However, despite swearing off teaching FOREVER after leaving Malaysia, I discovered that the Australia New Zealand Association here in Manila was in need of volunteers to teach street children in the worst slum in this city - Tondo. After visiting with the children one day, I was hooked and volunteered my time to help some of the older students.
Many of my students do attend school. They always bathe before we have class. They are happy, cheerful and so enthusiastic to learn. All of this yet they live just above the poverty line every day of their lives. The difference with these students is that they really see education as a way of getting out of the poverty cycle and that is what inspires me to work with them every week.
My students range from ages 20 - 13. They want to improve their English so they have a better chance at jobs where good spoken English is a prerequisite. An example of this is getting work in a department store, grocery store or even their local Seven-Eleven. Many would love to be a barista in a coffee shop like Starbucks but for that, in the Philippines, you must be a college graduate!
Some days, like last week, only seven students may show up. Other days I will have twenty students in attendance. But despite numbers, I diligently plan something which will target their spoken English in the same way I would teach a class of privileged international students. I buy all the felt tip markers, pencils, pens, glue sticks, folders and paper that they will need. I spend hours cutting out things for interactive team work, I adapt activities to relate to the kinds of lives my students survive every day. That can be the hardest part for me sometimes and I have had lessons fall flat as I realise that my students have absolutely no idea what I am talking about.
Every day of lessons, we start with a recap of what we did last week. We go over new vocabulary we will encounter. We begin each lesson with a prayer as all my students are devout Roman Catholics who view religion as the cornerstone of their lives.
After we work, I always make sure I bring 'merienda' with me and then we share afternoon tea - drinks, biscuits, savoury snacks and fresh fruit. I always buy for about 40 students as some of the children who turn up usually only eat once a day and I like to think that they can take something home with them.
An amazing 'Sisters for Charity' orphanange are kind enough to let me use an area of their premises to teach the students - in that way, the children are safe. Given the reputation of Paroso and Tondo, it also means that I am safe too.
Following are some photos of my 'classroom', teaching technology, the students themselves and views just outside of the orphanage. Just for something a little different from shoes..........
5 comments:
Wow Mel! I would love to have been more involved with volunteering while in Malaysia. There's a lot to be said for working with kids who really need you and are so thankful to learn. Good on ya' mate. Those kiddos are very lucky to have you.
Great post! Good to see the side of Mel I met here in KL and not just the Diva...what the hell am I talking about? They are one and the same!
Cool Mel. Thank you, seriously, for helping out my fellow countrymen in learning. Indeed, education is mostly our ticket out of poverty. It's ignorance that keeps most of our people from being successful in life.
Kudos again!
You are my hero!
hey cuz, that's totally cool!
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