Hello friends,
Sorry that it's been a while since I've posted, things have been so busy! I did indeed leave Camiguin Wednesday, spent one day in Cagayan de Oro before flying to Manila. I felt completely emotionally overwhelmed as I rode the ferry for the last time (at least for now). I looked on at Camiguin, and then at the waves in the water left by the ferry, which got smaller and smaller until they vanished a few hundred meters off. Sure, I think that I made some waves in Camiguin. But I am also pretty sure that they will vanish fairly soon. I have taught some English, but for less than 2 months.. I think that the most lasting difference that this trip has made will be on me. I have learned to be able to communicate my most basic thoughts in sign language. I have learned a handful of Visayan words, I have made some friends which I hope will last for a long time.
But more importantly, I have expanded my horizons. I was very uncomfortable before going on this journey, very scared, particularly for my safety. (The Philippines has a terrible reputation. Just go here to see what I mean.) I have seen a completely different way of living, one that I hope will stay with me as I move forward. I have discovered ways of thinking about the world like I have never thought about it before. This way is a much more simple way, it is just about living life, and not worrying so much if I am living it "well" or not: do I have nice things, a nice job, enough friends... Sure, it is human nature to always want more, and indeed in the Philippines, just like everywhere else, people strive for a better life. But I believe that one thing that people do in the Philippines is live their life, no matter what, instead of complaining about it and suffering.
After the Philippines, I visited Singapore for one week. There was an incredible contrast between the two countries. Singapore is a very wealthy country, and (at least from my impression) its materialistic attitude permeates everywhere. Everywhere there are expensive things to be bought. People drive around in super-nice cars, are always dressed their best, and everyone there is in amazing shape. As I stayed in Singapore for one week I could feel the less-materialistic nature that I had acquired in the Philippines leaving me. Once again, I wanted that sexy phone, or that expensive car, just a little bit... And it is a shame, because I think that the less-materialistic life is potentially, in some ways, a happier one.
This will be the last entry in my blog. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my various experiences in Camiguin and elsewhere.
Thanks,
Eugene
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
almost at the end
This will probably be one of my last posts in this blog. Today is Wednesday. Next Wednesday I take a ferry to Cagayan de Oro. On Thursday I fly to Manila, and then on Saturday I will fly to Singapore! So much travelling in the next little while.. But the realization that I am leaving so very soon has become overwhelming. The time has come not for making new bonds with my staff, but of forging the ones that I think are more important and getting myself ready to say goodbye. In my lessons, the time has come not to innovate or to cover entirely new topics, but to continue in the same steady pace and hope that I am doing the right thing and having some sort of impact.
There have been more changes at the school recently. I have spoken about Leo before in this blog. He is a deaf student who was found by a school nurse in the Agora Bus Terminal in Cagayan de Oro. He was probably abandoned by his parents, and he was brought here to the school, where he spent the last school year. Also, during last summer, he stayed with one of the farmers who works at the farm, Ngong Edwin. But now he has been expelled from the school. And where was he expelled from, do you ask? He was sent right back to where he came from, to be by himself at the Agora Bus Terminal... God knows what will happen to him there, what he will do to get money, etc...
The reason for his expulsion? I am told that he is a very stubborn kid, that he doesn't listen to instructions. And also that, one time, he threatened another student with a knife. But I don't know exactly what happened. Perhaps it was simply a joke or a reenactment, who knows. Some of the teachers at the school believe that it was. But even if it was an expression of a true violent urge or of a loss of control, I don't know whether I would have kicked Leo out, if the decision were in my hands. One of the main reasons for this is that I simply don't know if he actually UNDERSTANDS what people are telling him. People say that he is stubborn, but maybe he doesn't really understand most of our communications to him? He walks around all day smiling. Then you tell him to do something, and sometimes he does it, and sometimes he doesn't. But he always continues to have that same smile. Sometimes he says yes, sometimes he says no. But he never says he doesn't understand. He just continues to smile...
