Posts by Karen MacKenzie-Stepner
Deaf Education Trip to Guatemala – March 2024
Our March 2024 trip to Guatemala was focused on teacher education. Our small team of 3 was there for 2 weeks. The first week we focused upon visiting schools and meeting the Deaf students in their class. We visited 4 new schools that are now accepting Deaf students. Our team got to travel further up…
Read MoreLearning Sign Language in Central America
Older Deaf students at Escuela De Educación Especial Y Centro De Rehabilitación Integral Edecri in Coban, Guatemala help the younger students learn the signs associated with the lesson. Students work together in small groups to review the information and to practice the signs associated with the Spanish words they learned in the lesson. The Deaf…
Read MoreDeaf Education Team returns to Guatemala
Trip dates: March 16-30, 2024 We will be partnering primarily with Escuela Educación Especial in San Cristobel Verapez; Escuela De Educación Especial Y Centro De Rehabilitación in Coban as well as Gerty Barrios, Special Coordinator of Services for children with special needs in the Alta Verapez region. The schools are located in the mountains of Guatemala and…
Read MoreDeaf Education Trip to Guatamala – March 2023
Our March 2023 trip to Guatemala was with a much larger team than usual so we were able to achieve more in the various school program we visited. We were able to provide education sessions to 100 teachers in the San Cristobel area and also to the 12 CREI Resource Consultants on various topics. On…
Read MoreDeaf Education Trip to Panama – May 2023
Following our March 2023 trip to Guatemala, we received a request to go to Panama to determine if there might be a possibility of bringing the Deaf Education Team there. As the Team Leader, I spent 3 weeks in Panama visiting 3 different schools in the Los Lajos area and made presentations to teachers about…
Read MoreDeaf Education Trip to Guatemala (Part 3)
Direct Teacher Training While visiting EDECRI (Escuela De Educación Especial Y Centro De Rehabilitación Integral) School in Coban and Escuela Educación Especial in San Cristobal we worked with the local teachers of the Deaf (Paulo, Rosanna, Ismenia, and Sofy)on lesson planning, differentiation and creating behavior plans. Jordanna (a Canadian team member) outlined the lesson planning…
Read MoreDeaf Education Trip to Guatemala (Part 2)
First Annual Team Canada Healing Hands- Zona Extrema Soccer Game During our first week in Guatemala, we were scheduled to be at EDECRI (Escuela De Educación Especial Y Centro De Rehabilitación Integral) School. It was also a time where the COVID-19 numbers in Coban had increased, and the school was closed to students. We were…
Read MoreDeaf Education Trip to Guatemala (Part 1)
Workshops for Teachers and Parents This trip we had the opportunity to connect with over 120 teachers through three different workshops. Gerty Barrows, Coordinator of Services for Children with Special Needs in the Alta Verapaz region organized the three events. It was exciting for the teachers and parents to see the two different sign languages…
Read MoreDeaf Education Team’s Experiences in 3 Countries
Teaching literacy can be difficult in one language but when you need to teach literacy in Guatemalan Sign Language, Spanish and one of the indigenous languages all at the same time, the task becomes daunting. Sofy, the teacher in the Deaf classroom at Escuela Educación Especial in San Cristobel Verapez, Guatemala makes it fun. Using…
Read MoreThe Rewards of Working with Others
The students at the Deaf school in Pacullpa, Peru wanted to share their culture and food with the team. We had a fun afternoon eating food prepared by the parents of each class. We had the task of eating each food and judging it on appearance and taste. The students explained how each dish was…
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