“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” – Albert Einstein

Can you imagine your childhood without fairy tales? Without books with colorful, glossy, pages? At first, the words were jumbled squiggles that only your parents could read with what seemed to be magical powers. But as you grew, you came to recognize familiar words that you saw over and over again. And soon enough, you no longer needed mom or dad to share stories of far off places because you finally held the magical power of reading, too.

You could stay up past bedtime with a flashlight under the covers, discovering what happened next to sailors far at sea, or the trapped princess in India. In your backyard, you imagined yourself the hero slaying all the dragons, or the dancer overcoming her injury to win first place. These fairy tales were more important to your development than you could have ever realized at the time.

Now, imagine growing up in a town with no library.  Imagine having no books in your home. When you go to school, the books that are presented to you are printed on a dull gray paper that feels like phone book paper, rough to touch but easy to rip. Many of the books are in a language you don’t understand even though you may have not had the chance to learn to read your own language yet. The pronunciation may come but the comprehension does not.  None of these books are yours to own and you usually have to share with other classmates. Imagine never being able to say, “but this book doesn’t have any pictures!” because none of them ever did.

This is the reality of the high school I teach at. Not only are hundreds of students unable to comprehend reading in English, which they are expected to be able to do by the time they graduate, there are also many students who still have trouble reading and comprehending texts in their own language. The problem is clear. There aren’t enough books. Books in bookstores are expensive so only a small population gets to even entertain the idea of reading. But because most people aren’t reading, even those who can don’t.

And without books, without these fairy tales, your imagination can only go so far. Perhaps, you will be a farmer like your father, or a housewife like your mother, or get lucky and go abroad to be a nurse like your aunt, or a seaman like your uncle. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these aspirations, but what else could you dream to be? And even if your dream continues to be a farmer, imagine what kind of farmer you could be! A farmer with his conical straw hat, facing each day with the strength of a heroic prince, the newfound courage of a once cowardly lion, and the hope of a lost boy trying to find his way home. And who knows, with an imagination like that, you could be the farmer who comes up with the newest and innovative farming technique that brings in more money and food for your family.

Many people from the states, including me, have said, “I don’t read enough. I’m too busy.” Although, sadly, for many that is true, at least we had the opportunity to when we were young. Our minds were shaped by impossible stories made possible by the characters strong enough to go after their dreams. Stories that helped us find our interests in the world, hone our skills in specific subjects, or helped mold our values. Stories that taught us manners, evoked emotions, and introduced us to diversity. Stories that taught us how to comprehend abstract ideas, logic, and life in general. Ultimately, these stories widened our imaginations to their full potential. And that is a right I think every child should have the chance to experience.

My belief in this notion along with my imagination drove me to help my school create a reading program at my school called “Read to Succeed.” With the help of book donations from Books for Asia, Books for Peace, and Bagong Kulturang Pinoy, my students should soon be able to hold books with glossy, colorful pages in their hands. With your help, by donating to my grant through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, my school would be able to purchase the additional materials and resources in order for the program to successfully get off the ground. If only 80 people donate $20.00, my grant will be fully funded!

So what can $20.00 do?

It can help give a child a wild, funny, absurd, over-the-top imagination…just like Einstein’s.

Please click here to read more and donate to this worthwhile project!

Speaking of learning, I made a list of the Top 10 Tagalog Words I now use instead of English. These words wiggle their way into my conversations multiple times a day, often unconsciously, even when I’m speaking to other volunteers or sometimes when I’m chatting with friends back home and they have no idea what I mean.

1. Sige (si-gay) – Okay (I often want to type this when I’m chatting with people back home but then I realize they wont understand…I feel this will probably happen when I go home to visit in December, too)
2. Salamat (sah-lah-maht) po – Thank you! Always an essential phrase to know
3. Na (nah) – already/now (for example: Kain na! – Eat now! Or Dito na ako – I’m here already) I really use this one all the time even when I’m speaking English. Ex: Where are you na?
4. Syempre (shyem-pray) – Of course. In Spanish, with different spelling, it means always.
5. Hay naku (eye-nah-ko) – expression that compliments a sigh. This is definitely one of my favorites. “Hay naku, pagod na!” – “Sigh, I’m tired already!”
6. Grabe (Grah-beh) – my goodness! Another expression (they’re my favorite to learn)
7. Wala (wah-lah) – None/not. For example: “Nasaan si Carol?” “Wala pa.” – “Where is carol?” “Not here yet.” Or “May 10 pesos ka?” “Wala.” – “Do you have 10 pesos?” “No, I have none.”
8. Sana (sah-nah) – Hopefully. “Will you be able to come to my birthday party?” “Sana!”
9. Seguro (seh-goo-row) – Maybe. “Will you be able to come to my birthday party?” “Seguro!” (this is a nice way of saying probably not)
10.  iyan (eeyahn)/iyon (eeyoon) – That/There. Also used as an expression, for example if you’re trying to do something and you finally get it you say “iyan!” Like, “There! I got it!” It’s usually exaggerated too, like “iyoooon!”

So what’s been happening lately…

I moved in to my own place! More on this to come in another post..

My kitchen :)

Supervisor’s Conference – My supervisor (the head of the English department at my school) and I were invited to be resource facilitators for the new batch’s Supervisor’s Conference. This conference was where all the new volunteers found out where they will be permanently placed and met their supervisors for the first time. It was such an honor to be chosen as a resource volunteer since it’s an indicator of a strong relationship with my supervisor, as well as a sign that I am seen as a helpful leader by the Peace Corps staff. Many of my Peace Corps friends nicknamed me “Gunner” since I got here, because as early as orientation I knew I wanted to help at future events as a resource volunteer. So as early as orientation, I tried to stand out by participating a lot, applying for committees, and getting to know the staff, on top of working hard at my permanent site. I am happy to say my “gunning” paid off! I had an amazing time getting to know the new batch and tried my best to help them during a somewhat stressful and transitional point during their training. It was also interesting to get perspective on how far I’ve come since I was at the point they were at a year ago.

