One of the most devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic is that social distancing has made learning extra challenging. Particularly, social-emotional learning. The skills such as confidence, and self-awareness that are developed through social-emotional collaboration with others are essential for not only students in school, but adults in any walk of life.

Danielle De La Fuente created an incredible solution to this problem with her work at Amal Alliance. Amal Alliance is a non-governmental non-profit organization that provides displaced and disfranchised children worldwide with social development programs that help cope with the invisible scars of trauma and the learning fundamentals that guarantee them future opportunities to succeed. 

Danielle believes learning can and should take place anywhere and at any time.  

Big Takeaways:  

• (5:50)“Forget about living in a war zone or surviving conflict. Even just in everyday life, you need to really have these bases to be very accepting and just put yourself in other people's shoes and just remove judgment. It really makes for a much better society at large.” 
• (16:15)“Let's look at just self-awareness, I think right now, even just being able to name your emotion is something that a lot of people are unfamiliar with...So naming it and then figuring out different ways that you can manage that I think has been a key to the children.” 
• (26:10)“The COVID pandemic obviously had so many challenges and, we have to make note of that, but I also think it was a real opportunity to re-imagine how we learn and how learning can take place anywhere at any time. And that includes all ages.” 

AmalAlliance.org: Follow on IG, FB, LI, and Twitter 

Follow Danille on LinkedIn @Danielle De La Fuente and Instagram at @dani_delafuente 

 Social-Emotional Learning Graphic