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!
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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! I have never ridden an ATV before, and I was more than a little weary. But they put a helmet on my head, gave me a mask to keep the dust out, and provided a quick tutorial, and we were off. ATVs are not easy to steer. The tires are pretty wide, and you really have to pull to turn the wheels. I guess this probably makes it safer and harder to tip over. I was a nervous driver at first, and pretty much right away, we drove through a stream! For some reason, I had it in my head that there was only 1 wheel in the front. I was trying to avoid big rocks in the middle of the stream. Only later did I realize that there are 2 wheels in the front, so sometimes I was probably turning into rocks instead of avoiding them. I got stuck once and had to have the guide get me out. The other problem I had was my ATV kept dying. I would be cruising along, and all of the sudden, the vehicle would just stop. I after a few times being shown, I figured out how to restart it on my own. Eventually, the guide got tired of me stalling out, so he and I switched vehicles. We got through the stream and went up and down some small hills on a dirt trail (glad to have the mask for this!). There are massive rocks everywhere, but the ATVs handle them well. Finally, we made it to a concrete road that took us to the lava wall. When we reached our destination, we parked and got some drinks. It really is exhausting being in the hot sun all of the time. We left our guide at the rest stop, and a different guide took us up the wall. At first it was just uphill. Then we had to climb up big rocks. Eventually, we made it to the top, where there was a helicopter landing pad. There were really beautiful views up there. We could see the Mayon volcano. On the other side, we could see the cities and the bay. Breathtaking! We had the option of ziplining back down, but they guys were too big. There was a line of people waiting, and with my fear of heights, I was happy to just walk back down to the rest area. After more drinks, we got back on the ATVs and headed back. It was pretty smooth riding this time – mostly on concrete. It was really fun, and I would do it again. ATVs are easier than riding horses because you have control over where you are going and the speed. We met at 5 am and drove to the base of a “hill” (slightly bigger than a hill by midwestern standards). Every year, people get together to plant trees on Arbor Day. There was a diverse group of people there, including teachers and students, along with the Boy Scouts. We climbed the hill first. Fortunately, we took the short cut. It would have been a challenging (but manageable) climb uphill under normal circumstances, but in this heat and humidity, it’s killer! It’s a good thing that it was so early in the morning.
Once we got to the top, we had a nice walk around. The views are spectacular! We walked to the other side of the hill, where the tree planting would take place. I started down the side of the hill and quickly realized that if I went too far, I was not likely to make it back up to the top! It was a really steep incline. Greg and Angelo (both science teachers) joined the others and went further down the side. They made it back up in one piece. One woman, who stayed with me on the side of the hill, rubbed her fingers in the dirt to have evidence of planting trees. Brilliant idea! |
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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