Journalism camp in Romblon- A fellow PCV held a three day camp at his school for teachers and students from surrounding schools in his town. Thanks to some Peace Corps funds, volunteers can sometimes be granted allowance for this kind of work related travel so eight of us got together to help out. We spent the first part of the week planning at one volunteer’s nipa hut right by the ocean (tough life) and the second part of the week teaching news writing, editorial writing, feature writing, photojournalism, editorial cartooning, sports writing and page layout. We first trained the teachers and gave them strategies for teaching journalism, as well as activities for each topic. The following two days we taught nearly 200 students from both elementary and high school.  My topic was photojournalism, which has been a passion of mine since I traveled to Sicily in 2008, so it’s really fun for me to teach. Romblon is prone to brown outs (power outages) and we were lucky to experience one during the camp. Thankfully they had a generator so most people got to present their PowerPoint presentations, but towards the end of the day the generator ran out of gas and my pretty presentation of photos could not be displayed.  Sayang (expression roughly translates to “what a waste”).

However, like PCVs do, I made do and did my best to keep the attention of tired and restless children at the end of a long day. Along with my slanted white board writing and the awesome support of the other PCVs, I shouted (brown out = no microphone) about the rule of thirds, patterns, colors, and angles and then put the kids to work. I passed out pictures cut out from newspapers and they had to observe what was good about the composition and what could be improved. Next, with those same photos, they had to use their imaginations to create captions using the 5 W’s. I personally enjoyed the creativity of the elementary students who often used their birthdays when they needed to make up the date of an event.  Of course, having students practice taking photos would have been the best activity, but the closest thing to a camera some students might have is a low megapixel cell phone camera and even then they’d have to share. Used digital camera donation drive, anyone? Regardless of the lack of resources, it was a successful presentation and overall a very successful camp.  Not to mention I got to see another beautiful part of this country.

Next, I was off to Northern Samar to help Trent out with a Coastal Resource Management assessment at his site.  Since he’ll be extending for another year, he’s working with his supervisor to assess all of the barangays (neighborhoods) in his town to help come up with a comprehensive CRM plan. This was the first run in the first of twelve barangays and I was happy to help out, not only because I got to spend time with him, but also because I live in a landlocked province and had not yet had the opportunity to help out with the CRM sector of Peace Corps.  The assessment tool being used was similar to a tool we learned about during training, including things such as a community map and seasonal calendar, so I didn’t feel completely in the dark. I helped him and his coworkers prepare the materials, and the next morning we went out to talk with local fishermen about trends, issues, and ideas they had for their smaller community. Trent has a great team at his site and they all did a great job presenting the information. It was really interesting to get to work in a completely different setting from my job…we did the assessment on the beach! And we gathered a lot of really interesting data that I’m sure will play a large role in the grander scheme of Trent’s extension.  I also got to see a few other PCVs that live in that province which was great. Getting to see where people live and work everyday is always an exciting experience.

Helping make a community map

Coming up next is the district press conference (journalism competition) and it is going to be hosted at my school, so we have been doing a lot of preparation this week. I’ve been working with the two students who will be competing in photojournalism and I’ve really enjoyed being able to have one-on-one interactions with them since I’m usually managing classrooms with forty or more students.  The biggest obstacle has been their shyness. I’m trying to get them to feel comfortable getting up close to different subjects and to not feel embarrassed crawling on the ground or climbing something to get a good angle…they’re not there yet but I saw some good outputs today and am hoping for even better outputs tomorrow.

Other things coming up this month: My site mate Caitlin’s environmental camp with several fabulous PCVs coming to help out, two new volunteers moving close by! (woohoo!!), and Shea’s journalism camp in Marinduque.

Oh, and this weekend I’m going back to visit my host family from training in Olongapo because they rock and I miss them and I’m so excited! Yehey!

I will try my best to now sum up the last month of my life with bullet points.

• Journalism classes – I started teaching journalism three times a week to the three Special Science Curriculum (SSC) sections! SSC students are the smarty pants of the school. They have to take a test to be placed in this section before the start of school and have much more demanding expectations than the basic curriculum (including extra science and math classes, extracurriculars, etc). It can be quite startling to go from a second year class that still has trouble reading, to go to a first year SSC class that basically seems fluent in English. Normally, I feel my help is most needed for the lower sections but when I was asked to teach journalism (in preparation for regional and national press conference competitions) I jumped at the opportunity! Knowing that they understand me (for the most part) really allows me to come up with creative and more complex assignments, and since it’s only once a week, I have time to develop each activity thoroughly. I think the once a week factor also helps with the students interest level, which is always a nice thing to have.

Students trying to put a news story back together

• Developmental Reading classes- I also teach developmental reading once a week to three sections. It is supplemental to their English class, so again, I think the once a week, change in pace, mixes it up a little for the students and allows my counterpart and I to come up with fun, interactive lesson plans.

• Dance Day - So You Think You Can Dance started an annual National Dance Day last year, where they published choreography online for people to learn and then on the designated day people all over the country (and all of the world) performed and posted videos of the event afterwards. I decided last year that I wanted to participate in the next National Dance Day, so when the choreography was posted I told people at my school about it. I first taught the choreography to some students known for their dancing skills (the dance leaders, I called them), they were then in charge of leading the practices thereafter, including teaching new students the steps. They have been practicing for about two and a half weeks now. The plan was to then have the students who learned the dance teach the student body (and interested teachers) on Friday afternoon. The early part of the afternoon would be for teaching the steps and practicing, and then by the end of the afternoon have as many people as possible put it all together. There has been a typhoon happening this week, however, so we did not have practice today or yesterday and I fear classes might be cancelled again tomorrow. Hopefully it pushes through. If not, I’m hoping we could postpone it until Monday, but we’ll see! It’s been fun practicing with the students anyway.