The events of these past few weeks have brought me back to my Global Health Ethics class, which I took during the spring semester of my junior year. But they have also brought me back to the idea that maybe ethics is fodder for the armchair philosopher, not for the person who is out living in the material world, with its material realities, where decisions must be made that affect the real course of human life.
There have been more changes at the school recently. I have spoken about Leo before in this blog. He is a deaf student who was found by a school nurse in the Agora Bus Terminal in Cagayan de Oro. He was probably abandoned by his parents, and he was brought here to the school, where he spent the last school year. Also, during last summer, he stayed with one of the farmers who works at the farm, Ngong Edwin. But now he has been expelled from the school. And where was he expelled from, do you ask? He was sent right back to where he came from, to be by himself at the Agora Bus Terminal... God knows what will happen to him there, what he will do to get money, etc...
The reason for his expulsion? I am told that he is a very stubborn kid, that he doesn't listen to instructions. And also that, one time, he threatened another student with a knife. But I don't know exactly what happened. Perhaps it was simply a joke or a reenactment, who knows. Some of the teachers at the school believe that it was. But even if it was an expression of a true violent urge or of a loss of control, I don't know whether I would have kicked Leo out, if the decision were in my hands. One of the main reasons for this is that I simply don't know if he actually UNDERSTANDS what people are telling him. People say that he is stubborn, but maybe he doesn't really understand most of our communications to him? He walks around all day smiling. Then you tell him to do something, and sometimes he does it, and sometimes he doesn't. But he always continues to have that same smile. Sometimes he says yes, sometimes he says no. But he never says he doesn't understand. He just continues to smile...
The events of these past few weeks have brought me back to my Global Health Ethics class, which I took during the spring semester of my junior year. But they have also brought me back to the idea that maybe ethics is fodder for the armchair philosopher, not for the person who is out living in the material world, with its material realities, where decisions must be made that affect the real course of human life.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
trouble in paradise
Things have been shuffling around quite a bit at the school recently, and it has been a bit disconcerting for me. One of the nurses and teachers at the school, whose name is Sheila May, left because apparently she has to take care of one of her sick relatives. (People in the Philippines are very family centered, much more family-centered than us in the US, and I think it's a good thing.) So anyways, they hired a new nurse to replace the one that left, his name is Edison. When Edison started teaching his classes, his students informed him that they would like him to reteach all of Sheila's lessons. Why? Because they said that she simply read all of her lessons from the book, without truly comprehending or explaining them. This made me really angry at her, I don't know why. Perhaps because I, myself, hated teachers like that when I was in school. Or perhaps because I felt that she was letting the kids down because of sheer laziness. Wilvin told me that it seemed that she was bored here, and that her family member was simply an excuse to leave.
Another teacher, his name is Joseph, will also be leaving the school this coming Friday. He says that it is because he needs more money and does not make enough of it at the school, and because he has a business in CDO that distributes eggs. But Wilvin says that it is because he simply doesn't want to work here anymore. And he is doing it in a bit of an underhanded way, because he already signed the contract for this school year. Joseph is a very nice guy, but something about me also strikes him as not being quite right, now being exactly forthcoming or honest, I'm not sure what it is.
Another development at the school was the expulsion of one of the deaf students, whose name is Pretty Mae. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I have been told that, in general, this girl has a very short temper and perhaps some violent tendencies. I think that she threatened one of the other students with a bolo or something along those lines. The administrator of the school, Tom Palmeri, ordered that she be expelled from the school and taken to a police station. Maybe this is the right action to take, I don't know. But something inside me doesn't agree, and I feel very sorry for her.. but of course Tom and Diane are in charge of the school and it works the way it does because of them, so maybe this decision is for the best.
