are not aware of other methods of teaching. They do not have a budget for supplies like teachers in Canada. They have to buy all the supplies for their classrooms themselves. The supplies are expensive. A box of markers, here is about $16 EC, which converts to about $8 Canadian. Pencil crayons were about the same price. Everything is expensive. This has prevented many children from being exposed to arts and crafts. The teachers are not able to use scissors or glue, which is why it's a huge experience for them when they attend camp. "They're not free to just splash paint on a piece of paper. They don't have it, so they can't do it. They don't have access to glue and scissors and pieces of paper. They can't be free with their own expression in art, said Ingrid Jack, an Educational Assistant at Primrose Elementary School in Shelburne. The children work slowly with their art because they are afraid of doing it wrong. They've never been given that kind of freedom, so they constantly look at the work of others to try and do it the same. "We are forever encouraging them to have their own expression," said Ingrid. That fear of making a mistake and being afraid to take a risk is something I've also noticed with the children over the past couple of days. The children were asked to write in their journals and draw a photo with it, and many were struggling. Some children are not able to read or write, so they needed help with dictating what they wanted to say. Some just erased and erased what they wrote after constantly looking at their peers' journals, and others were just trying to copy the photos, even if didn't relate to what they wrote. They are so nervous that when they are given praise it makes them feel special. Like most children, they need encouragement and approval. They need to know that it doesn't have to be perfect; it's unique and special because it is their own. Ingrid and Scott have both seen an improvement in one particular boy, Joe, who is about 10 years old. He was not able to recognize letters before, and now he is reading. The children have developed socially since the Learning Project began, as well. "We focus on that we are all individuals, but we all work together," said Ingrid, who talked about the camp being a positive atmosphere. "We model positive behavior for the children, so I think that that's a huge benefit for them. They're seeing us interacting with them in a positive way, they're seeing us interacting together in a positive way, and I think that that impacts them." Without the camp, they would have nothing for the months that school is out. "Something like this is definitely a highlight," said Herb Goodhoofd, a special education teacher at E. C. Drury High School in Milton. Herb spent gave extra attention to one 15-year-old boy, C.J., who has a learning disability. "His reading is very limited," said Herb. In Canada, his difficulties would have been noticed sooner. Herb is spending more time with him this week, trying to find books that arouse his curiosity. Turtles are the theme of the week. "The fact that they're learning turtles this week, doesn't matter. Turtles themselves are not important. Turtles are a hook," he said. The children have prior knowledge of turtles, which gives them the confidence to speak about what they know and obtain the learning skills to learn more. To Scott, the relationships are one of the key attributes for his decision to come back this year after his first stint as a volunteer last year. "It is the individual relationships, one of the reasons I came back for the whole summer this year," he said. "Having got to know them last year, I feel like I would have wasted my time if I didn't come and further those relationships." Through trust, the children learn just how much the volunteers care for them. "Kids won't learn, they won't really respect you as a person, unless they know you care." Scott stated. " Hopefully they'll want to learn from us because they know we care," he said.