Ongoing AfterSchool Tutoring for 70 orphans in BIH

BOSANA FOUNDATION

Afterschool Program Report

Number of volunteer instructors:7

Average number of students:60

Number of workshops held:once a week in person for two hours and three times a week for 90 minutes online

Type of classes held:

Introduction to mathematics, physics, chemistry, english and extracurricular activities, such as creative robotics and programming workshops.

Classes outcomes

During the past quarter, which also includes summer vacation, we had a very limited number of instructional classes because all program beneficiaries successfully completed their classed and wanted a much deserved break. At the beginning of August, the program helped prepare four high school students for their college entrance exam in mathematics and physics. Classes were held every day and after a month of hard work two of them successfully passed the exams and were enrolled in college.

One very nice thing about Afterschool program is that this September, the tutors were finally able to complete at least half of the classes in person while the other half they completed online. This is huge because our instructors were not able to enter orphanage for the past year and a half due to Covid-19 strict regulations that the orphange as a public institution had to uphold.

As in previous quarters, we can visibly see the sucess of our Afterschool program by the grades that our beneficiaries receive. Sedin who is now a college student, has earned a lot of success thanks to our Afterschool program. He struggled mostly with math but thanks to our instructors and his willingness to learn, Sedin has mastered the basic foundations of mathematics and now he is able to attend college.

Education in the field of information technology, robotics and programming

This past we held online and in person workshops in the field of STEM, as well as the basics of informatics and bookkeeping. We also held classes focused on basic computer competencies needed for administrative work. Beneficiaries had the opportunity to learn basics in MS Excel by making tables, calculations, generating reports and graphical representations. Excellent MS Excel skills are one of the main conditions for employment and professional advancement, and we hope that this type of education was of great importance for our beneficiaries who are finishing high school. Second focus was in the field of information technology, STEM and programming, which was completed online through Zoom platform and Google Classroom. During the summer, a large number of beneficiaries were very interested in this type of education. Due to the inability for all participants to follow the workshops online from few available laptops, we used apps for programming basics that beneficiaries could also work on cell phones (programs like: grasshopper.app and codetribe, all very interesting applications for learning programming for children and young people). About 60 beneficiaries followed and learned programming with our educators through the mentioned applications.

Parties, hangouts and performances

During the summer holiday, program beneficiaries were limited in movement so they went through some very stressful period as they could not see their friends or family members. In June, we managed to take the program participants outside to an amusement park, in the open air and we organized a party on the topic of harmfulness of plastic. Participants were very depressed that they could not go out and play, so in August a little vacation from home was well received.

Plans for the coming months:

- Creative canvas painting workshops

- Workshops in programming and robotics

- Web programming for older students

- Orientation workshops to help beneficiaries make better decisions about life after orphanage

BOSANA FOUNDATION

After School Program Report

Number of volunteer instructors: 5

Average number of students: 50

Number of workshops held:2 times a week for two hours  

Type of classes held:

Introduction to math, physics, chemistry, English, German and extracurricular activities such as creative guitar workshops and decorating subjects..

Additional.classes

We have been working with kids and youth from Zenica orphanage using different online platforms such as Zoom, kahoot and mathcad due to pandemic covid 19 in January, February and March. In January we have educated kids and youth and we helped them with homework and all the tasks they didn't understand with online school. We also helped the kids to improve their grades from the first term. This situation continued in February, too. We divided into two groups of 25 students and youth. They complained a lot because of the online school, they didn't gain enough knowledge so that they couldn’t do their homework independently. They had to study even harder and without our help they wouldn’t make it. We made big effort with 9 grade students who experienced some problems with math and physics. We managed helping them by giving lessons on certain topics on Zoom and we solved tasks together. We experienced some internet issues but we managed to still hold online classes. Kids were happy when they received good grades and finished the projects assigned by school teachers. First graders were also in urgent need when they couldn’t finish all assignments on time. We also helped by making specific plan for them so they could follow and finish everything on time.

Online fun music and creative workshops

In January, February, and March we have organized creative workshop by reusing different trash material which we used to make some useful creations. We have also organized music workshop where we tried to teach beneficiaries to play guitar. During this period, we were not allowed to visit the orphanage so had workshops online by using the following platforms like zoom and google suite.

Despite many disadvantages of the pandemic, there is one advantage which is the knowledge of informatics and communication technologies the orphans gained.

Through online music and creative workshops the beneficiaries learned how to create something on their own. They learned how to make a vase from hard paper, glass and colors. We also taught them how to sort the trash so that they can reuse it later. We worked on their strengthening competencies, logical thinking and setting the priorities when it’s about their life. They have worked in two groups, one young and the other older group.

The students have learned how to decorate old furniture and how to make their old things like closets new and more beautiful.

Parties, hangouts and performances

All fun activities and parties were replaced by online activities. As before we organized online fun activities with caretakers, and two volunteers' help. We have organized online activities like quizzes, house party and google meet group games. There were some social games we played. It was important to bring some joy and happiness to the orphans apart from homework and all the close area activities. All the activities were organized in the afternoon. We have organized karaoke show and the orphans were so excited to sing. There were some webinars on how to become a freelance entrepreneur and about some other online jobs. We have invited a psychologist Lejla who hold a lecture about keeping the kids mental health in the pandemic period and what to do if they face difficulties.

We have celebrated March 1^st The independence day of Bosnia and Herzegovina and we made some cakes and the drawing competition about our country. We rewarded the winner and were so happy about the contest itself.

Plans for the coming months:

- Creative decorating workshops

- Development of a networked educational platform and learning materials

- Guitar workshops

- Internet classes

- Webinars on the topic of socialization of children and youth during a pandemic

- Workshops in nature