• Baguio, Manila, and Bohol – I was a busy traveling bee this month! I attended an Independence Day celebration held by the U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas at his residence in Baguio, which included good food, lots of volunteers, and getting to meet the new country director for PC Philippines! Also while in Baguio, I helped out at America in 3D, a program ran by the U.S. Embassy to educate others about the different roles the embassy has in the Philippines as well as other fun activities like cooking demonstrations and musical performances. Talking to new people is one of my favorite things to do, so helping out at the Peace Corps station was right up my alley. Next, I went to Manila for an IRC Committee meeting, where we talked about reorganizing the resource center’s website and helped label and barcode books in the PC library. I also got to partake in a fun party for batch 268 just before they attended their Close of Service conference (held 3-4 months before their actual COS date). Lastly, I went on a fun mini vacation to Bohol with some 268 volunteers after the conference was over. The weather wasn’t ideal but the company was great. And I got to see Trent two weekends in a row which was awesome!

Alona beach in Bohol

5:45 – Alarm goes off. I should really change the song I have set, “Emily” by Lady Antebellum, since I really used to like that song and now it makes me want to throw my phone across the room. Press snooze (while simultaneously realizing, I SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! I feel like a baby, a newborn actually, admitting that…but if you read this post, you’d understand why this was exciting to me.)

6:15 – Finally get out of bed. Go to the bathroom. See the door is closed and light is on which means my host sister is in there. Stumble back to my room. Johna used to knock on my door when she was done, which was nice because I could lay in bed until the last possible moment (I avoided signing up for morning classes in college like the plague), but she stopped doing that for some reason so now I just play a guessing game.

6:30 – Enjoy a hot shower (I’m so spoiled) and think to myself, man, I’m really going to miss these when I move out of my own. Contemplate if moving out is worth it. Remind myself of all the reasons why it is.

6:45 - Eat breakfast. My host mom put out two cups of noodles for Johna and I. Nothing like a Cup-O-MSG to start the day! Not even complaining, I’ve grown to like them.

7:00- Rush to finish getting ready. Usually I get a ride to school with my host family around this time, but my host mom doesn’t have first period on Tuesdays, so I remember I can rush a little slower today.

7:10 - Leave the house. Stand out front to catch a trike. Have an awkward moment where I try to wave over one driver but he’s waiting for someone else. But the guy contemplates leaving if his potential customer doesn’t hurry up. Another driver notices me and picks me up, first, though. Along the ten minute ride (I really could walk if I left myself enough time, but that is unlikely) I check the progress of the small house being built that I plan to move into, then happen to pass by the landlord of the building standing across the street and we exchange smiles. I wonder why the small Filipino-American restaurant is always closed, but then I think I usually look at it when I’m on my way to school very early in the morning. I really want to check it out sometime though! We pass by the elementary school, located across from the private Catholic school. I wonder how much it costs to go there and what the differences in education are.

7:20 - It looks like there might be classes today since the elementary schools are open (the day before classes were cancelled due to flooding from the heavy rain over the weekend). But when we approach the high school, the trike driver shouts “Wala!” which means none. Still, I see some teachers are there, so I decide to ask them what they will do for the day. They say “chika-chika” which means small talk, so I decide to stick around for a little while. The trike driver says, “Madami mga bagay”, you have a lot of things. I had brought visual aids and books along, thinking there was class, so I did have my hands full. I laugh, hand him 10 pesos (25 cents), and say “Salamat po, ingat!”  Thank you, take care!

7:30- I check out the flooding. Most areas of the school are fine, but one of the main pathways to several different parts of the school still looks like a small river. I imagine there wont be classes the rest of the week. Even if they get the water out by tomorrow, they’ll still have to clean the rooms, and a lot of students wont show up. Just one example of how classes can get pushed way back here. I check in with my supervisor, she asks me to write up the results of our recent reading assessment for my second year class. She tells me we will have a meeting with the Department of Education in Cabanatuan to get our special reading class approved. I feel a little bit nervous, like I will have to defend a thesis paper. I head off to the guidance office (the unofficial office of the younger teachers) and get to work.

8:30 – Finish printing the papers needed for my supervisor. I talk to some teachers in the admin office about where I think I’m going to move. They start brainstorming what things they can give me for my apartment. One offers utensils, and plates, another offers a rice cooker. A prime example of Filipino hospitality! These ladies are so motherly to me and I love it. I sometimes imagine how different my experience would be if either of them or some other teachers were my host family instead. This all has been a learning experience to say the least.

9:00-11:00 – Welp, now there’s nothing left to do for the day and the wifi has been turned on. Teachers who have laptops, scan Facebook, watch Youtube videos, and maybe do some research. I join them and check the sites I always check: Gmail, Facebook, Boston.com, Cnn.com, Gawker.com, Gloucestertimes.com, Nytimes.com, StumbleUpon if I’m bored enough. I get restless easily, since I also have the internet at home (spoiled again, I know). Who needs to be connected this much?! I try to google things that make me feel productive. I browse Peace Corps grant files. I remember I need to get my Leave Request Form signed by my supervisor for when I go home for Christmas (hooray!) This starts a decent discussion about going home, and of course I receive requests for pasalubong (souvenirs). I wonder if I could get a discount on seventy Rockport, MA t-shirts if I buy in bulk?  I put my computer away, and have some more conversations with other teachers. One teacher and I talk about the differences in dating between our cultures. Another teacher and I browse some of the books I recently got donated from Books for Asia and talk about the different lesson plans one book suggests. I try to start a group discussion about nutrition month, which is next month, but they say the TLE (technology and livelihood education) department handles it, so I decide I need to talk to different people about my ideas.

12:00 – 1:00 – I have lunch with one of the women I talked to about moving out, Ma’am Jenny. She offers what she cooked for lunch to me and gives me a plate of rice, despite my efforts to say I could just go home for lunch. She is someone that I feel I can talk to about anything. I don’t know if she even likes that I talk to her so much, but she listens and she’s very nice, so I appreciate it. We talk for a good long while about several things in her life and in mine. One of the head teachers comes in and jokes she must be tired of speaking in English. I think maybe he’s right, so I thank her for the food and head back once again to the guidance office.

