The Spanish influence on Philippine culture + a day with the Bachillerato class
Because Thanksgiving is approaching (and most of the previous auxiliares have been American), the English teacher at school for the bachillerato class asked me if we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Philippines and if I could prepare a presentation on it. I told her we didn't celebrate it back home, and instead we decided that I'd talk about holidays and festivals in the Philippines.
For holidays I chose Independence Day and the EDSA Revolution, and for festivals I stuck to the bigger ones like Ati-Atihan, MassKara, Santacruzan, etc. I actually bought a deck of "Philippine Festivals" flash cards from National Bookstore before I left so I used the information on those cards, googled a bit more additional information, and downloaded some pictures to go on the powerpoint. I had a good time researching some of the festivals, and was particularly trying to find some relation between Spain and the festivals, or the influence the Spanish had on these festivals when they colonized us.
Before I continue, I'd like to mention that on my first day with the two bachillerato classes I had (they are the older group of 16-18 years), the English teacher asked me to prepare a presentation on myself and the Philippines. I stuck to the basic things about me and my family, places in the Philippines, traditional food, etc., and also mentioned the Spanish influence on Filipino culture.
What intrigues me is how little the Spanish people know about the Philippines. A few students don't even know that they colonized us for 300 years (no joke), and many didn't know we got our name from a Spanish king. I shared with them how Spain imparted Catholicism and also of the Spanish language's influence on ours. I guess it's pretty amusing how oblivious they are to the Philippines, especially when Spain played a huge part in our history. But I digress. Nevertheless it felt great sharing these with the students, and I hope I have been somewhat enlightening them over our past few classes.
Back to bachillerato class -- I generally prefer helping out in the Secondary class levels because I find the students to be much more participative (and interested in what I have to say). Today however turned out to be a really great day with the bachillerato students. Most of the students actually seemed to be interested in my presentation of the festivals, and were participative when I asked them to guess what was going on in the pictures I had. I spoke about Ati-Atihan, Santacruzan, Pahiyas, San Juan Festival, MassKara, Higantes Festival among others, and we had a quick discussion after on whether there were any similar festivals celebrated in Spain. They then divided into groups and picked a particular festival to talk about -- how it's celebrated, why and when , and if there are any similarities to the festivals I spoke about. The students are going to present it at our next class and I'm really looking forward to it. All in all a pretty good morning if I say so myself.
One last anecdote to end the post: Later on in the day, I had a P.E. with the same bachillerato class. We were discussing endurance from a handout that the students had, and the teacher noticed these two students who were talking and not paying attention. (I should mention that the teacher is a really good guy, and the students respect him a lot.) Anyway, he then proceeds to ask the two boys to stand up, and makes them go stand in a corner. The boys were pretty good natured about it though, and did stand in the corner, but I just found it so amusing because here were teenagers carrying out a punishment fit for a 5 year old. I really tried to conceal my laughter (I couldn't), but even the teacher was smiling at his own punishment for the boys.
I've never really enjoyed teaching teenagers, but I think I'm warming up to this bachillerato class.
For holidays I chose Independence Day and the EDSA Revolution, and for festivals I stuck to the bigger ones like Ati-Atihan, MassKara, Santacruzan, etc. I actually bought a deck of "Philippine Festivals" flash cards from National Bookstore before I left so I used the information on those cards, googled a bit more additional information, and downloaded some pictures to go on the powerpoint. I had a good time researching some of the festivals, and was particularly trying to find some relation between Spain and the festivals, or the influence the Spanish had on these festivals when they colonized us.
Before I continue, I'd like to mention that on my first day with the two bachillerato classes I had (they are the older group of 16-18 years), the English teacher asked me to prepare a presentation on myself and the Philippines. I stuck to the basic things about me and my family, places in the Philippines, traditional food, etc., and also mentioned the Spanish influence on Filipino culture.
What intrigues me is how little the Spanish people know about the Philippines. A few students don't even know that they colonized us for 300 years (no joke), and many didn't know we got our name from a Spanish king. I shared with them how Spain imparted Catholicism and also of the Spanish language's influence on ours. I guess it's pretty amusing how oblivious they are to the Philippines, especially when Spain played a huge part in our history. But I digress. Nevertheless it felt great sharing these with the students, and I hope I have been somewhat enlightening them over our past few classes.
Back to bachillerato class -- I generally prefer helping out in the Secondary class levels because I find the students to be much more participative (and interested in what I have to say). Today however turned out to be a really great day with the bachillerato students. Most of the students actually seemed to be interested in my presentation of the festivals, and were participative when I asked them to guess what was going on in the pictures I had. I spoke about Ati-Atihan, Santacruzan, Pahiyas, San Juan Festival, MassKara, Higantes Festival among others, and we had a quick discussion after on whether there were any similar festivals celebrated in Spain. They then divided into groups and picked a particular festival to talk about -- how it's celebrated, why and when , and if there are any similarities to the festivals I spoke about. The students are going to present it at our next class and I'm really looking forward to it. All in all a pretty good morning if I say so myself.
One last anecdote to end the post: Later on in the day, I had a P.E. with the same bachillerato class. We were discussing endurance from a handout that the students had, and the teacher noticed these two students who were talking and not paying attention. (I should mention that the teacher is a really good guy, and the students respect him a lot.) Anyway, he then proceeds to ask the two boys to stand up, and makes them go stand in a corner. The boys were pretty good natured about it though, and did stand in the corner, but I just found it so amusing because here were teenagers carrying out a punishment fit for a 5 year old. I really tried to conceal my laughter (I couldn't), but even the teacher was smiling at his own punishment for the boys.
I've never really enjoyed teaching teenagers, but I think I'm warming up to this bachillerato class.
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