Other than these developments of the school, things have been going fairly steadily. The realization that I have 2 weeks left in the Philippines starting from today hit me like a slap in the face. But nonetheless, I am very excited. I will be visiting Singapore for 5 days with my good friend Trevor (Hi!), and then I will be coming back to my wonderful family on July 25. I have been starting to reflect on my time here, and I think that for the most part I have made the most of it. I have met a lot of people, tried a lot of new things, and have taught a good number of hours of English. But I still wonder how much of an impact I have been able to make in these very short 2 months, maybe it is not that much. And there are many what-ifs. What if I had tutored the teachers for more hours? What if I had done things differently? But I suppose that I have done the best that I could. And one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot and my life has been changed forever.
Another teacher, his name is Joseph, will also be leaving the school this coming Friday. He says that it is because he needs more money and does not make enough of it at the school, and because he has a business in CDO that distributes eggs. But Wilvin says that it is because he simply doesn't want to work here anymore. And he is doing it in a bit of an underhanded way, because he already signed the contract for this school year. Joseph is a very nice guy, but something about me also strikes him as not being quite right, now being exactly forthcoming or honest, I'm not sure what it is.
Another development at the school was the expulsion of one of the deaf students, whose name is Pretty Mae. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I have been told that, in general, this girl has a very short temper and perhaps some violent tendencies. I think that she threatened one of the other students with a bolo or something along those lines. The administrator of the school, Tom Palmeri, ordered that she be expelled from the school and taken to a police station. Maybe this is the right action to take, I don't know. But something inside me doesn't agree, and I feel very sorry for her.. but of course Tom and Diane are in charge of the school and it works the way it does because of them, so maybe this decision is for the best.
Other than these developments of the school, things have been going fairly steadily. The realization that I have 2 weeks left in the Philippines starting from today hit me like a slap in the face. But nonetheless, I am very excited. I will be visiting Singapore for 5 days with my good friend Trevor (Hi!), and then I will be coming back to my wonderful family on July 25. I have been starting to reflect on my time here, and I think that for the most part I have made the most of it. I have met a lot of people, tried a lot of new things, and have taught a good number of hours of English. But I still wonder how much of an impact I have been able to make in these very short 2 months, maybe it is not that much. And there are many what-ifs. What if I had tutored the teachers for more hours? What if I had done things differently? But I suppose that I have done the best that I could. And one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot and my life has been changed forever.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
halfway through
Hello everyone!
Things over here have been becoming to become a bit more routine and the initial bewilderment at everything completely new and different over here has been becoming to wear down. I have been getting to know some of the teachers at the school more and more, and have been exploring the island. Typhoon FengShen has been hitting the Philippines these past few days, it actually overturned a ferry in the central Philippines. We got a bit of it on Friday and Saturday, and it was weather unlike anything that I had seen so far on my trip. Strong, gusting winds coming from nowhere, unbelievably strong rain that lasted almost for two days. This is the beginning of the wet season here in Camiguin, and the dry season in over. Over here there is no summer, fall, winter of spring. Only wet and hot.
I have been progressing with my work and have been discovering that a few more of the teachers are very excited to learn English. But some of them also do not seem to be very motivated, and seem to avoid having a lesson with me at any cost, lest I have to push it on them. Maybe it is because they are shy and ashamed of their English, I don't know. But maybe it is because they simply don't want to.
I am sharing my room with a teacher called Wilvin, he is 25 years old I think, and he has a 3 year old son. He is the head of English at the school, and while at first he avoided English lessons and did not want to schedule a lesson, saying that we live together and I sit in on his classes, and that that is more than equal to an English lesson, he has recently come around and has been very keen to work on pronunciation and grammar. Oftentimes, when I am free, he says "Eugene let's work on pronunciation" or "Eugene let's work on my English," and that makes me happy because I was a bit resentful at first, when I felt that he was avoiding English lessons, because he does in fact have some things to work on.
I have been sitting in on Wilvin's English classes. He teaches Language and Pronunciation to Grade 6 students and Language to Grade 5 students. During the classes, I sit in with a notebook and write down when Wilvin makes a mistake in pronunciation or grammar, and I think that he is quite sensitive to it. Of cousre he appreciates that I do it, because I am doing it to help him, but I can tell that he is also a bit bothered whenever I start jotting something down in there!
