Recent GEF Training Workshops

2012: Training took place the week of January 24 in La Trinidad, Nicaragua for 30 primary and multi-grade teachers. Also attending were six teachers from San Juan del Sur who will begin training for teachers in that area.

2011: Two SUCCESSFUL workshops! Over 60 teachers from the city of Esteli and the rural community of Condega will better serve their students!

2011 Training in Condgea

In both February and July 2011, GEF continued teacher training programs with thirty-two primary and multi-grade teachers from Esteli and Condega, Nicaragua, each. Two educators from the Esteli Ministry of Education and one representative from the Municipalities of Condega also attended. The Ministry of Education Municipal Delegates were educational evaluators who followed up with a report to the national Ministry of Education stating: “ [It would be helpful] if the trainings of MINED [Ministry of Education] could share the GEF strategies from these trainings with other teachers who were unable to attend.”

The five day, eight hour daily program included the study of Language and Literature (including poetry), Social Sciences, Mathematics and Natural Sciences with a focus on thinking skills. All educator-attendees actively participated and were enthusiastic about the assignments, activities, and methodology they would soon share with their students. The Christina King Foundation is instrumental in facilitating the logistics for the GEF programs in Esteli.

GEF Trainers and participants

GEF educators conduct trainings twice a year in the Department of Esteli. This successful and sustainable program is the result of a five year training initiative GEF conducted for Nicaraguan teachers and educators. The goal continues to center on teaching the basic subjects of Mathematics, Science and Language Arts with a student-centered focus, getting away from rote and memorization by helping students learn to think and analyze problems and issues.

Attendees were explicit in their praise for the program and their learning experience, comments include:

“The training was excellent and the strategies shared will be very helpful in working with students.”
“A training of this nature with such quality and human warmth has never been presented to us before.”
“The strategies were very interesting and are applicable in a rural area to help educate our children.”
“No one felt the passage of time and no one wanted this training to end.”

Nicaragua teachers hope that you, the sponsors, would be able to continue this type of training. They send their deep appreciation for your altruism and your love for the children of Nicaragua.

Your contribution can continue two training a year. Each training only cost $2500. Please continue to support these Nicaraguan teachers and their students by clicking on the donate button to the right or send a check to

Global Education Fund

551 W. Cordova Rd. # 144

Santa Fe NM 87505.

The programs can only continue with your support.

Nicaragua: An Overview

Though rich in natural resources, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. It continues to struggle to overcome the effects of generations of dictatorships, invasions, civil war and natural disasters, including the 1970 earthquake that turned the capital city, Managua, into a heap of rubble.

Education continues to be inferior with most teachers using rote and memorization to educate their students. In a study at the UNAN, Managua, the largest university in the country, only 10% of the incoming students passed the Spanish exam and even fewer the mathematics exam.

Few students in Nicaragua continue their education following primary schools for many reasons: lacks of funds to pay for books and transportation, distance to a secondary school, the need for children to remain at home and help with family chores. For this reason, GEF believes it is important that primary age youth learn thinking skills in academic subjects
that will serve them all their lives. In addition, since few schools have books and/or a curriculum we believe that learning to use natural resources in the classroom and in life is a valuable lesson.

Off to a good start….early Institutes

Math Demonstration by teacher

In the inaugural 2002 Institute, 89 teachers and administrators from 10 Normal Schools were trained in-residence in a five day workshop in Managua. Curriculum included new academic content, new approaches to learning, and cultural activities. Many of these teachers had never been to the capital city of Managua, much less attended such an innovative and interesting educational workshop. Word spread!

In the 2003 Institute over 200 secondary and normal school teachers from 43 communities around the country were trained. The 2003 Institute was a combination of: a three-day workshop on “Teaching for Understanding” by instructors from Harvard Graduate School of Education, WIDE World program; three-day training sessions in academic enrichment, practical application of academics and creative and critical thinking skills in mathematics, science and language arts by GEF instructors; cultural field trips and interaction among the participants.

That summer, during GEF’s fourth annual Institute, we trained fifty participants from the most remote areas of Nicaragua.

GEF in Nicaragua since 2002

Global Education Fund’s agenda in Nicaragua focuses on raising teachers’ level of knowledge in their own discipline and providing training to enhance practical application of academics along with critical, logical and creative thinking skills, methodology, techniques, and the use of local resources.

Since 2002 GEF has convened week-long professional development Institutes in Managua and more recently in the department of Esteli. Content continues to include math, science and language arts for normal, primary and/or multi-grade teachers from throughout Nicaragua. (Normal schools train high school students to become primary school teachers.)

Initially faculty for the Institutes was made up of educators affiliated with the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City Public School System, Texas Southwest Educational Development Laboratory and New Mexico’s charter school, Monte del Sol. The Institutes were made possible in Nicaragua through a partnership with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.

Why the training works

GEF‘s success and sustainability are the results of 1) highly qualified and experienced instructors, 2) residential living during workshops, 3) training in academics, 4) appropriate manuals and local resources, 5) modeling internationally proven methodologies, 6) working closely with education officials, and 7) repeated training for at least 80–85% of teachers from any one school.

From GEF‘s experience, this combination of concentration, quality, and academics / methodology is the most effective way to guarantee a positive and ongoing impact on education and encourage peer support.

Current faculty consists of Nicaraguan educators from the country’s largest department, Esteli. This very capable team provides two trainings each year for teachers from small communities throughout the northeast areas of the country.

The basis of the training content and approach, which has been consistent over the years, is to help teachers gain new knowledge and skills in teaching so that:

Students will be able to:
- learn through understanding
- develop creative and critical thinking skills
- apply their new knowledge in life
Teachers will be motivated to experiment and use teaching techniques that will generate understanding and critical thinking among students.