Second Day of School: School Visits and Teaching

Our second day picked up where our first day ended. This update, in terms of writing, is going to be short. I think the narrative told by the pictures and YouTube links, below, will tell a much more compelling story for you than I can presently share in words. In truth, there is simply so much to uncover. It seems that each experience is more remarkable than the previous one. Just when I think that I have seen or experienced it all in terms of the way the students are reacting to Jeanette and me, the collegial discussions with our educational peers, or the moments of realization in terms of how lucky I am to be experiencing this educational exchange at this point of my career, something even more compelling presents itself.

Today we visited two public schools in Bacolod. There is a striking difference between La Consolacion and the public schools, as would be expected. But I was struck more by the similarities: The friendly and even raucous reception we received, the commitment of the teachers and principals, and the sincere desire to make the students the focus of the educational experience. Like in the U.S. the educators I have interacted with are deeply concerned about the development of their kids, and it shows in the respect that permeates the campuses. The pictures and videos below are from the first part of our day. You really have to watch Randdie introduce Jeanette and me. He whips the group into a frenzy. I thought we were going to have to sign autographs afterwards. :-)



























Below, Jeanette and I were asked to present medals to a young student who won a regional swimming competition.
















Randdie making us laugh:















Can you believe this one? 50 students to a class:






















After our visit to the public schools, we headed back to La Consolacion and prepared for our co-teaching assignments. The videos below are of La Consolacion instructor Genevieve singing the "Hero" song as an introduction to Beowulf, and there are three videos of my portion of the lesson.










Later this morning, I am going to teach a 90 minute lesson on T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men to English Education Students. Jeanette is teaching a lesson on critical reading in the afternoon. Very cool stuff. I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bacolod, Philippines