1:00 – 2:00 - Cyrus, one of the funniest teachers at the school, takes a bunch of small sticks and put them on the ground in a line. He says you can only move one stick to make it turn to liquid. After a long time staring and guessing, Princess moves one stick in between to others to make an H, and then it spelled out “ihi,” which is pee. He creates another puzzle, that has a little more crude of an answer, and then everyone goes back to their computers or elsewhere, and I decide to head home for the afternoon.

2:00-4:00 – One thing that Trent and I do often is listen to albums at the same time and then text each other what we think about each song. Since he was traveling by van for several hours to go to a Peace Corps event, it was the perfect time for him to listen to some new stuff. So we listened to Amos Lee’s “Mission Bell” and his self titled album, and then switched over to William Fitzsimmons “Gold in the Shadow.” I really enjoy doing this because I can listen while also doing something else like journaling, cleaning, or making visual aids for class. Not only that, but it’s a shared experience with Trent even though we’re not physically together, and it’s fun to see what songs we agree or disagree on.

4:00 – We have an internet crisis, which I was actually welcoming so I wouldn’t be distracted, but my host sister really wants to connect. Some quick troubleshooting and I am deemed the hero of the day!

5:00 – 6:00 – I catch up on some podcasts for TED Talks and NPR Tiny Desk. I think about all the new things I’ve learned or discovered since being here. First of all, I never listened to a podcast unless it was for class in college before coming here. I read books I wouldn’t think to read. Listen to music I wouldn’t think to listen to. And watch several TV shows on my computer that I would have never gotten around to watching back home. Although these things are not directly related to my job, it’s all a part of the experience, and I really appreciate the down time (sometimes) when I can discover and explore new things.

6:00- Dinner. Can’t even tell you what it’s called, because I’m a visual learner and no matter how many times someone says something to me, I probably wont remember it unless they write it down because I can’t understand what they’re saying (the same goes for learning  people’s names too). But it’s  chicken and some vegetables in some sort of  soupy sauce. With rice, of course. Just my host sister and I eating this round, her parents still in their room watching over baby John. She tells me she’s excited for tomorrow because she gets to perform a play she practiced over the weekend with some friends. I tell her we didn’t have class again because of the flood. “The students must be happy,” she says. I respond, “because there were no classes?”. “I guess so, I don’t really know why though, I get excited for school sometimes.” “That’s good! Yea, school isn’t so bad. You get to see your friends…” “And learn some cool stuff,” she adds. What a cutie. I love her.

The rest of the night – Mindless internet. Usually I’ll watch shows during this time too. I’ve been really into instrumental music lately, so I went to one of my favorite sites for playing music: 8tracks.com (because Pandora doesn’t work here in the PI). On the site you can search for user created playlists by genre or by artist. I searched instrumental and found some really great stuff. I’ve noticed listening to instrumental music inspires me to write. Hence the very, very long blog post!

Goodnight!

And so begins the story Of Mice and Woman

It all started innocently enough. One mouse, or so I thought, occasionally popped it’s head up behind my suitcase propped up next to the wall. Oh, hello, little mousey, you startled me, I thought. But you must be more scared of me than I am of you, that’s what my mom always told me, so I will be a brave Peace Corps Volunteer and let you stay just as long as you don’t come any closer and don’t ever think about coming on my bed, ever, ok?!

I really thought this mouse understood me. And that was my first mistake. My second mistake was thinking this whole time there was only one. In my defense, they only showed themselves one at a time! But still, I know, really not the sharpest crayon in the box on that one.

So this went on for a good long while. Occasional mouse sitings, even staring contests (I should have seen this as a warning that it/they were getting braver) continued until it was summer vacation and I left my site for a good long while. When I returned, I still was not shaken by the mouse’s presence. It had almost become a familiar routine, a sign of being home, if you will. But then the fateful day came, while readjusting my pillows, I noticed mouse poop on my sheets.

MOUSEY, I TOLD YOU, DUDE, MY BED EQUALS GAME OVER. But in quick return, as if to say, F U Emily, we never shook hands on that deal, I saw a mouse jump on my bed WHILE I WAS ON IT. This would be the first of many sleepless nights. I told my host family about it the next day, to which they basically gave me the look, I don’t care, you’re a grown up, deal with it. Ok, ok, I get it, yes I will handle it, but can you tell me, say, where to buy the traps, or what kind to buy? To which they gave me an answer, but again with a look that said, I’d rather not tell you but I guess I have to.

After school, I bought two sticky traps (that could be cut up into four), and headed home on a mission. By this point, I expected to maybe catch two, since the sitings became more frequent, and though still only one at a time, I’d see it in two different places within a very short period of time. I caught two on the same trap, almost immediately. But then I saw a third trying to avoid the trap, seeing it’s friends helplessly stuck there.

In order to dispose of the trap, you have to fold it up while the mice are still squeaking and trying to break free. As someone that does not want to be near mice, this was a very difficult task for me. I’d have to psych myself up for at least twenty minutes before I could finally get the courage to fold it up and stick it in a plastic bag. I’d then have to run outside in the dark and in the rain to the outdoor trash can before coming back to my room to face more. I caught two more on the second trap, and by this time it was already very late at night. So late, that I had started to drift off to sleep but then the loud squeaking of a newly stuck mouse woke me up. I decided if I was going to get any sleep, I’d have to wait to put out the next trap and risk mice crawling on me as the alternative.

