By Anita Jabla, TED Community Extension
In celebration of the Reading and Values Education Month, the Developmental Reading 1 class and Educator’s Guild Club conducted a Reading Session on November 27, 2019 with the pupils of the adopted community-based Day Care Center of Teacher Education Program at Purok Lower Arroyo, Brgy 74-A .
The facilitators used the Big Book in reading the story of Ang Pusa, Aso at Daga. In general, this technique is used by teachers for the pupils to have a clearer and a better appreciation of the material presented to them. After the storytelling, the pupils were asked what lessons they learned and the pupils unanimously answered, “dapat makinig sa salita ng magulang at dapat marunong makisama sa mga kaibigan.”
In order to break the ice, the facilitators asked the pupils if they wanted to dance. The pupils answered a big yes and chose the music of Baby Shark.
Before partaking the snacks which the Teacher Education students brought, the pupils prayed and thanked God for the food.
While the pupils were eating, Caryl May C. Beling, the Club Moderator of Educator’s Guild Club and Ofelia J. Patindol, Teacher Education Faculty, handed over to Teacher Liberty the books donated by Philippine Women’s College of Davao for the use of the pupils in the Day Care.
When all the pupils have left, Teacher Liberty gave a feedback on how the Teacher Education students facilitated the activity. According to her, “generally okay pero dapat maraming exercises para hindi antukin ang mga bata.”
These aspiring teachers of PWC of Davao wrote in their reflection paper that through this experience they have seen the difficult reality of being a teacher. However, despite the difficulty of handling pupils because of different levels of understanding and behaviors, they enjoyed their experience. A teacher needs to be well-prepared to ensure the learning of the students but also needs to have patience and understanding to show care to their students. The Day Care Center needs a lot of improvement and they are happy that in their own little way through their volunteering and sharing they were able to help. The overall experience was delight because of the attentiveness and participation, especially seeing the smiles of the pupils. One student wrote, “I am also blessed and thankful that we shared food and books to them. I can say that this is one of the best activities we had.”
