Now it’s my turn to teach. I had my 7th graders write letters to the Filipino students. They introduced themselves in the first paragraph, wrote about positive things happening in Chicago, wrote about our education system, and they asked questions for the last paragraphs. I was very worried that the Filipino students would have a hard time understanding the letters with all of the grammatical mistakes! I was also worried with how much the Owls would understand. I figured the STEM students would have an easier time. I was wrong. All of the students jumped right in and loved reading the letters! They shared the letters with their friends or others sitting by them. Each student probably got to read 3 or 4 of the letters. I showed them photos of the authors of the letters. The Darwin group (one of the STEM groups) all ran up to my computer and asked me to point out specific students. Pretty soon, they were enlarging the photos and pointing out certain students to their classmates who perhaps didn’t see who was who the first time around. It was awesome! After they had spent some time with the letters, I asked the students to write back to my students. They were very excited to do so! Some of the students asked if they could write to specific students and answer their questions. Other students wrote general letters. It was great to see the students so engaged in reading and writing! I wish MORMS had more technology, so we could keep the exchanges up. Many of the students asked their Chicago counterparts to friend them on Facebook, so some of them will probably be able to be in touch with each other.
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Both days at school it has poured rain at some point in the day. Teachers sometimes have to walk a long way to class, so apparently, they sometimes cut class when the weather is really bad! The nice thing about rain is that it cuts the heat. It is unbelievably hot and humid here. I’m not sure if they have PE when it’s raining. Today was the day that I really got into the classrooms. I followed Mehlaine’s schedule for the day. She is an 8th grade English teacher. Her first class is the Owls. They are the 11th section of 8th grade. Students are grouped by ability at MORMS, so the 11th section would just be a regular class of 8th graders (students learning at grade level). She warned me that their English wasn’t very good. This is a class with 60 students in it. It was very different from the STEM class I had seen yesterday. This building was much older than some of the other buildings of the school (having over 7,000 students, you have to have multiple buildings). I’m pretty sure there was no teacher in the classroom next door because those students were surprisingly loud, and running in and out of the classroom and down the hall. Despite all of the distractions, there were many students engaged in the lesson and wanting to go to the board to show their work. They were focusing on which words you stress in the sentence when you speak English. They struggled with the concept, so Mehlaine had to keep reminding them of the notes they had taken previously. The next 3 classes were all part of the STEM program, so the rooms were bigger and newer, and there was a maximum of 40 students per class. These students also struggled a bit with the concept, but they were more successful. One interesting thing she had the students do was to work with partners. They picked 5 out of 8 sentences. They underlined where the stress was in the sentence, and at the end of class, she called partners up to say the sentences out loud. In one class, many of the students struggled with the word “misled”, so they made sure to ask the teacher when they were still working on the assignment. Most of them mastered the word by the time they got up to say their sentences out loud. It was great to see them figure out how to speak in unison. A couple of the groups who really struggled with a lot of words got to hear their teacher say the sentences again before they were asked to repeat it. It was all very well done. This is what a rock star must feel like. There are over 7,000 students at MORMS (grades 7 – 12). They start every morning with a flag ceremony, where they pray, sing the national anthem, and sing the school song. After a quick announcement about a lost cell phone, I was introduced to all of the students. I stood by myself on a stage as the students waived and cheered. What a great welcoming! There was a sign welcoming me in the front of the school and another one in the computer lab, next to my desk. The students are very friendly. Some go out of their way to talk to me. Others giggle nervously when they see me, or I say hello to them. They stand to greet me (and any other teacher or visitor) when I enter the classroom. Just like students in the US, they freak out a little bit when they see you outside of school. I went into town yesterday (7 Eleven), and I ran into a big group of them. They all greeted me, and then just giggled. I got to observe Rose’s first science class of the day (grade 10). Her students will be learning about continental drift. As a warm up activity, she gave them some worksheets. Students worked in pairs. They had to cut out continents and color portions of them. Because they haven’t learned anything yet, it was interesting to watch them figure everything out. They used their science workbooks as reference guides, and they talked to each other. Most were not able to finish all of the work, so they will have to complete it for homework. I had a tour of the school. I met the Principal, who was very friendly and proud of her school. The library is filled with various text books. I found our 8th grade literature book in there! Each department has a faculty lounge, where teachers have their desks. Teachers here move between classrooms, while students stay in place. So, teachers have to bring all of their materials with them, including posters for the lesson. Students seem very responsible. They help teachers bring materials to the lounge or back to the classroom. Because Rose was taking me around, she wasn’t with some of her classes. They do not have substitute teachers here (those are only for maternity leave, or really long-term absences). She stopped by 2nd period and got them started on their work. For her 3rd period, some students came to her and got the work for the class. Students can be in