I started evaluating places where I thought they were coming in, and tried to think of ways to block them. One place was definitely by my suitcase, which was where I was catching them. But the hole isn’t visible because there’s a gap between the entire wall and the floor. The wall is solid, but of course somewhere there’s a hole, and because of the overlap I couldn’t see where. I also noticed they would crawl up my window up towards the top of the curtains. Upon further investigation, I noticed that one of the ceiling tiles had a rather large gap across the entire thing. I asked for help from my host family, but it was initially answered with blank stares. I put out another trap. Caught another mouse. I didn’t leave it out long enough to see if another one would get stuck on the same trap. I was too spooked already. But after that I was out of traps. I shoved a towel between the wall and the floor and jammed my suitcase against it. This has worked temporarily, since I saw a mouse try to get back out that way, but got confused and then went up the window towards the ceiling.

This situation went very quickly from Emily not caring about a mouse in her room, to full out Emily freak out mode due to a mouse invasion. Losing sleep was also not helping my sanity. The other night, I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room, to which I think my host family realized, alright she’s lost it, I guess we should help. The next day, my host dad put up a wooden board to cover the gap in the ceiling tile. I bought more traps to try and get any stragglers that might have been lurking who knows where. I had such high hopes of a mouse free night, but when night came, another appeared. This one was smart enough to avoid the traps! It crawled up towards the ceiling, noticed it couldn’t get out and started gnawing on the corners of the wood. It wasn’t working right away, so naturally, it jumped on my bed again. To which I decided I would be sleeping on the couch again.

I still do not know if the mouse got out or not, but it did some damage on the wood. I attempted to patch up these new holes, and readjusted the traps in such a way to hopefully trick this mouse or any others that may still be around. Again, I have hope, but it is dwindling. I’ve become delusional; any sound or movement in my peripheral vision makes me jump a mile high. Come night time, I’m an anxious wreck, constantly on the look out with no real plan of action. If this were war, the mice would be winning by psychological warfare. I know, I know, they’re just mice but I can handle bugs no problem for the most part, so I have some strengths! If there is no improvement in the next day or two, my next plan is to put poison out. But I sure do hope this story is over soon. For Trent’s sake and for mine!

DREAM Workshop

Presented by Emily Grund

Objectives:

• To explore intrinsic motivation techniques related to administration, teaching, and classroom management.
• To develop goals for the upcoming school year through a series of hands on activities.

Dedication

Responsibility

Education

Attitude

Motivation

Venue: School gym

Materials needed: Tables, chairs, poster paper, markers, white board, portable microphone, crayons, bond paper, scotch tape. 

Attendance:

Objectives:

• To assess the amount of teachers present
• To discuss attendance techniques for classroom management

Activity: Post an attendance list on poster board with all the teachers’ names on the wall. As teachers arrive, give them a slip of paper to answer the question of the morning. “What is your favorite part about teaching?” Then have teachers post their answer next to their name. Announce if they do not answer they will be marked absent from the workshop. Discuss the answers, as well as the activity after the introduction. Ask teachers to share their ways of taking attendance.

Reflection: Teachers seemed to enjoy this activity. It took awhile since teachers arrived at different times. I repeated the activity at lunch with a different question, “What was your favorite activity from the morning?” It went faster after lunch because they knew what to expect. I shared that this could be adapted to their classrooms but not much further discussion happened during this activity because of time constraints. It was really interesting to see the answers from the teachers, they were thoughtful even though they joked their favorite part about teaching was break time. Some favorites: “Giving advice to students,” “witnessing learning and understanding,” and “sharing ideas and gaining knowledge from other teachers.”

Point system:

 Objective: To reinforce positive behavior from the teachers during the work shop

Activity: I used a point system called Motivation Station (adapted from a Peace Corps conference point system). Departments were given points for participation, winning an activity, etc. They lost points if their cell phones went off or if there was no participation during an activity. The team with the most points at the end of the day got the award “Most Motivated Department” including a prize.

Reflection:  The teachers took the point system seriously, and it definitely encouraged participation!

Energizer: Song: “I’m here because you’re here because I’m here because you’re here. I’m here because you’re here because I’m here because you’re here.” Sing with actions Thumbs in, thumbs down, hands crossed over chest, pointer finger out, pointer finger down, hands crossed over chest, and repeat. Sing three times. Each time getting faster.

Reflection: Got the teachers moving, and laughing! (No pictures, sorry!)

Icebreaker:

Objective: For departments to work together and problem solve.

Activity: Human knot. Get in a circle with your department. Everyone raise your right hand, reach across and grab the hand of someone across the circle. Make sure it is not the person you are standing next to. Everyone raise your left hand, reach across and grab the hand of a different person. Again, make sure it is not the same person or the person standing next to you. Now work together to untie the knot!

Reflection: One department didn’t even try to complete it, but they learned their lesson when they lost points from the Motivation Station. The rest of the departments had fun and most eventually completed the activity.

Inspirational Stories:

 Objectives:

• To share personal experiences related to the stories
• To explore the morals of the stories

 Activity: Two stories were chosen from Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul. “Attitude of Gratitude” and “I’m Glad it’s You and Not Me.” Four departments got one story and the other four got the other. Each department was asked to designate someone to read it out loud, or to share the reading evenly. On manila paper, teachers were asked to write what they thought the moral of the story was and personal experiences within the department that related to the story.

Reflection: Teachers had a really good discussion during this activity. Many of them were able to relate to having difficult students or feeling uninspired because of the challenges of teaching but from the stories also learned the importance of never giving up on themselves or on their students.

After snacks, we had another energizer “All the melodies in my heart” another song with actions. The teachers enjoyed it because it’s silly, easy, and got them moving again.

Scavenger Hunt for Expectations.

 Objectives:

• To build team unity
• To review the daily expectations of teachers

Activity: Each department was given a different clue for a certain place around the school. From there each clue led to another place. They had to write down the order of the clues and the rooms that matched them. The first department to be finished first got points towards Motivation Station. Discussion followed.

Reflection: The teachers had fun with this activity but during discussion it seemed they didn’t understand the point of the scavenger hunt. I reworded my questions, which eventually led to a deeper discussion about teacher expectations. This flowed very nicely into the next activity.

