I have not given up on establishing an international contact, and put out new feelers at the beginning of this week. I have yet to receive a response, but will let you know if and when I do.
In the meantime, I listened to the Susan Lyon from the World Forum Radio. She is instrumental in bringing Reggio Emilia philosophy to San Francisco and integrated that philosophy in her work with the Persidio Child Care Center. She began the Innovative Teacher in the San Francisco Bay area. She continues to work on behalf of children and as present is working to build and establish the first Italian immersion preschool. I researched the Innovative Teacher website (http://www.innovativeteacherproject.org/innovative/staff.php), and was able to email her and ask two questions. However, I have yet to hear a reply.
In my research of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University Global Children’s Initiative website, I found the following global activities of interest:
ü Un Buen Cornienzo (UBC), “A Good Start”
UBC is a group effort in Santiago, Chile, to increase the value of education for children from four to six years old through teacher development. They also work to improve health issues, school attendance, and social/emotional development through the involvement of families in their child’s education.
ü Nucleo Ciencia Pela Infancia (NCPI)
Center on the Developing Child and David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies both at Harvard University, Fundacao maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, Faculty of medicine at the University of Sao Paula, and Insper work together to assist Brazilian scholars, policymakers, and civil society leaders in Brazil to establish a more equitable society. They have an agenda of four activities to further their efforts. Those activities are as follows:
· Building a scientific agenda and community of scholars around early childhood development;
· Synthesizing and translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy. This will include working with the Center’s longtime partner organization, Frameworks Institute, to effectively communicate the science of child development in the Brazilian cultural context;
· Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers;
· Translating and adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, (2012).
ü With support from the World Bank, the Center has translated three videos in Spanish. They are titled, InBrief: The Science of Earlly Childhood Development, InBrief: The Impact of Adversity on Children’s Development, and InBrief: The Foundations of Lifelong Health. The videos focus on important issues in early childhood.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2012). Global Children’s Initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/?tw_p=twt