We are excited at the opening of more literacy centers in 2011. But what is more exciting for me at the moment is the last leg of our teacher training. All throughout the year we have had a series of trainings to equip our mothers in the community to teach their children. Last week we had the teacher training for the Basic Literacy Program. Know what excited me?
Joining this batch of teacher candidates were the cream of the crop of our first batch of students who joined when we started this program in July 2008. Look at their class picture. I never doubted that these kids will make it.
The fourth boy in the front row is Ronnie. I wrote about him before. He was the kid who was all soaked by the rain but still did not want to miss class. He used to work in a construction site so that he can help put food on the table for their family.
And this is Ronnie now.
He is one of our two official tour guides from his kampong. The other one is Angelica, his classmate, second girl from the left. I remember how they rehearsed what to say, how to answer questions. And how they were able to stand their ground when the visitors came to their learning center. By that I mean, being able to express themselves in English and answer the guests’ questions in English. That picture of Ronnie was taken when we had visitors from Singapore.
I looked at their batch picture again. Four of them are joining the teacher training. Soon I will be writing about how these young learners teach others to learn. Not bad. We teach others to read and write, and soon they teach others to read and write, too. Not bad at all.
Our new assistant teachers will continue with their own schooling under our tutorial program.