Snowball Activity:

 Objective:

• To brainstorm teacher rules that are important to them
•  To discuss rewards and consequences that motivate teachers

Activity: Each teacher was asked to write down a rule for teachers that is important to them on a white piece of paper. After they were done, they were instructed to crumple the piece of paper into a ball. They were first asked to create a snowstorm by running around like the wind and making snow fall by throwing their paper into the air. Afterwards, they broke off into two groups and then had a snowball fight. The teachers had to then grab one of the papers thrown at them and with a partner come up with three rewards for following the rule and three consequences for breaking the rule. A discussion followed the activity.

Reflection: The teachers really enjoyed the snowball fight and came up with some great rewards and consequences that I could see working for our school such as teacher of the month awards for a reward or getting observed by the head teacher for a consequence.

After lunch we began with the “Captain of the Ship” icebreaker/energizer. Teachers had to listen to the commands of the captain (me- hehehe) and with each command had to do a different action, with different amounts of people. For example, when I said “Captain’s ball”, they had to find a partner and dance, but when I said “Row the boat” they had to find two other people to row the boat with them. When they couldn’t find the right amount of people for the command, they were eliminated. Most teachers had fun with this activity, however, some did not care about winning so they sat down early on.

Meditation Exercise:

Objectives:

• To introduce a “cool down” activity, opposite of energizer
• To visualize past, present, and future scenarios related to teaching

Activity: Brief breathing techniques for meditation to start, then all teachers close their eyes and MC reads situations for teachers to imagine.

Distant Past: Imagine you’re in a classroom as a student, you’re favorite/least favorite teacher is teaching, how do they teach, why do you like/not like them, how do you feel?

Recent Past: Imagine you’re in a classroom as a teacher, you are teaching your best/worst class. What are the students doing? What is the environment like? How do you feel?

Future: Imagine you’re in a classroom as a teacher this coming school year. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want your students to do? How do you envision your attitude?

Share thoughts in between each meditation. At the end have a larger group discussion about the activity.

Reflection: Lots of participation from this activity. Most teachers, even if they had been teaching for over twenty years could still remember their favorite or least favorite teacher in high school. Bringing up those memories made them think of how they are as teachers and what they could do differently to improve.

Extracurricular activity:

Objective: For teachers to brainstorm ways to get involved with students, teachers, or the community outside of the classroom.

Activity: Teachers were first asked to write down their hobbies, things they like to do for fun, and community service projects that interest them. After they were finished, teachers were asked to match each thing written with a potential extracurricular activity that went with it. For example, if their hobby was gardening maybe a gardening club could start at the school. If for fun they like to play basketball, maybe the teachers could start their own recreational team. And if for community service they’re interested in the environment maybe they would like to have a clean up drive. Ideas were written on manila paper and then shared with the group later.

Reflection: Teachers had some good ideas to match their interest. If there had been more time I would have liked to brainstorm how they could actually get those activities off the ground (I hope to focus more on this during my next workshop).

Department Cheer:

Objective: To create team unity and have fun

Activity: Departments were asked to make a cheer that was motivational and positive. Three office workers at the school were the judges and the criterion was creativity, energy, and unity.

Reflection: A fun way to end the workshop. Teachers were able to come up with fun cheers in a short time and perform for the rest of the departments.

Reflection overall: Originally it was supposed to be a two day workshop, and I had to cut a few activities to fit it into one day. I wanted to talk further about project/idea development but then realized that could be an entire workshop in itself. I hope to create a survey for the teachers to answer what activities were the most effective and if they have or will use any of the strategies learned.  I also want to have a follow up meeting with teachers interested in starting up extracurricular activities with students or teachers. Overall, I think the day was a success. It got the teachers thinking about how their teaching effects not only the students but also themselves. I was very impressed with the depth of the participation and wish I had more time to encourage even more discussion.

Also, I would like to add that I originally wanted to have the workshop the week before classes started so that the hopefully newfound motivations and techniques would be fresh in teachers’ minds the first day of school. Unfortunately, the Department of Education had the same idea and scheduled all of their mandatory seminars during the same time. This news didn’t come to me until that very week, so we had no choice but to schedule it after the school year started. We planned for it to be held the following Friday, but the day before my town announced there would be no power between the hours of 8 AM to 5 PM. Use of microphones was necessary, so that day was out again. Surprisingly, I was not aggravated or actually even surprised that these set backs happened. I effortlessly rolled with it and only hoped the next week would push through — this being something that would have completely stressed me out in America. A welcome change in attitude on my part, I only hope I can hold on to that perspective once I return!

So, Emily, what the heck is this workshop?! …Without further ado,  here is my report:

The DREAM Workshop held on June 17, 2011 at Zaragoza National High School had been a dream of mine since January.  The activity driven, goal and motivation based workshop came about when I observed the teachers at my school going through the motions, day in and day out, with little to no enthusiasm towards their job. When asked, most teachers would say that their students were too hard to manage or that their students didn’t care about learning, and I sensed a tone of defeat in their voices. To add to that, many of the teachers, I discovered, went into the profession because their parents told them to, or because it was the cheapest course in college.  This recipe certainly explained the observations I made but also proved not all hope was lost. What the teachers at my school needed was a change in perspective and an opportunity to work together towards the common goal of making Zaragoza National High School a better place for everyone.  From there, I envisioned an all day, team-building workshop, and with the help of other volunteers and Peace Corps staff, I came up with a plan to present to my school. With the approval from my principal, my dream was able to become a reality.

