Teaching pills 2 - Fractions: Learning by playing

We are increasingly getting used to see our kids having access to a whole set of sophisticated (and expensive) tools designed to helping them study: laptops, next generation tablets and mobiles, digital blackboards, very advanced and complicated software, internet and so on. Nevertheless, I believe that the most important thing still is, and will always be, a passionate teacher and the will to learn of the students. You can encourage learning without any of these gadgets, and you can be very effective in breeding knowledge and attitudes with a pencil, somewhere to write on and a bit of creativity.

Two years ago I went to Nicaragua with an education Spanish charity and I had, among other goals, the objective of working with the local teachers in maths pedagogy. Specifically we had to work about fractions equivalency and operations, and we had to bear in mind not just the national curriculum but also the difficult conditions they face every day, almost without material means or support of any kind. That's the main reason the charity worked there. Because of the students' age, which was rather diverse, from may be 6 to young teenagers of even 15 -this is only one of the difficulties these teachers have to deal with, if you believe your job is tricky you should go there and see how they manage to teach in these conditions. Well, I wanted to focus it as a game, and one with different levels. After some weeks of thinking and reading about the question that's the game I proposed for learning fractions equivalency:

You need something to write with (say a pencil) and something to write on (say a paper). You don't need anything else. Not even a blackboard and not for sure a maths book, which they did not have most of the time. Then you make cards, or better, the kids make their own cards, and in these cards you (they) write fractions in different forms: 1/2, 2/2; 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4.... for the whole game you write percents: 25%, 50%..... numbers: 0,33; 0,4; 0,5; 0,66; 0,75....... and there is no rule saying you need to stop in 1, you can make fractions above the unit: 6/4; 12/6; 20/5........ and percents and numbers as well: 150%; 300%; 1,25; 2,5; 4............ and even mixed numbers: 2 1/4; 1 1/5....... The amount of cards you'll have at the end is up to you. It depends on the number of kids you are working with, the deepness you need to work and so forth. I like to have many, hundreds of them. You can also repeat them, make some sets, which will help you to work in groups.

And what can you do with these cards? Everything.

I proposed them 4 or 5 different games, but they could (and ought to) work out their own games with them: the more the kids played, the more used they'd get to the fractions equivalency, and the equivalency between fractions, real numbers and percents, and operations with fractions like adding and substracting. My idea was the kids working in groups -because they improve their social skills- but you can also do it individually if you believe that fits better with your conditions. Some of my proposals were: Giving a whole set of cards to each group and a) classify the fractions that are actually the same (like 2/4; 1/2; 5/10) -fractions equivalency-; b) find a number by adding fractions: (find 2? one group find it by adding 1/2 + 4/4 + 2/4 another group can use another cards 4/3 + 2/3...); c) and d) You can repeat these games with fractions and percents and numbers all together and so one can find 2 by adding 0,5 + 100% + 50/100, for instance. And in the game c they'll have a little mountain where 6/3, 4/2, 200%, 50/25 and the number 2 will be together representing the same amount. Another little mountain with 1/3; 0,33; 33%; 3/9, 2/6..... Nice, isn't it? The more they play, the better they'll understand what fractions actually mean. A second session of games, once they are used to the cards (which may as well be in the third or fourth lesson or later, depending of their rhythm) would be giving them an incomplete set of cards, and every group a different one. So, now you can create two new kind of games: 1) negotiation games, where to get to the result they'll need to negotiate with other groups to get the cards they need, while offering the cards they don't need. Interesting introduction to trade, bargain and so on -there is a sort of introduction to David Ricardo and trade theory here, eh?- and working a lot of social skills. 2) You can introduce substracting (and even other operations) to arrive to the goal number.

As a matter of fact you could make up many more games with these cards, focusing on different needs (discover the hidden card -intro to equations-; games to identify prime numbers, and so on). They'll pick it up very quickly, though, and the main target of the cards, let them get the hang of the fractions, will be achieved in just one or two sessions. Besides, they have made the game themselves, and they have learned all this while having fun, challenging their minds. You don't need  more than your will and a pencil.