Wilvin has also given me the opportunity to teach several lessons in his classes. I taught part of one grade 6 class, and the entirety of another grade 5 class on pronouns. It is very hard! And it is true what they say, that standing up there in front of the board makes you dumber! Sometimes you don't know what to say or do, and you are completely lost.
I have also been making quite a bit of progress learning sign language. There are many deaf students at the school and 2 of the teachers are also deaf. During my English tutoring classes with them, I pick up a lot of the sign langauge because it is better to communicate with them in sign language than through jotting things on paper. But I have learned enough that I can sometimes say an entire sentence without not knowing a word, and if I don't know it, I can spell it out in sign language and then they show me the sign. One of the teachers, Archelene, can also read lips pretty well, and that makes communicating with her much easier!
But the problem is that sign language does not really follow the same rules of grammar as spoken language. In fact, they usually take a lot of shortcuts. So instead of signing "I am going there," they usually sign "I go there." Furthermore, sign language does not have the various tenses that spoken and written language have. For example, the signs for "I went there" and "I have gone there" would be the same. This makes the deaf teachers have many problems with written grammar, because they have never been exposed to it, not even in their communications in English. And this has made working with the 2 deaf teachers, Archelene and Tonette, particularly challenging and also particularly rewarding!
Goodbye from the island, for now.
Eugene
Things over here have been becoming to become a bit more routine and the initial bewilderment at everything completely new and different over here has been becoming to wear down. I have been getting to know some of the teachers at the school more and more, and have been exploring the island. Typhoon FengShen has been hitting the Philippines these past few days, it actually overturned a ferry in the central Philippines. We got a bit of it on Friday and Saturday, and it was weather unlike anything that I had seen so far on my trip. Strong, gusting winds coming from nowhere, unbelievably strong rain that lasted almost for two days. This is the beginning of the wet season here in Camiguin, and the dry season in over. Over here there is no summer, fall, winter of spring. Only wet and hot.
I have been progressing with my work and have been discovering that a few more of the teachers are very excited to learn English. But some of them also do not seem to be very motivated, and seem to avoid having a lesson with me at any cost, lest I have to push it on them. Maybe it is because they are shy and ashamed of their English, I don't know. But maybe it is because they simply don't want to.
I am sharing my room with a teacher called Wilvin, he is 25 years old I think, and he has a 3 year old son. He is the head of English at the school, and while at first he avoided English lessons and did not want to schedule a lesson, saying that we live together and I sit in on his classes, and that that is more than equal to an English lesson, he has recently come around and has been very keen to work on pronunciation and grammar. Oftentimes, when I am free, he says "Eugene let's work on pronunciation" or "Eugene let's work on my English," and that makes me happy because I was a bit resentful at first, when I felt that he was avoiding English lessons, because he does in fact have some things to work on.
I have been sitting in on Wilvin's English classes. He teaches Language and Pronunciation to Grade 6 students and Language to Grade 5 students. During the classes, I sit in with a notebook and write down when Wilvin makes a mistake in pronunciation or grammar, and I think that he is quite sensitive to it. Of cousre he appreciates that I do it, because I am doing it to help him, but I can tell that he is also a bit bothered whenever I start jotting something down in there!
Wilvin has also given me the opportunity to teach several lessons in his classes. I taught part of one grade 6 class, and the entirety of another grade 5 class on pronouns. It is very hard! And it is true what they say, that standing up there in front of the board makes you dumber! Sometimes you don't know what to say or do, and you are completely lost.
I have also been making quite a bit of progress learning sign language. There are many deaf students at the school and 2 of the teachers are also deaf. During my English tutoring classes with them, I pick up a lot of the sign langauge because it is better to communicate with them in sign language than through jotting things on paper. But I have learned enough that I can sometimes say an entire sentence without not knowing a word, and if I don't know it, I can spell it out in sign language and then they show me the sign. One of the teachers, Archelene, can also read lips pretty well, and that makes communicating with her much easier!
