Last week I had the chance to spend the morning in a 1st grade classroom at JRU. Ms. Manila welcomed me in to spend time with her 37 student -- what a fun time! While I was there, I observed the students working on their handwriting. After that, their teacher read them a story that she displayed in front of the class using a projector. The students loved it! It was "Little Blue and Little Yellow" by Leo Lionni. Have you read that book before, 1st graders? Students then had a snack in the classroom. When they were done, they helped clean up. They were very responsible! The students sang different songs throughout the morning. They love to get out of their seats and dance along to the music! After watching Ms. Manila teach for a while, she let me do some teaching! I did a lesson on the 5 senses. We sang a song and talked about each of the senses. After that, I told them all about my wonderful 1st graders. They were so excited to learn about them! Since I'd had my students write letters and draw pictures before I left on my trip, I shared them with the JRU 1st graders. They loved reading what my students had written and enjoyed looking at the pictures they had drawn. They were so excited to learn that I wanted them to write back to my 1st graders! I passed out papers and they got right to work! I can't wait to bring them back to my students!
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I am here in Mandaluyong for 10 days along with a 2nd grade teacher from Delaware. While we’re here, we will be working mostly at Jose Rizal University, or JRU. When we arrived at the school, we had the most wonderful welcome by the teachers and students! They sang us songs, presented us with flowers, made lovely speeches, and treated us to a special meal. We felt very special! They even made us honorary ID badges! Although the word university is part of the name of JRU, it actually has classes all the way from Kindergarten up through graduate school. This is a VERY big school! There are more than 1,000 students in the elementary school (Kindergarten to grade 6); 4,000 students in the high school (grades 7 to 11), and 1,000 students in the graduate school.
JRU is a private school, so their classes are a bit smaller than the public school classes I’ve seen – they have around 40 students in each class. On my first day here, I was able to stop in and visit some classrooms in the elementary school and high school. Here are some of the photos I took. I'll add more soon! What questions do you have about school here in the Philippines? Ask me in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them! Last weekend I had the chance to get out of Mandaluyong and do some exploring! On Saturday I headed to the Province of Laguna, which is South of Mandaluyong. The first town I visited, Liliw, sits at the base of Mount Banahaw. It is known as the shoe capital of the Philippines. Almost every shop you go to sells handmade shoes! While I was there I visited Saint John the Baptist Church, had lunch, and did a little shopping in the market. Liliw is also known for its sweet treats. Yum! After Liliew I headed to Paete. This town is known as the woodcarving capital of the Philippines. Paete is a lakeside town located along the shores of Laguna de Bay. Many people who live in Paete continue with the centuries-old tradition of carving and painting wood. While I was there, I got to talk with some people carving wood and to observe them hard at work making their beautiful creations. What a great day!
On Friday I travelled to Mandaluyong, another city in the Philippines. This is where I will spend the next 10 days! Mandaluyong is located to the east of Manila. Curious about the name Mandaluyong? One local tale is that there was a young man named Luyong who wanted to marry the chieftain's daughter, Manda. Because the chieftain did not approve, Manda and Luyong decided to run away together. The place they ended up living was called Mandaluyong. One of Mandaluyong's nicknames is "Tiger City". They call it that because they have been strong and have worked hard to improve their city. Mandaluyong is also called the "Shopping Mall Capital of the Philippines" because there are a LOT of malls here. When it is very hot out, people go to the malls to spend time in the air conditioning. Although this is not the hottest time of year, it sure does feel hot to me! Every day the temperature gets into the 90s and it is very humid. Randolph readers, what is the temperature in Arlington today?
Today we had our first school visits here in Manila! In the morning we went to visit Pitogo High School and in the afternoon we went to East Rembo Elementary School. The first day of the school year is June 13th, so the teachers and school staff have been hard at work getting everything ready! Even though school is not yet in session, many teachers and students were there to welcome us. Pitogo High School has more than 4,800 students. Since the school is so big, each class has between 50 – 60 students! Wow! They also do not have all of the students come at the same time; some come from 6:00am until 12:00pm; others come from 12:00pm to 6:00pm. This is also the first year that grade 11 will be offered. Prior to this year, high school only went from grade 7 to grade 10.
