Sponsor A Teacher
(Pssst! Do it for the kids)
It Starts With One Click
It’s hard to be a kid in Guatemala. But when children have GREAT teachers, you’re giving them something priceless: A chance to thrive. Your single sponsorship can change the lives of hundreds of kids.
In the Guatemalan communities where Child Aid works, indigenous children average fewer than four years in school. And if they don’t learn to read and write during that slim window, they’ll live in poverty without necessary survival skills. That’s where we come in! Child Aid trains teachers to be superheroes in the classroom. With us, educators learn effective teaching strategies and classroom management techniques. Teachers also use our new Spanish-language books to reach kids where they are, transforming students into book lovers and getting them up to speed quickly.
MEET OUR TEACHERS
We’re featuring educators from four elementary schools in Guatemala. These teachers are in the first year of Child Aid’s three-year immersive literacy program.
Meet Maura Elizabeth
When you support Guatemalan elementary school teacher Maura Elizabeth, you make it possible for her to complete Child Aid’s three-year, comprehensive teacher training program. Because of you, Maura Elizabeth learns how to assess her students’ reading and writing skills and helps them to improve their comprehension and analytical abilities using Child Aid books and award-winning curriculum.
“I love it when my students are reading a book, and they close their eyes and imagine what it would be like to be the character in the book. They are connecting with the character in an important way, and learning to ask questions,” Maura Elizabeth says.
Meet Santos
When you support Santos, a third-grade teacher in the Santa Teresita Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, you make a difference in the lives of hundreds of indigenous children. Because of your generosity, Santos can complete our three-year, immersive teacher training program. Santos uses Child Aid books in many of his lessons.
“My students and I do several activities around our favorite Child Aid books. First, I read a book aloud, and then I have them read it back to me. Connecting with the words on the page makes them more confident and makes them better writers,” Santos says.
Meet Ruth
When you sponsor Ruth, a first-grade teacher in the Xibalba Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, you’re helping her get comprehensive teacher training and high-quality, Spanish-language books for the children in her classroom. Margarita is a valuable resource for her students and greater community because she is instrumental in creating a culture of reading in her elementary school.
“My students are curious children, and the books and lesson plans Child Aid provides me only stokes my students’ natural curiosity. I’m a better teacher because of the training I’ve received from Child Aid,” says Ruth.
Meet Rosa
Sponsoring Rosa, a first-grade teacher in the Guillermo Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, means you are helping her teach young readers and writers the skills they’ll need to climb out of poverty. Rosa has only been teaching for a few years, and she says Child Aid’s help has helped her learn different methods and teaching techniques that make her a more effective teacher.
“Child Aid has supported the teachers in my school in many ways. It’s very important work, and the students benefit from having books and materials that help them learn,” Rosa says.
Meet Victor Paulino
When you sponsor Victor Paulino, a teacher in the Pacuchá Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, you ensure his students get a good education that will help them climb out of the poverty that plagues indigenous communities.
“Child Aid is a big support of our work in the classroom,” says Victor Paulino. “They train us with the use of good books and reading with the children. Child Aid training has really improved the way I teach.”
Meet Lorena
When you support Lorena, a fourth-grade teacher in the Santa Teresita Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, you’re ensuring her students learn how to read and write in a classroom that Child Aid transforms with our high-quality books, writing materials and award-winning curriculum. Because of your generosity, students here learn how to read and write, skills necessary to stopping the cycle of generational poverty.
“Child Aid has made me a better teacher. I can see how the students respond to me after I’ve incorporated the training into my classroom. I’m so grateful to see the wonderful change in my students,” Lorena says.
Meet Maria Malia
Sponsoring Maria Malia, an elementary school teacher in Sololá, Guatemala, means she will receive award-winning teacher training, as well as a classroom full of high-quality books. Because of your generosity, Maria Malia’s students will learn how to read, write and advocate for their own bright futures.
“Child Aid benefits me as a professional, but it also helps the students. Our partnership means kids who might never hold a book or learn how to read will now become strong readers. Child Aid benefits our whole community,” Maria Malia says.
Meet Margarita
When you sponsor Margarita, a second-grade teacher in the Xibalba Elementary School in Sololá, Guatemala, you’re helping her get comprehensive teacher training and high-quality, Spanish-language books for the children in her classroom. Margarita is a valuable resource for her students and greater community because she is instrumental in creating a culture of reading in her elementary school.
“We make reading a priority, and we focus on creating a love for books and reading,” says Margarita. “We hope in the future we won’t have to tell our students to read, but that the love for reading comes from them.”
Meet Lucretia
Your support of Lucretia, a preschool teacher at the Santa Teresita Elementary School in Guatemala, ensures the young booklovers in her classroom will learn how to sound out words and begin writing their first words. Lucretia uses Child Aid books in her class to show her students how good reading can feel, and how they can find characters with similar problems to their own, building crucial empathy skills. Lucretia says her students love the Child Aid book, No, David! By David Shannon.
“My students see themselves in the main character,” Lucretia says. “This story helps them reflect on their own choices and how it’s best to think before acting.”