But the problem is that sign language does not really follow the same rules of grammar as spoken language. In fact, they usually take a lot of shortcuts. So instead of signing "I am going there," they usually sign "I go there." Furthermore, sign language does not have the various tenses that spoken and written language have. For example, the signs for "I went there" and "I have gone there" would be the same. This makes the deaf teachers have many problems with written grammar, because they have never been exposed to it, not even in their communications in English. And this has made working with the 2 deaf teachers, Archelene and Tonette, particularly challenging and also particularly rewarding!
Goodbye from the island, for now.
Eugene
Sunday, June 15, 2008
starting to get rolling
Hello!
Things over here have been very good, I have been bonding with the other instructors at the school and have been getting to know some of the students. The instructors are all very friendly, as is indicative of Filipinos in general, as far as I have been able to see. Even if you are a complete stranger, they will often offer you a drink, or some food, or invite you into their house! They are really very nice people! But of course being the city slicker that I am, I always get a bit suspicious when a stranger approaches me like that and offers me something: what do they want from me? Are they going to rob me? But I have learned to let my guard down a little bit here and just allow myself to meet the people.
It is very interesting to watch the students at the school. Some of them have a real curiosity and passion for learning, and others seem a bit disinterested and copy their homework from others. Leo, one of the deaf students at the school (who was actually found in a bus terminal in Cagayan de Oro by the school nurse) always goes to the staff room and searches through the shelves, looking for books with pretty pictures. Then he procedes to leaf through the books, and mumbles to himself some of the words that he is able to read. I have observed another girl, Zichochin, doing the same thing. Except she is quite good in English and was able to read a few paragraphs of the children's book by herself. When I approached her and offered to help she turned very shy.
But then I spoke to Zichocin for a bit. She is the oldest of 5 children and comes from somewhere in Mindanao (I don't remember where exactly). Her mother is a housewife and her father is a farmer. She said that her family is very poor, and she probably would not be able to go to school were it not for Family to Family. I asked her about her dream, and she said that she wants to be a teacher. I asked her why, and she said that it is because she wants to one day help other children like herself, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to get an education.
And then she asked me about my life. I told her that I come from New York, and I described as "there are buildings everywhere, and no grass or green, except in some closed places where there are trees that are called parks." I never imagined how foreign the concept of an American city can be to a child like Zichochin. She comes from a completely different world. She asked me about my dreams and my family, and I told her that I dream of being a doctor, and that my father works with computers and my mother is also a doctor. She asked me if I was rich. All of the sudden, I felt very ashamed. I do not usually consider myself rich, when most people ask me I say that I am upper-middle class. But here, there was no way of denying it. I looked around at the school, and at the clothes that she was wearing and that the other children wear, and at the opportunities that I have had to visit so many places around the world while these children have never left Mindanao, and while most Filipinos live and die without ever having stepped foot even as far as Manila or Camiguin. And I said, yes I guess I am rich. But I told her that I would rather not be rich if other people have to be poor.
I meant it at the time, but I do not know if that is really true. I am able to see how lucky I am, yet I am scared to think that maybe it could have been different, maybe I could have been very poor and not had any of the opportunities that I have today. While I feel sorry for the people around me and want to help them, I cling to my wealth and privilege selfishly.
Things over here have been very good, I have been bonding with the other instructors at the school and have been getting to know some of the students. The instructors are all very friendly, as is indicative of Filipinos in general, as far as I have been able to see. Even if you are a complete stranger, they will often offer you a drink, or some food, or invite you into their house! They are really very nice people! But of course being the city slicker that I am, I always get a bit suspicious when a stranger approaches me like that and offers me something: what do they want from me? Are they going to rob me? But I have learned to let my guard down a little bit here and just allow myself to meet the people.
