Presenters

*Presenter*	*Short Introduction*
	Margareth (Peggy) Grootens-Tecla Ortho-pedagogue Staff employee and coordinator of the multi disciplinary team of the Youth and Health Care Department (Departamentu Salú Hubenil) of the Public Health Services, Curaçao Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) trainer, for Triple P International Coordinator and supervisor of Triple P in Curaçao Theme: Parental support to stimulate a healthy psycho-social development in children. Abstract The 3 main policy focal points of the Commissioner of Health and social affairs of the Island Government of Curaçao are: a. the empowerment of families, b. social security and c. an integrated prevention program. The Department of Child and Youth health care (Departamentu Salú Hubenil) of Curaçao, being an essential part of the public health, has a key position in the execution of this policy. Departamentu Salú Hubenil delivers integrated preventive health care to the population from 0-19 years of age. It is a well-known fact that the health status of each individual child is influenced by the level of knowledge and skills of his parents and caregivers. The parents and other caregivers are the key stakeholders of the child health department. Parental support through education and empowerment is an important method to reduce or prevent educational, psycho-social and developmental problems in children and to stimulate a healthy and optimal psycho-social child development. Therefore Departamentu Salú Hubenil introduced in November 2005 “Parental support” as an integral part of their child health care system. The Triple P program was chosen by the Department as the program for parental support because of its evidence base, public health approach, coordinated multilevel programs, combination of psychological scientific theories, models and techniques and practicality. Triple P- Positive Parenting Program is a unique, multi-level method of family intervention for the prevention and treatment of behavior problems in children. Triple P has been developed in Australia, by professor Matthew Sanders and his colleagues from the School of Psychology of The University of Queensland. This parenting program is based on more than 25 years of clinical research and development. Triple P helps every parent to understand the dynamics of the family relationships, recognize the possible causes of problem behavior and the influence of behavioral problems on their family. It teaches them to use their knowledge, skills, believes, emotions and habits in positive, constructive and effective ways. This leads to improved parental skills and confidence to: - Create a stable, supportive, harmonious family environment - Teach their children the skills they need to get along with others - Deal positively, consistently and decisively with problem behavior should it arise - Encourage behavior that they appreciate - Develop realistic expectations of their children and of themselves - Take care of themselves as parents and nurture their relationships Empowering of parents and other educators through the teaching and practicing of parental skills will give a huge contribution to the psycho-social well being of their children, themselves and the whole community.
	Joes Wanders, also born in the Netherlands, where he was employed at the Dutch navy. In 1995 he emigrated to Canada. His dream to sail the ocean ended in a nightmare when his ship wrecked near the Bahamas. In Curacao he found a new home and started an artistic career. He is wellknown for his oil paintings a.o. of famous naval battles. His critical and non conventional cartoons are published regularly in the daily newspapers. His paintings can be viewed on his website: www//JoesWanders.extocuracao Marjanne Prins is an educational specialist. She was born in the Netherlands and has been living on Curacao since 1976. She has been working in the field of curriculum development for many years and wrote textbooks for various subjects. Her main focus is language teaching. Since she retired in 2007 she dedicates her time to develop Pelikino, together with her friend and well known local illustrator who has been illustrating her textbooks since several years now. Theme: Pelikino: health and language learning Summary Pelikino is a very clever and helpful pelican. He was born in the Dutch Caribbean and therefore his native language is Dutch. He has been sailing in the Caribbean waters with his parents Pelipappa and Pelimamma. They went ashore at a lot of countries and for that reason learned various languages. With the help of many colorful illustrations children from the age of four will easily understand the funny dialogues between Pelikino and his friends. Because they identify themselves with the three animals, they can soon distinguish between the 3 languages and develop their natural multi-lingual ability at an early age. Philosophy In the classrooms in Curacao like many places in the world there are many children of different cultures, (St Domingo , Haiti, US etc.) Children hear different languages and it is important that they learn to appreciate different cultures. Especially young children do have an open mind as long as they are not influenced by negative environments. Before children are able to speak, read and write foreign languages they can easily learn to understand each other and even send messages across the world by means of positive colorful visual motivation cards. Marjanne’s philosophy on learning a foreign language is based on her own experience as a Teacher, as a consultant and on research she did. Learning should be fun, not boring. Language learning is like playing games. The combination of humor, color, movement and exaggeration will guarantee that children store new learned words in their long time memory and form language networks in their mind. Important is that they know the concepts in their native language. That’s why each week a teacher begins with a story in the native language in order to create a context . Then she can continue with the target language(s).
	Ine Dwarkasing Working for 40 years in different kind of education. Elementary school Special Education Secondary Vocational Education Now teaching young adults of the “Sociale Vormingsplicht” Theme: STRATEGIES to change students behaviour by using BRAIN BASED – SEL – EMOTIONAL BALANCE Duration of workshop: 3 hours. 20 participants Please, bring you comfortable clothes to wear during the workshop Summary 1. Giving the brain ten things it loves in order to learn best 2. Key principles of brain-compatible learning 3. Differences between brain-based learning and brain-antagonistic learning 4.Selfawareness with different activities. 5.What’s your emotional intelligence quotient? Languages: Dutch/Papiamentu/English