"It's obvious you're an American," one boy told me.
"I thought all Americans had blue eyes--you have green eyes," another boy observed.
"Are you rich?" a little boy asked me.
"I think I've seen you on TV," another student decided.
These were the quotations that stick in my mind from our recent visit to a local Philippine school. Nate and I had an assignment to observe some classrooms, so we thought we could get to know more about the Philippines by observing there. The kids were so fascinated by our presence, as you can tell from the above quotes. Wow, it was such an interesting experience!
I won't be able to describe all my observations here on this site, but I will say some of the interesting facts we did learn about this school with over 1,000 students!
--School starts at 7:10a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m.
--The school year begins June 5th and ends in March.
--Grades 1-6 are called "Grade school" and grades 7-10 are called "high school."
--Grade 10 is the last grade before college.
--Students stay in one classroom all day but the teachers rotate and come to them.
--The classrooms have open windows on two walls so air flows through and so does sound.
--The teachers and students all wear uniforms.
--The kids all bring suitcases on wheels and rest them beside their desks.
--Most subjects are taught in English, their second language.
After class the kids surrounded us and asked us so many questions. They were so happy to have us visit. One girl in class would raise her hand and answer a question. Then she would turn around and look at me to see if I noticed her answer. When she made eye contact with me I smiled at her, and she smiled and sat up even more straight. She was eager to do her best in our presence!
One boy told me about how he was in section C. It seemed he was telling me they group the kids based on their abilities to excel--so I don't know what section C was. I just told him, "Wow! So you must be very bright!" He shyly shook his head no, and I said, "No, I think you are bright-kaayo (very bright!)" He smiled from ear to ear and listened to every word of encouragement I could give him.
I'm sure both we and the students will remember the day we visited the Philippine schools!
2 comments:
It's interesting to hear you describe what the school system is like in the Philippines. As I talk with World Vision sponsors it is hard to make Americans realize how big the culture differences really are. In a lot of African countries, children often don't start school until they are much older than what we are accustomed to. We have sponsored children in the Philippines as well, so it's good to hear from someone on the front lines describe what it's like. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, that's neat to hear how my story connects to your job! I wish I could help you visualize it even more--it is quite different in many other ways too...like some rural schools have half the kids come in the morning and half the kids come in the afternoon because there is not enough space for all the kids at once
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