Read More

Seven-up

Esto vendo. La double-choc es una verdadera jartá de chocolate.

Tres semanas, 3, sin escribir nada en el blog, voy a ponerme que lo mismo estoy perdiendo lectores porque se me mueren de viejos. Ya hace más de un mes que trabajo a jornada completa en una pastelería belga, la Patisserie Valerie, que ni es belga ni nada, es que a la señora londinense que la montó le gustaban los pasteles del continente y le repugnaba la comida inglesa. Normal. Es otro trabajo de hostelería pero es mejor en varios aspectos: 1) jornada completa, sueldo -raquítico- completo. 2) Los mánagers son majos y el ambiente laboral es distendido. Cuando no hay ostias por la rota o las tips, claro. 3) Pasteles y bocatas gratis, y además me dan de comer todos los días. Lo que sería ingresos en especie. Regrettably es igual que el anterior en otros aspectos, a saber: 1) sueldo mínimo (6,08£ por hora, impuestos a parte), 2) trabajo rutinario y alienante en el que no se hace uso de mi educación ni capacidades (si las hubiere) y 3) lento avance del inglés porque hay no uno, ni dos, ni tres, sino TRES castellano-hablantes en el staff, mierda. Salvo en lo referente a pastries, slices, cafés y encargar-por-teléfono-una-tarta-de-cumpleaños-para-mañana-pero-que-no-lleve-chocolate-y-me-cambias-el-adorno-y-no-las-hacéis-más-grandes-y, que ya soy proficient en el tema.

No he podido postear hasta ahora porque trabajo mucho y, más relevante, porque estoy en la tercera fase del proceso de selección de un trabajo para una charity del que ya escribí hace algún tiempo, cuando estaba en la segunda fase, y que me ha ocupado todo el puñetero tiempo libre de las últimas dos semanas. Esto es peor que un cásting de esos de estrellitas efímeras, pero recemos a Marx o a la deídad que creamos que puede ser susceptible de ayudar para que acabe saliendo bien, hopefully, porque eso sí que sería una mejora. Esta tercera fase ha sido exigente, y el tiempo que he tenido para resolverla esquifit, esperemos que haya funcionado. Si así fuera os contaré con más detalle la fase. De momento cruce de dedos. Habiendo cumplido con la liturgia de lo aburrido, os cuento las cosas que pasan, que molan más:

Lo recomiendo fervorosamente

Venía por la calle hacia casa, previa parada en el off-license del barrio, y me he cruzado con una señora de unos sesenta años que corría despacito. Movía los brazos de una manera extraña, balanceándolos alternativamente con los codos hacia fuera, y miraba fijamente al frente, eso ya era raro, pero lo verdaderamente curioso es que corría muy despacio, como a cámara lenta. Me ha quedado la duda de si perdía el autobús o hacía deporte de mantenimiento. Nada que merezca más de dos segundos de atención en Londres, though, espero que para estas horas ya haya llegado a donde fuera que corría. En el trabajo también pasan cosas raras. Una tía joven, no más de 30, chistándome desde la calle, medio asomada a la puerta, pero sin pasar el umbral. Psss. Psssss. Me asomo. Madam. Y me pregunta la tía, en un susurro: ¿No vais a poner la ropa de mesa hoy? No señora, aquí nunca hemos puesto manteles. Ni siquiera tenemos. Encaja la cabeza entre los hombros, mira a ambos lados de la calle y en un tono aún más confidencial me dice ¿Y el domingo, la vais a poner el domingo? Valeeee, este, creo que se me está enfriando el helado, eh, ahora la atiende otro. Pero no os creáis que solo los clientes están tróspidos. En la pastelería hay table service, o sea que hay camareros que atienden en las mesas, toman la orden, la envían a los camareros de detrás de la barra, estos la preparan y aquellos la sirven. Sabéis la bebida 7up, ¿no? como el Sprite y eso. Bueno, imaginaos el camarero del floor llegando a la barra y en la mesa de las comandas siete seven-up esperando... Wait! siete seven-ups? ¿En serio? ¿siete seven-ups?.............................. Cri-cri. Cri-cri.