DREAM is an acronym that stands for Dedication, Responsibility, Education, Attitude and Motivation. I chose this name because it tied directly into my objectives of the workshop, which were “to explore intrinsic motivation techniques related to administration, teaching, and classroom management,” and “to develop goals for the upcoming school year through a series of hands on activities.” I only had one rule for how I wanted the workshop to run: No PowerPoint presentations! The materials I used were materials they often use in their own classrooms such as poster paper, markers, and tape because I wanted the teachers to be able to replicate the activities if they felt so inclined. I also did not lecture at all, only gave instructions for each activity to be led by the teachers grouped by department. I scattered the day with energizers and icebreakers that kept the teachers awake and excited, and encouraged participation with Motivation Station points per department that, of course, included a prize at the end. Some activities included reading inspirational teacher stories and creating a poster with the morals and related personal experiences, a scavenger hunt for teacher expectations around the school, a snowball fight that led to a discussion about rewards and consequences for teachers, and a department cheer to build team unity. Every discussion was lively and participation was higher than I expected. With over ten activities, the entire day was full, so full that I had to cut some other planned activities to hopefully be implemented at a follow up workshop in the future.

To me, this workshop was just the start of a bigger conversation that needs to continue at my school. However, getting started can be the hardest part, and so in that regard I feel successful. I had immediate feedback in the form of text messages from two teachers at my school, thanking me for inspiring them and hoping for more workshops in the future, which to me made all the challenges worth it! A week after the workshop, I plan on giving a survey to see if any teachers have implemented new strategies in their classrooms or if they feel differently towards teaching. From there, I hope to hold another workshop a few months down the road focusing more on developing their ideas and ways they can evaluate progress.  I know some other volunteers have shown interest in echoing this workshop and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have! Thank you to the Peace Corps staff and all the volunteers who have been more than supportive of me pursuing this dream!

For those interested, I will also post the session plans with pictures in my next post!

I returned to my room, everything just how I had left it. Books collected dust while they sat untouched on my bookshelf. Clothes smelled musty after hanging idly in my closest. The mouse, my roommate, still scurried behind my suitcase come night time. I, on the other hand, came back refreshed, revived, and almost the opposite of how I was when I left.

Right before I left my community in April, I wrote to a friend in an email that I was kind of over the whole self-reflecting thing. I had spent so much of my down time in recent months staring at my flaws in the face, evaluating my past, feeling stuck in a rut and the only way to get out of it was some movement.

As soon as I reached Manila for Tagalog language camp, I felt relief. Reuniting with other volunteers I hadn’t seen in months was a breath of fresh air. We all got to share our down falls and successes and of course eat amazing food at Mall of Asia. The language camp was really helpful, but unfortunately I wouldn’t be going back to my community for awhile to practice it. We spent our days divided into groups based on level of language ability, with patient language facilitators around round tables in the patio area outside of Pension (the hostel Peace Corps Volunteers stay at when in Manila). We learned more prefixes to verbs, practiced our pronunciation, and played several games to try and improve our broken Tagalog. By the end of sessions, my brain hurt and my eyes were heavy. I spent my afternoons reading or writing in my journal, finally feeling at peace with where I was in my service and in my life. Then at night, we’d go to Oarhouse, a new bar ran by a Filipino American who grew up in Pittsburgh, enjoying cheap beer in a familiar bar setting with good company.

As those close to me know, at the end of this camp I met someone! I will refrain from turning this post into a mushy love fest entry but he became a leading role at this point in my summer, so the introduction seems necessary. What I will say is, it was very much an unexpected twist of fate, but one that came with perfect timing, and one that has made me very happy.

That weekend I got a chance to explore parts of Manila I hadn’t been able to before. A group of us, including a really nice volunteer serving in Micronesia that was in Manila for dental work, set out on Saturday morning to Makati, the high end, financial district of Manila. First, we went to the Salcedo Market, an outdoor market that has an amazing variety of food to choose from every Saturday. We filled up on treats like fresh mango and pineapple shakes and japanese pancakes (mini pancakes with a filling of your choice – I got cream cheese) but saved some room for a planned adventure for burritos – the best burritos found yet in the Philippines. After making a few rounds around the market, we strolled through the well kept parks and wide sidewalks to Greenbelt, a chic mall with stores I couldn’t afford even if I had a salary in the US (think Louis Vuitton). The mall has five different “belts”, or separate buildings, all with at least three floors. They had a Chili’s, though, and we couldn’t resist the unlimited chips and salsa with a pitcher of draft beer.

Before heading off to get burritos, we had to make one more stop at another shopping area called High Street at The Fort. This place blew me away! Not only did it have lots of cool shops, it also had a beautiful park, where people walked their dogs! I love dogs but I’ve had to desensitize myself to many of them in this country because they’re street dogs with diseases and potential aggressive behavior. But these dogs were groomed, beautiful, bred dogs on leashes and you better believe I was going up to every owner asking if I could pet their dog! I was in heaven.

Finally, we headed towards Ristras. I had heard other volunteers rave about these burritos but for one reason or another, I had never been able to make it over there (it’s far and an expensive cab ride from Pension, but so worth it especially if you can split the cab with other people). These volunteers were not lying. Fresh ingredients, huge tortillas, stuffed to the max and topped with delicious sauces. Needless to say, I went back for more during my next stay in Manila.

Next on my agenda was Tudlo Mindanao Planning. I was selected to be a facilitator at one of the best teacher training programs Peace Corps has to offer in the Philippines! The training is put on by USAID and Peace Corps for English teachers in Mindanao (the second largest island in the PI located in the southeast) and means “Teach Mindanao.” Since volunteers have not been able to go to Mindanao for several years due to safety and security reasons, the program pays for teachers to travel outside of Mindanao and receive training they may not normally have access to.

The program I was chosen for was the English Language Camp for Elementary Teachers and I specifically was chosen to teach ICT (Information Communications and Technology) or in other words… teach computer skills. Other sessions for the camp were Listening, Reading (both fiction and non fiction), Speaking, Writing, Teacher Training, and Methodology. We all worked with a counterpart from Mindanao who had previously attended a Tudlo Mindanao training as a participant, although some of them also had experience as a facilitator already too. I will talk more about the camp later on, but first we had to plan. All of us worked together in the Peace Corps office, and it was very helpful to have the counterparts there to speak from experience about what they liked and didn’t like about previous programs. In ICT we were lucky to have many of the sessions already written out from the previous program, so we only needed to edit them to fit our teaching styles. All of the facilitators were excited to be there, and the energy level was high. It was also clear early on, that being from Mindanao can be a sensitive issue (based on the stereotypes of it being an unsafe place), but that they were all proud of their culture and eager to share with us. By the end of planning, I wished I didn’t have to wait two more weeks for the camp to begin!