Meet Lucia
When you sponsor Lucia, a first-grade teacher in the Santa Teresita Elementary school in Sololá, Guatemala, you’re helping her young students grasp the fundamentals of reading and writing. Because of you, Lucia’s class will have a writing corner where they can begin to write their own stories, their own bright futures.
“When my students see the books in our classroom, they get very excited, and they can’t wait to turn the pages, look at the pictures and sound out the words,” says Lucia.
Meet Ina Johanna
When you support Ina Johanna, a first and second-grade educator at the Xibalba Elementary School in Guatemala, you’re ensuring she receives the one-on-one coaching and Spanish-language books she needs to make a difference in the lives of his students.
“When I teach children to read the books Child Aid provides, I see many of my students connect with the emotions of the characters in the books, and that makes the kids want to read even more,” Ina Johanna says.
Meet Graciela
Your support of Graciela, a fourth-grade teacher at the Guillermo Elementary School in Guatemala, means she can finish Child Aid’s three-year, immersive training program. For Graciela, Child Aid’s literacy program has transformed her teaching and helped her engage with her students.
“The (Guatemalan) Ministry of Education tells us to teach, and they request reports from us, but they don’t provide us with the tools to teach. Child Aid changed that. They give us strategies and methodologies for each grade level that we teach, and their strategies really work! And Child Aid provides books in our schools that help us a great deal,” says Graciela.
Meet Esteban
When you sponsor Esteban, a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in Sololá, Guatemala, you make it possible for him to have the literacy tools and books he needs to help his students learn to read and write and advocate for themselves.
“Child Aid does very special work in our schools. They give us training, workshops, coaching, and they become partners to us, as we try to catch up academically after the pandemic. Child Aid introduces us to techniques that work in other schools, and we learn something new every day,” Esteban says.
Meet Diego
When you sponsor Diego, a third-grade teacher in the Chajag Elementary School in Guatemala, you ensure he has access to our one-on-one training and award-winning curriculum guide. Diego is also able to give his students access to great Spanish-language books and incorporate them into his science, history and math lessons.
“One-on-one coaching helps me become a better teacher because it is a collaborative process with a Child Aid Literacy Trainer I trust,” Diego says.
Meet Claudia
Your generous support of Claudia, a fourth-grade teacher in Guatemala, ensures she gets the immersive literacy training program that makes her an engaging, effective teacher. Claudia has learned how to use her students’ love of soccer in the classroom. Child Aid purchased the book, Sergio Saves the Match for her reading corner, and our literacy trainers showed her how to use the book to coax non-readers into turning the pages and sounding out words.
“Never before have we had books that the kids love so much, that grabbed their attention, the way Child Aid books do,” Claudia says.
Meet Carlos Roberto
When you support Carlos Roberto, a fifth-grade educator at the Xibalba Elementary School in Guatemala, you’re ensuring he receives the one-on-one coaching and Spanish-language books he needs to make a difference in the lives of his students.
Roberto loves incorporating Child Aid non-fiction books into his history lessons. “The kids love to hear the real history of Egypt,” he says. “You can hear a pin drop when we read El Secreto de la Momia (The Secret of the Mummy by Mary Pope Osbourne). The kids love to hear about mummies and pharaohs.”
Meet Aurora
Your generosity makes it possible for preschool teacher Aurora to fill her classroom bookshelf with engaging reads for her students. In Guatemala, most indigenous children in the schools where we work never hold a book, much less learn how to read one. Thanks to you, Aurora’s students get to fall in love with a book such as La Gallinita Roja by Carol Ottolenghi, her kids’ favorite!
“This book is great because it fosters important values in our preschool kids, such as collaboration, cooperation and persistence to achieve a goal,” says Aurora.
Meet Olga
With your support, Olga, an elementary school teacher in Sololá, uses language bridging techniques she learns in her Child Aid training. Olga helps young children start learning how to read and write, and your sponsorship means she’ll reach even more students.
Olga tells us that Child Aid’s approach to coaching is like nothing she’s experienced before. Our approach not only gives educators useful teaching techniques, but it also makes them feel respected and valued as professionals.
Meet Antoinetta
With your gift, you help second-grade teacher Antoinetta finish a year in Child Aid’s immersive literacy program where she learns skills that help her students in the Santa Teresita Elementary School become strong readers. Antoinetta sees firsthand how transformative Child Aid’s program and books are for her students.
“When (Child Aid) books came into my classroom, the kids were very interested in them before they even opened the pages. The colorful colors and illustrations captured their imaginations. But when I started reading the books to them, using the methods I’ve learned to keep them engaged, my students fell in love. They have so much fun reading the books over and over again.”
Meet Ana Patricia
Your support helps Anna Patricia, a third-grade teacher at the Xibalba Elementary School in Sololá, supply her students with a learning corner in her classroom filled with good books and writing supplies. Anna Patricia’s favorite book to read to her students is Tía Isa Wants a Car by Meg Medina.
“Tía Isa Wants a Car is a very interesting story for the kids and me to read because it teaches that if you are determined to do something in your life, you can achieve it as long as you make the effort.”
