BbP’s Teachers receive annual refresher training with a strong focuson technology and digital skills
Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) has this week conducted its annual teacher refresher training at APEC Haus for the organisations’ 50 teachers working in its Library Learning Centres around the country. The training has been sponsored by ExxonMobil PNG (EMPNG) as part of a partnership which also includes sponsorship for the BbP learning App as well as BbP’s Literacy Week program and celebrations.
The training was opened by EMPNG representatives Belinda Gurra, Planning and Contribution Supervisor, Public and Government Affairs Contributions Supervisor, and Sarah Llewellyn, Community and Development Support Lead.
The first two days of the training focused on digital skills, internet safety and technology management in the classroom. BbP’s IT and Digital Learning team also taught the teachers how to effectively teach children how to use tablets, how to navigate the BbP App, flipbooks, audiobooks, educational videos and more but also what not to do with technology to ensure the children’s safety at all times.
The training also included a session on observing children’s behavior and learning traits in order to improve the child’s behavior and facilitate learning. The session on monitoring and evaluation provided further explanation on skills that are required for accurate data collection and record keeping. BbP continually monitors the students enrolled in its Early Childhood Education program and it is vital for the teachers to be able to adequately collect data about the children’s progress. This also includes BbP’s popular After -School program, which has very high attendance number.
In addition to this, the teachers also received updates in the organisations’ HR policies, Nasfund, NCSL, media events and new program activities.
Certificates of participation were presented to the teachers by EMPNG representatives Radley Gaksy and Dorcas Aula, attached to the Public and Government Affairs department in EMPNG. BbP also took the occasion to thank ExxonMobil PNG for their sponsorship of the training. This was followed by a 17th birthday celebration for Buk bilong Pikinini, which was founded in 2007 and opened its first Library Learning Centre in 2008. All BbP’s 50 teachers, 20 head office team and EMPNG representatives enjoyed a big birthday cake donated by SVS 2 Mile Sweet Heart Bakery.
More about the BbP App
The BbP app, supports the children’s curriculum learning via games and contains word recognition, phonics, numeracy and spelling activities. The app features children having fun as they go through the games. The app has been designed to closely align with the BbP syllabus and the games and levels of reading become progressively more difficult each Term.
The children can also find audio books, stories and flipbooks of BbP’s own published readers and picture books, which have been developed especially for cultural appropriateness and to ensure the children can recognize themselves in the books they read. The BbP Digital Learning program also includes sign language instruction videos.
All content on the app and tablets, has been vetted and created by BbP to guarantee the children’s safety and which allows them to develop good digital skills and practices in a safe learning environment, carefully guided by the organisations’ teachers. BbP’s teachers receive on-going training in the Digital Learning program both during in-library training sessions and during annual training.
