Category: Featured

The Guam Department of Education (GDOE), in collaboration with the ​Public Broadcast System Guam​ (PBS Guam), is excited to announce the launch of a televised at-home learning resource known as PBS University for students this month. This new resource will complement weekly online lesson plans that are available at the GDOE Home Learning Resources website, and the “Grab and Learn” packet distributions at schools which began earlier this month.

PBS University will provide students with televised instruction in subject areas such as literacy, mathematics, and character development. The program was made possible through a partnership between PBS Guam and the GDOE Division of Curriculum and Instruction. GDOE and PBS Guam collaborated with public school teachers to create lessons that students will be able to easily follow, with the aim of helping students to continue their learning at home. Parents and students are encouraged to tune into the PBS University programming which will launch on ​Monday, April 20, 2020 on KGTF channel 12​.
“We would like to thank PBS for reaching out to us with this opportunity to reach and impact our students during these uncertain times,” said GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez. “We want to use this unique platform to promote student learning with instruction that is presented in a fun and exciting way with familiar faces.”

“The lessons are compact but informative,” GDOE Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Joe Sanchez said. “They are intended to provide both parents and students with a unique educational experience that they would not usually be able to experience together. It is a family effort and we encourage all to take advantage of these episodes to continue the learning process at home.”

“PBS Guam recognizes the importance of having as many educational tools in the home while dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, PBS Guam has worked hard to gather its resources and present them to our community,” PBS Guam General Manager Ina Carillo said. “With the launch of our second channel PBS Kids 24/7 and PBS LearningMedia in the past few weeks, this partnership to produce PBS University with Superintendent Fernandez and GDOE, is the perfect fit.”

The PBS University broadcasts will mirror weekly lessons found on the GDOE Home Learning Resources website. The broadcasts will continue throughout the duration of the school year and into summer. Episodes for content will air on Mondays and Tuesdays with repeats throughout the week. The tentative schedule is as follows, beginning on Monday, April 20, 2020:

Students and families may access the GDOE Home Learning Resource website by visiting http://sites.google.com/gdoe.net/lessons-and-tips​ or through the GDOE main page at www.gdoe.net. The website will also include links to the episodes that have been aired. All videos will be available to view on the GDOE and the PBS Guam YouTube channels in the future. For more information regarding the PBS University, please contact Ernest Ochoco at [email protected]​ or Frank Candaso at ​[email protected]​.

(Mangilao) The COVID19 stay home mandate certainly points out the lack of quality educational television for our children. Children have Youtube and the internet where they watch other kids and gamers play video games, watch music videos, and cartoons. Because PBS Guam understands that kids consume media with many different platforms to keep themselves entertained, we believe high-quality education programming that you are sure to approve is made readily available to the residents of Guam.

As such, PBS Guam is proud to announce the launch of our second channel- Guam’s only truly free TV channel dedicated to educating our kids for 18 full hours a day. All you need to do to access this exciting new channel is to use your smart TV to tune in to PBS Kids 24/7 on digital channel 12.1.    While the channel is named Guam PBS Kids 24/7, the channel will broadcast locally for FREE at 6:00 a.m. and sign off at midnight daily effective April 8, 2020.   

This is channel is as much about the parents, caregivers and educators as it is about the kids.   Ina Carillo, PBS Guam General Manager states, “During times like this with the current COVID 19 pandemic, we hope that GUAM PBS KIDS 24/7 will fill an important need by reaching in the home every day and provide our viewers some alternative educational resources.”  The most exciting thing about this is that all kids, especially those that need it the most, will have equal and unrestricted access to PBS Kids programming.   

We hope you enjoy the new service which will differ from PBS Guam KGTF Channel 12 or 12.2 on a smart tv for free during daytime, and present popular PBS KIDS programs such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, Molly of Denali, and many others, throughout the evening.  We felt it was important to bring this service to the kids of Guam as soon as possible and look to add PBS Kids 24/7 to our partnering cable providers very soon.   

 For more information, contact Ina Carillo, General Manager PBS Guam at 671/727-5123. Find us on Facebook or Instagram @pbsguam or visit our website at www.pbsguam.org