East Rembo Elementary School (ERES) is a public elementary school in Manila. It has grade kindergarten all the way up through grade 6. It is a big school with more than 2,400 students. Because there are so many students, some come to school in the morning and others come to school in the afternoon. Their classes are big – between 40 and 50 students in each class! This school has a beautiful library, and interactive white boards in most of the classrooms. Students also get their own tablet! Last week we visited the U.S. Embassy here in Manila. Do you know what an embassy is? It is a diplomatic building of one country that is located in a foreign country, usually in the capital city. It is the headquarters of the chief of mission, staff and other agencies. People who work in the embassy issue visas for those traveling to the U.S., help American citizens living or traveling in the country, and interact with the host government, businesses and other organizations. During our visit, we got to talk with people who work to improve English language teaching. They provide materials and training opportunities to Filipino teachers. Here are a couple photos of our group from the visit. The first photograph is a serious one; the second is a silly one. Here in the Philippines they like to take a silly photograph after a serious one; they call it a “wacky wacky” photograph.
I have been doing a LOT of learning about the history and culture of the Philippines since I arrived in Manila! I learned that the Philippines is an archipelago (large group of islands) with more than 7,100 islands! WOW! The 3 largest islands are Luzon, Visayazs, and Mindanao. During my visit, I will be on the island of Luzon. The three stars on the Filipino flag represent these three islands. For my Randolph readers, can you find the flag of the Philippines hanging in our cafeteria? I also learned there are two national languages in the Philippines: Filipino and English. However, there are more than 80 major dialects, or a variation of a language that differs from the standard language. I’ve been practicing some of the useful Filipino phrases I’ve learned so I can use them when I visit with teachers and students. I have also been learning about the educational system here. In some ways it is very similar to education in the U.S., but there are some differences, too. For example, the national government controls the schools. Students learn the same things at the same time all throughout the country, no matter where they live. Students begin school in Kindergarten at age 5. It is only required to go to school through grade 6. When students are in grades K—3, instruction is done in their “mother tongue” – the language of the province they speak in that area. Starting in grade 4, instruction is in English or Filipino. One big change that is happening is that this is the first year that grade 11 will be offered. Next year, grade 12 will be offered. One other difference is that the school year begins in June! Next Monday (June 13) is the first day of school!
More to come soon! Hanggang sa muli, paalam! (Until then, goodbye!) Today was an exciting first day in Manila! After a good night’s sleep followed by a wonderful breakfast, I went on a walk in the area around the hotel with a few other teachers. This part of Manila is called the financial district, so there are lots of hotels, malls, and restaurants. Since there are a lot of tourists who come to this part of the city, many of the restaurants are familiar -- there is a TGI Fridays, Hard Rock Café, and Starbucks! I stopped into McDonalds to get a frozen coke on this HOT day. Did you know that there are McDonald’s in more than 100 countries around the globe? Each country may have special food on their menu that is unique to that country. Here in the Philippines you can choose spaghetti instead of fries with your meal! I wonder what special foods are on the menu in the country your family comes from? Ask your Mom or Dad! After my stop in McDonald's, I continued walking around a few parks in the area. One park nearby, Greenbelt park, was filled with beautiful plants and sculptures. During our walk, I stopped in to exchange some money. Here in the Philippines, the money is called Pesos. Instead of using the dollar sign like we do ($), they use ₱. Take a look at the photo of the Pesos below -- how are they similar to the dollars we use in the U.S.? How are they different? Comment below!
Yesterday we went on a historical tour in a part of Manila called Intramuros, which means “within the walls”. It is a walled city on the Pasig River that was founded in 1571. During out walk, we visited Fort Santiago, which is located on the Pasig River. This fort has a beautiful arched gate and is surrounded by a moat. It has many lovely gardens and plazas you can walk through. On our walk we also visited two churches. The first was the Manila Cathedral, a beautiful church with high ceilings and lots of statues. The second church we visited was San Agustin Church, the oldest church in the Philippines. We also went to the San Agustin museum and visited its many exhibits. We ended the day with dinner at a restaurant called Barbara’s. During the dinner, we heard traditional music and saw traditional Filipino dances. One traditional dance we saw was the Tinikling. This dance involves two people beating, tapping and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles. It is traditionally danced to a type of music called rondalla, a sort of serenade played by an ensemble of string instruments. Wouldn’t you like to learn this dance?
On Saturday I began my travel to the Philippines with this amazing group of teachers from all over the U.S. as part of the Teachers for Global Classrooms program.
I took 3 planes to travel to the Philippines. The first was a 2 hour flight from D.C. to Detroit, Michigan, followed by a 13 hour flight to Tokyo, Japan, and then a 4 hour flight to the capital city of the Philippines, Manila. Upon arrival, we got our bags and headed to the hotel. Luckily, the traffic wasn't too bad so our drive to the hotel was pretty quick. After such a long trip, I was pretty tired so I went up to check out my room and get a good night's sleep. First graders, how many hours was I flying on an airplane? Add them up and tell me in the comments below! |
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