Hi Justin,

 

I've sent an email response due the the limitations of the wall.

 

Kind Regards

 

Steve

Hi Justin

It has been a while since we last met. Hope you are fine and the studies are progressing well.

I have been working on a project on various methods for teaching disasters to kindergarten children since Feb. 2010. There is a section in the project that aims to introduce methods that are used in different countries for teaching disasters (such as earthquakes, floods, volcano, etc) to kindergarten children. I was wondering if this request can be posted on the edu4drrwebsite, so I can hear from other members about the experiences they have in their countries in this regard.

I would appreciate your assistance.

Regards

Yasamin Izadkhah
Assistant Professor, IIEES

Hello Justin.. yeah, been a long time ne! Come to Japan again, for sure I'll be here at least till the end of October. Yep yep when you were in Japan last August I was doing the project in Indonesia. One of the activities was to introduce a disaster game to kindergarten teachers and children, and further created the adapted game into local context together with the teachers. I just heard that last week the game has started to be practiced also in another city! :) Umm.. as for my current activity, other than writing, I am now preparing a small program for discussion about climate change in a Japan-ASEAN youth exchange program. I will be the facilitator, starting from 30th October till 25th November, and the program will be held on a cruising ship ^ ^ I am so excited. Will update about it later :)

Thanks a lot for actively updating the news and studies about DRR! I think I owe you a lot for this.. :)

Justin,
I did a detailed research on cyclone risk and role of natural buffers like mangroves, casuarinas, or man made structures like dikes in reducing the risk to lives. I found mangroves playing a very strong protective role and reducving risk to human lives by more than 50%. Of course, I analysed total deaths and total human population at risk in the study area.

Hi Justin. Thanks a lot. I'm writing up my thesis at the moment so I'm coming across stuff all the time. I'll be to sure to share anything good. We are not doing so well with DRR education in Australia it seems. Lost of room for improvement. There still seems to be an overriding perception that kids can't do much. Which we all know is far from the truth! Best, BT

Merry Christmas Justin. Have a wonderful 2010.

Also to all the EDU4drr members.

Yasamin from Iran

what other website should i go to help me gather more information safety?

got to sign out, thanks for the info you'll be hearing more from me, this is my kind of web. educate educate educate

thanks justin, anyway ill be meeting my co teacher tomorrow and help assist of the uploading, what is your usual time of online on this site so that i could communicate briefly on information of that concern boht of our interest

this morning our school join the national program of earthquake drill, which we were practicing for the past few months, with a population of almost 4,000, of a two five story building, we manage to finish the evac at 3mins and 55sec. w/o injury and casualty. sometime this week ill try to up load my narrative report on ti that was also submitted to our division office.

im interested to join this web, please help know more on how to be approve by the board or any screening committee, my name is emmerando martin p cruz of pasig elementary school. my email is marpcruz@yahoo.com iam the school's safety and evacuation training officer.

You said : 'Great photographs...There must be a story there...Why don't you share your experiences on the site and link to the photographs?'

Yup Justin. I would like to share my experience and method in edu-drr for the children, but my problem is I'm not so fluent to write it in English. Anyway, thanks to your advice, then I would like to try it.

By the way, the number of people and from all over the world is very cool. I'm really happy to be a part of this.

Fair enough. I'll add some more info!:D

That is ok. I will upload them after I finish order those photo. ^^

Dear Justin,
Thanks for your message. Yes, I agree with you. I am working in the development context which is very different from teaching environment in the west. In general, teachers’ qualities and motivation are low due to lack of resources and quality training for teachers. These teachers need a vision of what their teaching can bring to the children. From my experience, “Vision making” is one of the most important factor for building teachers’ motivation towards their teaching in general, which is beyond any particular methodologies or mechanisms. It is the basic principle, which most ToT training underestimate.
Imaginative and innovative teaching resources and tools can excite teachers who once upon the time enjoyed being a teacher. They get excited to think how children would react with exciting new teaching materials such as picture books, films or games. These materials can increase the motivation of teachers and of course for students as well.
As for specifically DRR education, most important thing is whether teachers can relate to the topic as you said. If they think that DRR has no relevance to their life, then whatever you try to do is waste of time. At the same time, giving a lecture of global warming /climate change and try to make them aware that it is relevant to their life, it is far too large for them to grasp in their daily reality that they just feel pessimistic, and they feel powerless. In my project, I am very careful with using an example of global climate change, because it often causes pessimism rather than optimism for change though DRR education. Instead we try to use very local examples which they can directly relate to and feel that they can make a difference.
DRR education is not a rocket science in my opinion. It is about how to reduce risks in their lives and try to learn how to save their lives in the event of disaster. Technicality of how to teach is not so much of the issue. As long as individuals feel the urgent need for DRR information, simply to save their lives, save their loved ones, DRR education would work effectively.
This is only my experience in LDCs context. Hope it would be any use to you.

Best regards,
sae

You asked about how 'What's the Plan Stan' was disseminated.

Firstly, it was sent free to all schools in New Zealand, supported by a launch ceremony and advertisements in teacher publications. Some Civil Defence Officers round the country already had good contact with their local schools, so they were able to promote the new resource.

Secondly, we had a couple of rounds of workshops for teachers all over the country. These were advertised in the Education Gazette, and also promoted by local Civil Defence Officers, and so were well attended.

Thirdly, the resource is kept alive by having some sort of update each year - one year we produced a storybook and accompanying audio CD, last year we produced a version in the Maori language, and this year we're doing a full upgrade of the whole resource to align it to the new national curriculum.

I'll take a look at your UK resources over the next few days.