the classroom without a teacher here. My last stop was meeting the English department. I will be observing and working with Ms. Mehlaine. She has 3 sections of 8th grade STEM. Students have to test into the STEM program, and they have to maintain an 85% in English, science, and math, and a 79% in their other subjects. Students not in the STEM program are grouped by ability. There is very little movement between classes from year to year. It all depends on the student’s GPA. The STEM classes are smaller than the regular classes. Regular classes have up to 60 students. The STEM classes have a maximum of 40. Even though there are so many students in one room, and they don’t move, they are very calm. There is a little bit of talking during the lesson, but most students are quiet and listening. They raise their hands, and stand up when they are answering a question. The STEM rooms are a little bigger than the other classrooms (or maybe they just feel that way because there are fewer students). I observed one English class at the end of the day. The students were learning which words to stress in a sentence when speaking English. It’s always interesting to see how others learn your language. I learned something! We went to Polangui, Albay where we were the special guests at a street dancing festival. We sat on the stage behind the judges and had the best seats in the house! First there were 18 women in red who were representing different neighborhoods in a beauty contest. Their dresses were quite elaborate. They wore red to honor Pulang Angui a heroine in a legend (pulang means red). Each woman introduced herself and said where she was from. Next there was a parade of the dancers. When I heard that there was going to be street dancing, I expected hip hop, or something similar. I was very surprised to see huge dance teams in full costume. There were 6 teams total. For the parade, each team did a short dance as they passed by. Then it was time for the full out performance. Each team reenacted the legend of Pulang Angui, and even after 6 examples, I still didn’t get the full gist of the story. I will have to look it up to get the details. Basically, Pulang Angui was beloved. There is a warrior who tries (but fails) to protect her from an evil witch, who puts her under a spell. A beautiful woman in white breaks the spell, and everyone is happy again! The performances were spectacular. I couldn’t believe how well done and elaborate each piece was. And everything was completely portable. Many teams brought in their own risers for the dancers to use. They had portable backdrops on poles that they moved around. The costumes were stunning. Each team added their own flair to the production, which everyone appreciated. Even with that, team 4 was the hands down winner in everyone’s book (even though we didn’t stay to hear the final results). After everyone had performed, all of the teams were brought back out in front of the judges and danced on command. It was wild, and really impressive. The 4 featured dancers (Pulang Angui, the warrior, the witch, and the spell breaker) danced with their teams, after Pulang Angui each did a solo. Team 4 should have won the solo dance as well.
Hoyop means to blow – it’s an example of Filipino onomatopoeia! We explored the cave with a guide. When the Japanese were there, they covered the main entrance to protect the Filipino people. They left an opening in the ceiling, so they got in an out using ropes and bamboo ladders. Most of the inside of the cave is natural. There are stalactites and stalagmites, as well as crystal formations. There is a section of the cave where they have found the arm bone and ribs of a caveman. There are also some man-made things in the cave, such as the walkways and bridges. In 1972, someone put in a dancefloor because dancing was forbidden under Marshall Law. The caves are a natural shelter for the locals when there are typhoons.
This was the last stop of the day, and quite stunning. The lake has a great view of the volcano. On the far shores, you can see water buffalo grazing in the fields. We rented a raft with a sailor. The rafts are made out of bamboo tied together. Even though parts of the raft were underwater, we were assured this was completely normal and safe. Americans are so much bigger than Filipinos, we were worried we were sinking the boat! The furniture on the raft was made on the site. That woven furniture is sold all over the world. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have some baskets in my bathroom that were made here!
The boat is propelled through the water using a bamboo pole. The boat driver takes you to all the scenic spots in the lake. He also is used to taking lots of pictures, so he took over the camera. It was a very relaxing way to end our fun-packed day!
After our adventure on the ATVs, we went to a mall for lunch. We ate at the 1st Colonial Restaurant. There is a vegetable dish that they make there, which consists of a bunch of vegetables sung in a children’s song (the way they learn about vegetables). Normally, the staff only sings part of the song when the dish is ordered. Because we ordered 2 of the dish, our host teachers asked the staff to sing the whole song. It was really a treat! Plus the food was very good. I tried veggies I’ve never heard of or seen before, and they were delicious. We also had some vegetarian spring rolls, which were yummy.
The highlight of our meal was the sili ice cream. The Bicol region is known for spicy food, so sili ice cream is one of their specialties. It is pepper ice cream! We had a choice of 4 levels of spiciness. I went with level one. I have learned that as much as I like spicy, when in a region known for spices, I will not be able to handle it. Greg and Angelo went for level 4 – the Volcano level! It came with a shot of milk, and it was much redder than mine. I found level one to be pretty spicy. I did take a small bite of level 4, and I about died! It was so hot! After trying that, my ice cream didn’t seem spicy at all. Angelo was brave and finished all of his ice cream (Agnes helped him with a few bites). The next day, he informed us that the volcano had its revenge that night. Glad I stuck with level one! |
AuthorJenn Henderson is a Teachers for Global Classrooms fellow. She will be traveling to the Philippines in June 2017. Archives
September 2017
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