Perdonad la calidad pero mi móvil de noche es una mierda. Solo hubiera sido mejor atada directamente al cartel :)

Por desgracia no es siempre tan divertido, el trabajo se hace monótono a veces y el reloj un remolón de tomo y lomo. No pasan las horas. Cuando vuelvo a casa me encuentro a Andrius, mi compañero de piso lituano y uno de los pocos amigos de verdad que hemos hecho en estos ya casi 4 meses por aquí, me saluda what's the crack? y me pregunta, todo esperanza en la mirada: ¿Tortila? (Así, con L). Vale, hacemos una tortilla de patatas para todos, tú pones las patatas y la cebolla y yo 15 huevos (es que son enanos los huevos ingleses, deben tener gallinas raquíticas). Andrius es tímido y noble, un poco chapado a la antigua, old-fashioned dice él con un deje de orgullo post-soviético y pro-yanqui, pero con muy buen fondo. Un buen tipo. Luego está Matteo, que es un chaval italiano, delineante de estudios y chef en el mundo real y que la semana que viene nos abandona para irse a Australia un año. Yo le llamo el tube-hunter, porque siempre viene con historias de las chicas es-pec-ta-cu-la-res que ha conocido en el metro, ha acompañado hasta dos o tres paradas más allá de la nuestra y ha despedido en el anden, mientras ellas, probablemente, se van con el culo un poco más gordo a no-contárselo a sus novios. Y luego, claro, Matteo cambia dignamente de anden a coger el mismo metro de vuelta a casa, alone, pero contento. To be honest, solo tengo cosas buenas que decir de ellos, la verdad, pero no nos engañemos, los halagos no dan risa. Un poco de choteo cariñoso, en cambio, siempre es muy sufrido: Por ejemplo, ambos tienen verdadera fe fanática en un libro para ligar. Uno de esos de auto-ayuda, márqueting baratujo e indigno, ya sabéis. De esos tipo quién me ha robado mi queso. Seguramente se titule Es fácil fruncir, si sabes cómo. Les he intentado explicar que algo está intrínsecamente mal si ligan siguiendo los consejos de un libro, pero no los convenzo, oye. Luego está Maeva, una chica francesa jovial y de espíritu mediterráneo, a la que llevamos medio verano echando de menos porque se lo está pasando bomba en Barcelona, la muy maldita. Barcelona es su segunda casa (tercera, si lo piensas dos veces). Habla castellano muy bien, inglés un poco menos y francés no sé, porque no controlo. Perfecto, me imagino, que pa' eso es gabacha. La cuarta moradora de la casa no se merece ni una línea del blog, siempre tiene que haber algún atontao en todos los pisos compartidos. Muy anti-persona. Pasamos de honrarla en la historia. ¿Se nota que me cae mal?

Así va el partido, con más de 100 días transcurridos. Seguimos empate a cero. Por lo menos ambos tenemos empleos que aunque no sean para echar cohetes (nótese el eufemismo), sí sirven para pagar la renta, y el inglés mejora, indeed. Esperemos que alguien meta un gol. Si no, siempre será mejor que estar en casa metiendo currículums en saco roto y jugando al póker por internet. Vamos, digo yo.

Ah, se me olvidaba dar las gracias a los dueños de los Hedge Funds, a la Mérkel, al Zapa, al Taniano, a los constructores y a los ricos en general, que gracias a ellos la gente no tiene trabajo pero en cambio tiene tiempo de leerse blogs insustanciales como el mío y ya llevamos más de 2000 leídas. Mooooolaaa. Les enviaré un pastel de goma-2. Con un lacito.

Read More

about charities

Few months ago I was shortlisted in a selection process for a Grant Scheme. At the end, unfortunately, they decided not to give me the grant but I got to the last stage and it costed me a big effort to answer all their questions with only a few spare hours a week -I was making long shifts as a waiter and living far away. Yeah, it was a pity. However I believe that the work done say something (either good or bad) about me, my view of the charity sector and some of my skills. It could be they had someone better fit for purpose or just I was a  newcomer to London -Now I'm living here a whole year and I believe I've got the grip. Although I am specialized in international development, there are all across the UK many charities I'd love to work for, and quoting one famous gentleman, I'm an optimist, it does not seem too much use being anything else, therefore I've decided to recycle some answers here, just in case someone in the sector think they are worth an interview. Indeed, we live the social job hunting era so, why not?