It is very interesting to watch the students at the school. Some of them have a real curiosity and passion for learning, and others seem a bit disinterested and copy their homework from others. Leo, one of the deaf students at the school (who was actually found in a bus terminal in Cagayan de Oro by the school nurse) always goes to the staff room and searches through the shelves, looking for books with pretty pictures. Then he procedes to leaf through the books, and mumbles to himself some of the words that he is able to read. I have observed another girl, Zichochin, doing the same thing. Except she is quite good in English and was able to read a few paragraphs of the children's book by herself. When I approached her and offered to help she turned very shy.
But then I spoke to Zichocin for a bit. She is the oldest of 5 children and comes from somewhere in Mindanao (I don't remember where exactly). Her mother is a housewife and her father is a farmer. She said that her family is very poor, and she probably would not be able to go to school were it not for Family to Family. I asked her about her dream, and she said that she wants to be a teacher. I asked her why, and she said that it is because she wants to one day help other children like herself, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to get an education.
And then she asked me about my life. I told her that I come from New York, and I described as "there are buildings everywhere, and no grass or green, except in some closed places where there are trees that are called parks." I never imagined how foreign the concept of an American city can be to a child like Zichochin. She comes from a completely different world. She asked me about my dreams and my family, and I told her that I dream of being a doctor, and that my father works with computers and my mother is also a doctor. She asked me if I was rich. All of the sudden, I felt very ashamed. I do not usually consider myself rich, when most people ask me I say that I am upper-middle class. But here, there was no way of denying it. I looked around at the school, and at the clothes that she was wearing and that the other children wear, and at the opportunities that I have had to visit so many places around the world while these children have never left Mindanao, and while most Filipinos live and die without ever having stepped foot even as far as Manila or Camiguin. And I said, yes I guess I am rich. But I told her that I would rather not be rich if other people have to be poor.
I meant it at the time, but I do not know if that is really true. I am able to see how lucky I am, yet I am scared to think that maybe it could have been different, maybe I could have been very poor and not had any of the opportunities that I have today. While I feel sorry for the people around me and want to help them, I cling to my wealth and privilege selfishly.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
my first week at the school
I have been at the Family to Family School and Farm for one week now, in the Philippines for two weeks now, and I have been having an absolutely amazing time. All of the instructors have been very hospitable and I have been getting to know some of them, particularly Wilvin, the main English person at the school and Joseph, another instructor there.
Being at the school has been an eye-opening experience. The children walk around with tattered clothes and dirty feet, but still I am confident that what they have at the school is much better than what they would have had otherwise, whatever they would be doing. The students all live at the school, and are incredibly disciplined. They help to clean up, always greet me very respectfully ("Good afternoon, teacher Eugene!"), and are always in class and never late. Although in grading their homework I have noticed that they do copy each other's homework quite a bit!
I have been sitting in on Wilvin's grade 4,5 and 6 English classes. In the beginning, the children were all very shy around me, given that I am a big intimidating American who supposedly speaks broken English but now after a week of me being there, they have warmed up to me. However, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in their level of English. The grade 5 and 6 students are sometimes barely able to compose complete English sentences when asked to do so. An example would be "Rey-rey playing a basketball." However, there are quite a few very promisiung students in the class, I can see that they are trying hard to learn and get great pride and satisfaction from doing so.
Yesterday I began to tutor the instructors in English. We decided that I would be meeting with them for at least one hour every week to work on pronunciation and grammar. Quite a few of them do not seem that excited about it, but on the other hand maybe they are but are also a bit shy or ashamed of their imperfect English. Of course, there is nothing to be ashamed about. On the other hand, I have been a bit disappointed with the level of English spoken by some of the instructors. I think that out of all the instructors, Wilvin's English is the best, and yet he often omits verbs or articles in his speech, uses inappropriate word order and mispronounces words. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I can see how the students would themselves get confused. Of course, I have not told Wilvin this and I hope that I do not make the instructors feel like their English is bad, on the other hand it is quite good and if I was expected to speak a language that was foreign to me I wouldn't expect myself to be as good! But maybe for teaching students, it is not good enough...
