GC-DWC Haiti Radio Programs
Radio Distance Learning
When COVID-19 necessitated school closures in Haiti in March of 2020, educators and actors had to work quickly to maintain student learning during the crisis. Haiti’s current distance learning program is primarily online; however, only 40% of Haitian households have access to a power source, let alone a reliable internet connection (USAID 2018), that would enable them to use the program.
Recognizing radio as the most democratic and effective means of disseminating learning materials in Haiti during COVID-19, the University of Notre Dame's Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child Haiti (formerly Alliance for Catholic Education [ACE] Haiti), in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services Haiti (CRS) and the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education (CEEC), created four radio programs - a literacy program supplemented with a reading hour program, and a pre-K social and emotional learning (SEL) and parent engagement program, and another pre-K program that complements the current, school-based early childhood development (ECD) curriculum - as part of a comprehensive approach to distance learning in a low-tech environment.
We invite you to explore the complete collection of episodes from all three programs below. Within each page, you will find additional information on the specific program and have the opportunity to listen to a sample of the episodes and navigate to the complete episode library in Google Drive for free download. For more expedient download, you can access the entire library here.
Literacy Lessons
Explore 36 different literacy lessons with accompanying comprehension worksheets, available in French and Creole!
Pre-K/Parent Radio Program
Explore our 18-episode series for Pre-K students and parents. These episodes feature a new SEL theme every week and include read-alouds, wiggle times, and a parent question-answer session!
Reading Hour
Join our readers for new stories every week in Creole. There are 12 episodes total with 24 stories to explore!
For more information, please contact the Read Haiti/Strong Beginnings Team:
Kate Schuenke-Lucien, Director of Haiti Initiatives: kschuenk@nd.edu
Tamara Doucet-Larozar, Associate Director of Language and Literacy Education: tdoucetl@nd.edu
Michael Berino, Associate Director of ProjectAssociate Management: mberino@nd.edu
In the wake of political unrest and COVID-19, Haiti's school children will have missed 60% of their scheduled school days in the 2019-2020 school year. To learn more about the GC-DWC's response to COVID-19 in Haiti, please visit our COVID-19 response page.
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to our partners and donors who helped to make these radio programs a reality.
An Anonymous Foundation
Thank you as well to the creative artists who brought these radio programs to life through their music and stories:
ARB Music World Children's Songs, Monde des Titounis, Les P’tits z’Amis, Little Angel - Français!, Jeescreation, Blue Butterfly/Lakou Kajou, EducaVision, Maison Henri Deschamps / Editha, Les Éditions Haïtiennes
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Pre-K and Parent Radio
from the Strong Beginnings Haiti radio program.
Radio Distance Learning: Pre-K and Parent Program
A complement to the literacy radio program, the pre-K and parent radio program incorporates SEL themes, interactive activities for younger students, and strategies for parents to support young learners at home. Explore the series and read a short description of each episode below or listen to a sample from each week's broadcast.
Episode Guide
Explore the content of each week's episodes below and listen to a sample. You can access and download the episodes by clicking the link to access the full week of episodes at the bottom of each section.
Episode 1: Sense of Self
Students learn the mantra "I am smart and can do anything I put my mind to" while parents understand the unique period of growth during the first 1,000 days of a child's life, particularly healthy brain development.
Listen to episode 1!
Episode 2: Relationship Skills
Parents and children recognize the importance of a healthy parent-child relationship with respect at the forefront.
Episode 3: Review of Sense of Self and Relationship Skills
Access Week 1 Episodes
Episode 1: Emotional Understanding
Focusing on emotions, students better understand the concept of separation while parents understand strategies to cope with stress and hardship.
Listen to episode 1!
Episode 2: Acceptance
Students recognize that we all share similarities and differences. Parents understand temperament, and how this affects not only themselves but their children as well.
Episode 3: Review of Emotional Understanding and Acceptance
Access Week 2 Episodes
Episode 1: Self-Direction
Play is important to healthy brain development, developing children's creativity, motor skills, and emotional strength.
Listen to episode 1!
Episode 2: Sense of Self/Critical Thought
Students understand the power of using their words wisely, and parents explore how to encourage development of their children's language and communication skills.
Episode 3: Review of Self-Direction and Sense of Self/Critical Thought
Access Week 3 Episodes
Episode 1: Self Management
Students learn how to cope with negative emotions while parents learn positive discipline strategies to deal with misbehavior at the home.
Listen to Episode 1!
Episode 2: Self Management
Students recognize the different types of emotions they may experience. Parents acknowledge the negative effects of corporal punishment and further explore alternative, solution-based discipline methods.
Episode 3: Review of Self Management
Episode 1: Resilience
Focusing on self-control, parents and children examine different coping skills, particularly how to calm oneself when upset.
Listen to Episode 1!
Episode 2: Resilience
In light of COVID-19 safety measures, parents and children discuss the importance of maintaining good hygiene such as how to properly wash one's hands.
Episode 3: Review of Resilience
Episode 1: Emotional Understanding
In addition to taking care of one's physical self, parents and children understand that emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing are equally valuable.
Listen to Episode 1!
Episode 2: Resilience
Students reiterate the mantra "I am smart and can do anything I put my mind to." Parents share success stories incorporating positive parenting techniques at home.
Episode 3: Review of Emotional Understanding and Resilience
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