Do charities make a profit?

Of course they do. Even though charities are sometimes called Not-For-Profit, I believe that this name can be misleading. The third sector organisations make a social profit, it is to say, they make a profit not for their owners, as a private company would do, but for the whole society. And we don't need to be talking about economic profit only. Actually, I don't like the name charities either, because it seems to me that it takes to a picture of unequal and hierarchic relationships going from who has to who has not (money, capabilities, knowledge) based in a sort of somehow hypocritical generosity, a picture which I believe is completely wrong. I'd prefer to talk about cooperation, social organisations, third sector or non-governmental organisations. Words are important, they say and they do, as we might put it, and I try to use them in a conscious way.

Describe the purpose of twitter in 140 characters

twitter is the most powerful, immediate and horizontal tool for spreading information, ideas and actions #p2pmedia #democraticmedia

Why is it important to build a relationship / partnership with a donor?

uncle Scrooge willing to donate

In my opinion it is key to build a healthy and honest relationship with donors. NGO work is not an occasional and static work, it is rather dynamic and constant, so it is fundamental to establish a transparent and careful relationship with them, because it is very important to ensure that donors are aware and satisfied with the work done and that our performance fits with the donor's interests and priorities now and in the future. In addition, a good relationship with current donors is a basic tool to achieve new ones and, besides, the feedback generated between both parts is an essential improvement tool for our organisation. Donors must know what we do, how we do it and which actual results are provided with their contribution, while we need to know how they feel about it and how they think we could improve our performance.

What are the three greatest challenges currently facing the not-for-profit sector?

This is a rather difficult and opened question, in a complex and changing environment. I would say, firstly, that the current financial crisis affects the sector in a particular double way: on one side it is harder to obtain the resources needed to develop the tasks entrusted and, on the other, it increases the targets we have to try to achieve and reduces the social protection networks and other formal and informal support tools that the beneficiaries could use before. Therefore I would consider the global crisis, together with a certain dismantling of the welfare state, as the first challenge we are facing. Secondly, too many times the NFP sector, in part may be due to the name issue, is not considered -and regrettably sometimes dealt with- as a serious, reliable and results-oriented sector. Consequentially some initiatives don't develop their full potential and at the same time we could find examples of superficial evaluations within the organisations themselves. My third challenge would be the mismatch between the skills of its workers and volunteers and the demands of the society. Consistently with what we have commented about charities displacing public sector in many fields and a not completely professionalized workforce, we find a gap between skills and needs, which should be resolved with a big effort in formation and a change in mentality. In any case, challenges are opportunities, and this is an exciting time to start a career in the UK's third sector.

I love when they ask you to write a tweet about the purpose of twitter o.0 I can't help to link here this awesome answer to another question about NGOs, in a Spanish Town Hall. Sorry, not-Spanish speakers, I haven't found subtitles:

Stage 3:

They asked a few more stuff related to charities management, community management in Charities and ICT. Firstly, they asked me to write some tweets, promoting now different campaigns of a charity. I am rewriting them again, to make it more realistic:

#QSA's Homestore empowers low income citizens by providing good quality, affordable furniture which helps them to build up their self-worth
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013

the QSA's Knees Up Programme in 2010/11 helped to create bonds and a sense of community and trust between neighbours previously isolated
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013

In 1998 #QSA gathered 130 years of Quaker fight against poverty andtough living condition in East London. #impactquakersocialaction.com/history
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013

Then I had to make a pie chart with another charity's budget. They gave me this:

and I gave them back this:

I also had to create a poster promoting a fundraising dinner. This was a bit tricky because I didn't have too much info, nor original pictures neither time enough to do it as I'd have liked to. I managed to do this:

Well, there were some more questions -a Facebook profile, chosing business to visit and invite them to the dinner and so on. Anyway it was fun, despite the lack of time.

Read More