Traveling Sobek: I finally got to teach!

At the beginning of the week, I spent a lot of time traveling around to different schools and administrative offices meeting with new people and interviewing them about the education system in the Philippines. It was incredibly interesting hearing what the different people had to say, especially because each of them represented a unique niche of the system.

However, there was one important thing missing from that: THE STUDENTS!

Finally, yesterday and today, Ms. Estes and I got a chance to really observe in some classes and meet some students. It was so nice to get a chance to talk with the young people of the Philippines and to find out that they're a lot like students in the United States!

We have visited quite a few math classes, and when we got the chance to teach in a few advanced sections, Ms. Estes decided to try to get the students to do American math. What did that mean? Math about hamburgers, of course! (And it also meant students doing group work and explaining their answers, which we hadn't seen much of in Filipino math classes so far.)

That's Ms. Estes, my partner, explaining the directions.

Yesterday I also substituted for a Grade 8 math class. Here I am with the class known as "Generosity." All of the sections have names, and in 8th grade they are virtues.

We also got the chance to observe several English classes and to speak extensively with the teachers about their reading program. They are making some exciting changes and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the future!

The students brought their own poster-sized paper to class!

In Social Studies class, we gave presentations about the U.S., Michigan, and California. We gave each student a sticky note and had them write a question for us to answer. Surprisingly, we got a huge variety of questions! Students here in Batangas National High School seem incredibly inquisitive and genuinely interested in learning about us. We did our best to represent the U.S.A!

I was also able to see school lunch for the first time today and I snapped a picture to share with you!

I also had the opportunity to observe some extracurricular activities the last two days. Here are some examples of Filipino sports teams (but don't forget that school just started this week, so they're not completely organized yet!).