“We believe that La Aldea has been a tool to strengthen pedagogical processes in schools in Ipiales, under the Secretariat of Education. This strategy has benefited teachers in their teaching experience and many of them are deeply committed to its implementation in the classroom”.
Jairo Vela, Sub-secretary of Education, Ipiales, Nariño.
“La Aldea is very creative and innovative. It integrates play, story-telling and characters that relate to the whole experience of going back to school. It has elements for learning skills and offers play-based learning environments which are thoroughly designed and conceived for children. Additionally, the strategy can be adapted to many different contexts and educational communities, both nationally and internationally”.
Gloria Jurado Erazo, Secretary of Education, Pasto, Nariño
“Currently, we are focusing on returning to face-to-face education. This has been a challenging experience because the pandemic has left us with many fears. So La Aldea -from Unicef and ClickArte- has been a fundamental strategy. Thanks to this intitiative, our teachers, students, school administrators and the whole school community in our town have had an ally to keep pushing forward. 10 of our schools, which represents around 5000 students and 240 teachers, have benefited from this wonderful strategy. This strategy has been highly valued by teachers, and the secretariat is completely on board with it”.
Gloria Jurado Erazo, Secretary of Education in Pasto
Harry has been traveling all over Colombia! In this interview he shares his feelings with us
He is noble, sweet, generous and rather skittish. But in spite of his insecurities, the chameleon ventured outside La Aldea to travel all over Colombia and live an unforgettable experience.
After following him for a number of days and encountering a series of geographical and technical difficulties, we finally managed to interview Harry. This chameleon has traveled non-stop through many different territories in Colombia with a single mission: visiting rural and urban schools delivering La Aldea books and talking to teachers that are learning new ways of teaching in this world in transition. In this interview, he shares his feelings with us, the stories from his journey and what has been the best thing about stepping out of his confort zone.
Click: Tell us, Harry, what has it been like leaving La Aldea?
Harry: Oh, leaving La Aldea has been a though experience! I miss my friends, my branch-house and my adventures exploring the forest. Plus, I have seen some huge scary metal birds flying above in the sky! But with the help from my friends from Click, I’ve been brave during my journey.
C: Which places have you visited?
E: In the last year I have discovered new landscapes, a sleeping volcano, the ice-cold weather in Pasto and Ipiales, and the warm sun in Arauca and La Guajira. I also visited Barranquilla and was enamored by its tail-wagging ambience and its air filled with flowers, music and celebration.
C: What have you liked best about this experience?
E: What I have enjoyed the most is to learn from so many owl teachers in different urban and rural schools. I have learned from their experience and talk to them about their emotions and the challenges of teaching. Oh! And watch them follow Peter’s exercises has been so fun too. It’s nice to learn alone, but learning with other has been wonderful!
C: Will we be seeing more of you soon? What are your projects for the future?
E: The young animals will soon go back to school and their families will keep participating in their education with the same passion as they did during the quarantine. I have a bunch of ideas for new episodes of “On the Air with Harry” and I will be inviting more owls, families and young animals to talk to. I want every village to sing the same song for a new education.
