Wireless Wednesday Exclusive: Lisbet Chiriboga of PETA

While many listeners might know PETA’s humane education division, TeachKind, from its headline-grabbing animal-friendly idioms—including “feed two birds with one scone” and “bring home the bagels”—they may be surprised to learn how the group works mainly with tens of thousands of educators across the U.S. to help them incorporate kindness into the curriculum. Being kind to animals is a goal in and of itself, but as the saying goes, “Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.” These days, with rising violence and bullying in schools, empathy lessons can pay off now and for years to come.

Teachkind’s 20th anniversary is approaching, with accomplishments that include helping school districts address incidents of cruelty to animals perpetrated by young people, traveling the country with life-size animatronic animals to teach kids how to relate, donating vegan food to schools, presenting materials to educators at national conferences, and much more—all for free.

I'm joined by Lisbet Chiriboga of PETA.

Have a listen:

Topics:

What is TeachKind and how did it come to be at PETA?

Can you tell us about any specific resources TeachKind offers?

How does teaching children about helping animals motivate them academically?

Does this also improve social interaction?

Where can our listeners go for more information?

For more information, please visit: TeachKind.org

Lisbet Chiriboga is the program manager of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) TeachKind program. She creates lessons and activities that aim to foster empathy for animals and are appropriate for even the youngest learners along with other resources for educators interested in humane education. She works directly with school districts, teachers, and homeschooling parents, providing them with free animal-friendly educational materials, and conducts virtual humane education teacher workshops and presentations for administrators. Before joining PETA, she taught in New York City for 12 years.