I would like to end this post with an experience that touched and inspired me. One of the instructors at the school is called Evelyn. She seemed quite reluctant to be tutored by me because she kept on postponing it, and to be honest my impression of her was not that positive because she never really spoke to me. But nonetheless, she scheduled her tutoring session with me for one of the first available slots. Then, when it was time for me to come get her from the "instructors' lounge" (I'm not sure what the proper name is, but don't let the word lounge fool you into thinking that it's fancy) , I saw that she was reviewing English grammar, in particular the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs (become, became, have become...) At the point, I realized just how nervous she was about the lesson, and perhaps that she may have been shy or ashamed of her English. And maybe she was being cold because of that very reason as well.
In any case, I went to get her, and we started the lesson in the room next door. Given that this was our first lesson, I tried to ease her in by having her talk about her life. She took this very seriously, and went on to tell me a story about her life which went something like this: she comes from a family with a lot of children, either 9 or 11. In any case, she is the oldest one, and her family is very very poor. Her father is a farmer and her mother is a housewife, and they live right here on Camiguin. When she was young, her family did not have enough money to buy her eyeglasses and school supplies, but she said that the Palmeris were kind enough to provide them to her through her humanitarian work. They also helped her through high school, and I believe through college in Cagayan de Oro, where she studied Education. She told me how thankful she is that the Palmeris gave her the opportunity to get an education, and to help her very poor family financially. Furthermore, she said that she is very loyal to the Palmeris for all the things that they have done for her, and this is the reason that she wanted to work at Family to Family School and Farm. Furthermore, she said that she is extremely motivated to learn English and to make the most of the opportunity that is presented to her in my presence at the school. Throughout the lesson, she demonstrated such a zeal and motivation for learning, it was very impressive and I have to say I was amazed. This was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s (not old of course, but perhaps past her student days). She was so motivated that we went ahead and scheduled another meeting for this week.
I hope that this finds all of you well.
With love from beautiful and hot Camiguin,
Eugene
Being at the school has been an eye-opening experience. The children walk around with tattered clothes and dirty feet, but still I am confident that what they have at the school is much better than what they would have had otherwise, whatever they would be doing. The students all live at the school, and are incredibly disciplined. They help to clean up, always greet me very respectfully ("Good afternoon, teacher Eugene!"), and are always in class and never late. Although in grading their homework I have noticed that they do copy each other's homework quite a bit!
I have been sitting in on Wilvin's grade 4,5 and 6 English classes. In the beginning, the children were all very shy around me, given that I am a big intimidating American who supposedly speaks broken English but now after a week of me being there, they have warmed up to me. However, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in their level of English. The grade 5 and 6 students are sometimes barely able to compose complete English sentences when asked to do so. An example would be "Rey-rey playing a basketball." However, there are quite a few very promisiung students in the class, I can see that they are trying hard to learn and get great pride and satisfaction from doing so.
Yesterday I began to tutor the instructors in English. We decided that I would be meeting with them for at least one hour every week to work on pronunciation and grammar. Quite a few of them do not seem that excited about it, but on the other hand maybe they are but are also a bit shy or ashamed of their imperfect English. Of course, there is nothing to be ashamed about. On the other hand, I have been a bit disappointed with the level of English spoken by some of the instructors. I think that out of all the instructors, Wilvin's English is the best, and yet he often omits verbs or articles in his speech, uses inappropriate word order and mispronounces words. Maybe I am expecting too much, but I can see how the students would themselves get confused. Of course, I have not told Wilvin this and I hope that I do not make the instructors feel like their English is bad, on the other hand it is quite good and if I was expected to speak a language that was foreign to me I wouldn't expect myself to be as good! But maybe for teaching students, it is not good enough...
I would like to end this post with an experience that touched and inspired me. One of the instructors at the school is called Evelyn. She seemed quite reluctant to be tutored by me because she kept on postponing it, and to be honest my impression of her was not that positive because she never really spoke to me. But nonetheless, she scheduled her tutoring session with me for one of the first available slots. Then, when it was time for me to come get her from the "instructors' lounge" (I'm not sure what the proper name is, but don't let the word lounge fool you into thinking that it's fancy) , I saw that she was reviewing English grammar, in particular the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs (become, became, have become...) At the point, I realized just how nervous she was about the lesson, and perhaps that she may have been shy or ashamed of her English. And maybe she was being cold because of that very reason as well.