The planning ended mid-Holy Week, a very big occasion here in the Philippines, and a good opportunity to travel. So travel we did! A group of us went to Marinduque, a small island off of Luzon, where two volunteers are placed. The travel included taking a van and then a ferry for a total of about seven hours (not that far in Filipino travel time). Marinduque is known for it’s Moriones Festival during Holy Week so we had a fully booked itinerary of parades, ceremonies, and flagellations (observed not participated) all to involve Filipino’s wearing Roman masks and outfits. We also got an amazing welcome dance from the host family Jessi used to live with and packed in a fun beach day as well. Being in the company of great people in a beautiful place really made me reflect and appreciate just how awesome this experience is. Of course there are plenty of frustrations and difficulties we deal with as volunteers, but these moments make up for it.

Parade during Moriones Festival

I arrived back in Manila Easter Sunday night, which I will also note here was the night the guy I met became my boyfriend! Can  you tell I’m excited? That was a very good day. But again, if you know me, you probably know all of this already. The next day was the beginning of In Service Training for Peace Corps Volunteers in Cavite. IST was also paired with the Project Design and Management conference, but because of an overlap in schedule with Tudlo Mindanao I couldn’t attend PDM at that time. Instead I stayed at Island Cove (the first place we stayed at when we first arrived in the Philippines, very nostalgic to get back there) for two and a half days and got to reunite with yet again more volunteers I hadn’t seen in months. I learned some very useful information about service learning projects and remedial reading programs that I will hopefully be able to apply to my site and as always my motivation was lifted by the energetic staff and resource volunteers running the sessions.

With a few days to spare before Tudlo started, I spent Wednesday and Thursday working on projects in the IRC (In-Country Resource Center), and then Friday we were off to Tudlo Mindanao English Language Camp! The camp was 10 days long, and ran like this: Each section had four session plans, each session plan was taught during a two day cycle to six different classes. Facilitators had two periods off per cycle, but the participants actually had eight classes total per cycle. Follow me? Me neither. Anyway, it was a very intense and busy schedule, but all the participants were so thankful and excited to be there that the energy hardly ever seemed low. Some of them had never left Mindanao before, or traveled very far away from their respective communities. Some of them taught in schools that don’t have electricity or are very far from their homes so some of them said they actually stay at the school during the week. They were all so dedicated to every part of the camp, whether it was the session plans, the Stick To English policy (where we gave out stickers to participants who were exceptional in trying to speak English), their homeroom cheers, and everything in between. We had a camp song, and tons of ice breakers and games so it truly felt like a summer camp at times.

It was really an invaluable experience getting to hear the stories of so many inspirational teachers, while simultaneously teaching them skills they could take back with them. It was especially inspiring teaching some participants how to use a computer for the very first time. It’s easy to take my computer skills for granted because I’ve been using one since I was maybe five years old. But the idea of a double click is completely foreign to some people. Watching some participants learn how to use a mouse one day and then type up and format a lesson plan in Microsoft Word the next day was amazing. For ICT, we were lucky to have four facilitators so we could help participants individually, and the growth in their skills was outstanding. We also had some more advanced classes, but even then many of them did not know how to make a PowerPoint presentation or search the internet for reliable information. Teaching ICT at that camp definitely inspired me to teach other teachers at my school, even if it means individual tutoring, I truly realized how beneficial knowing how to use a computer can be as a teacher.

The last night of Tudlo is cultural night, where the participants get to show us their beautiful dances from the different regions of Mindanao. We also learned how to do a fan dance and performed for them! The tradition for volunteers is to make a music video for the participants to watch, so we made a compilation of songs and had lots of silly nights and lunch breaks filming our fantastic dance moves. Thanks to my multimedia experience, I was in charge of editing! Always a fun, but tedious, and LONG process. The participants really got a kick out of it. I’m excited to make more videos in the future.

With one of the participants during cultural night at Tudlo Mindanao English Language Camp

Ok, I promise my summer is almost over. I know this is really long..but I’m going for it. I got sick right after cultural night, so instead of going back to site, I spent a few days with the Peace Corps Medical Office, but thankfully it was only a two day flu/bug/exhaustion. So I was able to go back to site with one day to spare before leaving for Project Design and Management conference at another volunteer’s site in Nueva Vizcaya. This conference is needed for volunteers who want to get funding for projects, you also need to attend the conference with a counterpart, so that they learn the steps of developing a project as well. It was a very informative and useful training. My counterpart and I focused on creating a English Resource Center since we will have a new room this year and that is what the room is intended for. We will be working on getting books and other materials for the room, hopefully even a computer or two, to make it as interactive as possible. I’m sure I will blog more about this once it gets off the ground!

Lastly, I took my first vacation since arriving here nine months ago! The boyfriend and I went to Siquijor (a small beautiful island in the Visayas) and it was the best vacation I’ve ever been on. The beaches were breath taking, the places we stayed at were fantastic. Again: good food, good company, and beautiful scenery. Perfect combination!

Of course this post can’t include everything that I want it to. So many memories were made, I wish I could share them all with all of you but then I’d be writing a book (not a bad idea, eh?)! I would just like to dedicate this post to the many friends that made this summer unforgettable. I worked with amazing volunteers at Tudlo Mindanao, had to say goodbye to a dear friend going back to the states, made new friendships and strengthened ones that already existed. I am so grateful for all of the people in my life right now. Without them, this experience would not be as unbelievably amazing as it is.

Siquijor!