Summer School 2013

A Summer School program for underperforming children from Grades One to Five was held from 2 until 9 September 2013. Twenty two boys and four girls attended the program.

The plan was to have volunteers from the United Kingdom through Embrace the Middle East like last year, but because of the security situation in Lebanon this was not possible. We employed two teachers locally. Miss Ghiwa Shakrina and Mr. Yousef Shakrina, kindly accepted to do the job. Children were taught in small groups to make it easier for them to learn.

The program included morning hours and afternoon activities. The morning hours were structured into three parts. During the first part Ghiwa and Yousef used the textbooks of the previous academic year to make a comprehensive revision for each individual child of last year's lessons. The children watched parts of children's cartoons or movies in the second part, and after that Ghiwa and Yousef engaged them in conversation about that movie to assess and assist their comprehension. The last part was for arts and crafts, and naturally it was the most favorite part for the children.

JLSS educators (house-parents from the boarding department) organized special activities for the children to make the summer school interesting. The program was only for children from the boarding school. It was offered at no cost to parents as they are unable to afford any fees. Like last year, the summer-school program this year was kindly sponsored by our Swiss partners SVS (Schweizer Verein für die Schneller schulen im Nahen Osten).

As promised, we took all the children on Saturday for a school trip to Chtoura. Our two minibuses were loaded with the children and a few teachers. We headed to McDonalds where all had lunch, ice-cream, and enjoyed the games afterwards.

The program was scheduled to end on Friday 13, but because the events in Syria deteriorated badly with the anticipation of imminent air strikes, we had to end the summer school on 9 September at 2.30 PM when all the anxious parents took their children home.

Although the duration of the summer school was short, it provided the children with a positive stimulus, two weeks before the start of the academic year. Their individual needs were addressed in a small way, propping them for a better start. Above all, their learning experience in small groups will help them adjust better to a full class situation.
The outcome of Summer School programs the last two years was very positive for the children.

We express our sincere gratitude to our Swiss partners SVS for totally supporting this program.
We also thank Ghiwa, Yousef, and the educators for their excellent work.