In any case, I went to get her, and we started the lesson in the room next door. Given that this was our first lesson, I tried to ease her in by having her talk about her life. She took this very seriously, and went on to tell me a story about her life which went something like this: she comes from a family with a lot of children, either 9 or 11. In any case, she is the oldest one, and her family is very very poor. Her father is a farmer and her mother is a housewife, and they live right here on Camiguin. When she was young, her family did not have enough money to buy her eyeglasses and school supplies, but she said that the Palmeris were kind enough to provide them to her through her humanitarian work. They also helped her through high school, and I believe through college in Cagayan de Oro, where she studied Education. She told me how thankful she is that the Palmeris gave her the opportunity to get an education, and to help her very poor family financially. Furthermore, she said that she is very loyal to the Palmeris for all the things that they have done for her, and this is the reason that she wanted to work at Family to Family School and Farm. Furthermore, she said that she is extremely motivated to learn English and to make the most of the opportunity that is presented to her in my presence at the school. Throughout the lesson, she demonstrated such a zeal and motivation for learning, it was very impressive and I have to say I was amazed. This was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s (not old of course, but perhaps past her student days). She was so motivated that we went ahead and scheduled another meeting for this week.
I hope that this finds all of you well.
With love from beautiful and hot Camiguin,
Eugene
Friday, May 30, 2008
first week in Camiguin
Hello again!
I have been in Camiguin for one week now, staying with Tom and Diane Palmeri. They have welcomed me into their house with incredible hospitality and have definitely treated me like a member of their family. It has been a little difficult adjusting to the time difference, 12 hours, I am literally on the other side of the world from where I usually live! And the climate here also takes some adjusting to. It is constantly very hot and humid, and even if you just sit around you start sweating and the sweat just drips off without making you any cooler. It’s actually pretty interesting, the island has a bit of its own microclimate. There are some very big mountains in the middle, and I think that they somehow form rainclouds. And so at any given time I think that it is probably raining on some part of the island. But each of the little parts of the island also has its own little microclimate, and so sometimes you see a big thundercloud hanging over one part of the island but not another. The Palmeris house is right on the beach of the island, it is a rocky beach and there is a beautiful coral reef right off of it with some beautiful tropical fishes with all sorts of patterns swimming around.
The second day that we were here, Tom and Diane took in a two week old baby. I think that its official name is CJ but we are calling it Andre, I think that’s it’s middle name. The baby’s mother didn’t want to keep it, I think that her husband abandoned her and she felt that she couldn’t take care of the baby. So Tom and Diane took the baby in. The way that they treat for the baby is unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before, it is with a lot of care and warmth but also with a lot of confidence, without the panic that I have seen in some parents at every time the baby cries or appears discontent. Andre is a very very cute baby boy!
On Thursday, Diane went around the island to visit the various clinics and to see the various patients. She works with a lot of children on the island, some are sick and others have birth defects. It was a very unique experience to see these children, some of them are receiving very good top of the line care, but for others, their families do not have enough money to be able to afford the medical procedures that they needed. Some of the children were not being taken care of very well by their parents. The houses that the families that we visited lived in were little wooden huts with ground floors, they slept on beds. Occasionally there were TVs and there were religious icons on the walls. Some of the adults work harvesting coconuts, others are drivers that take people around the island.
I move into the school on Monday and will start doing all of my work then. I will be teaching English to the instructors at the school and perhaps some of the older students. Some of the people on the island do speak some English, although usually it is limited to only a few words. The instructors also usually speak pretty good English, but they make a lot of fairly simple mistakes and end up confusing the students sometimes, especially when they are tested on the very material that the instructors have made a mistake on.
I will write more soon.
Goodbye from beautiful Camiguin,
Eugene
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