⇦ FOLLOW? ⇨

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been busy with work and now that some things are out of the way I can share with you all my experience in CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent.

CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent has this class on wednesdays called Values Education, pretty much like CME lessons we had ages ago. Teachers and students have this handbook as a guide. Last wednesday, the lesson was on discovering your talents and that everyone is unique and special in his/her own way. The form teacher, who is one of my mentors, gave me the opportunity to lead the discussion when the students have completed the worksheet (they were just supposed to list what they were good at/what they liked to do). The class was split into three groups, I would take one group.

I gathered everyone and we sat at the back of the classroom in a semi circle formation. I sat on the table at the radius of the circle (if you can imagine) and I introduced myself, told them a few things I liked to do and what I thought I was good at. I asked everyone to tell me their names and what they liked to do. Through the discussion, the kpop enthusiasts found one another, pop music lovers found one another, cosplay-ers found one another, etc. and I got to know so much about them and I probed the students who were super shy but they warmed up really quickly.

Somehow the whole group of students and I shared so many common interests our group became the noisiest and probably disturbed the other groups (LOL) while we were discussing what we all liked and what we loved to do.

Another group was focusing on moral encouragement; the teacher in charge of that group asked who felt they weren't good enough, who felt they're quite useless, and focused on how everyone felt that way and tried to empower them. The way the other co-form teacher conducted the discussion was similar to mine and got everyone to share, following the worksheet and tried to empower them as well.

I'm not entirely sure if I conducted the discussion the way they had planned/did it right but I'm so happy that the girls opened up and it wasn't just a lesson, it was just a casual conversation with them that allowed all of us to get to know each other better.

There were a few moments that made my heart both sink and swell with so much pride. This was one moment regarding the former:

Me: Any kpop fans here?
Girls: [about half the group exploded with excitement]
Me: Back in sec school we could choose what PE module we liked and I picked hip-hop dance. One time we danced to Big Bang's Fantastic Baby
Cece (one of my students): Back then got kpop meh?

(That sinking feeling when you're perceived as old liao)

We also talked about music lessons, what they could expect, as well as what they'd like to see in music lessons. It was important for me to know what they wanted so I could try to craft my lesson plans around what they would be interested in.

I wasn't expecting this but the girls in my group came up to me and told me that they loved me and they thought I was really cool. Their comments kept ringing in my head and they really know how to make me happy for the rest of the day :') To be loved by your students is probably one of the nicest feelings in the whole world.

I do know that this class loves to sing and the girls told me they were going to have a sing-off during recess at the corridor (there's this open space for students and teachers to hang out). It was a class initiative and the whole class was going to be involved and anyone could participate if I'm not wrong. Where can anyone find this kind of spontaneity! I love these girls man.

This is a great start to the teaching internship :)