Teachers Helping Teachers in the Philippines

I went to the Philippines. You can see the places I visited on the map below.


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I went to the Philippines with a group called Teachers Helping Teachers (THT). I am a member of THT. THT is a group of English language teachers in Japan and other countries. The purpose of THT is to help teachers working in developing countries ( [開発]途上国 ). This was the second time I travelled with Teachers Helping Teachers. Last year I travelled to Laos with Teachers Helping Teachers.

I arrived in the Philippines on the twenty-third of February. I spent my first day in Manila. The twenty-third of February was a holiday in Manila. So, I had some free time. First I visited the home of a wonderful man called Gap. Gap is a neurosurgeon (神経外科医). I had lunch at Gap's house. The lunch was delicious. Below is a picture of my lunch.

After lunch, I went on a tour of Manila. We visited Intramuros. Intramuros is a very old part of Manila. You can read more about Intramuros. Click this link for information in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intramuros,_Manila. Click this link for information about Intamuros in Japanese: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B9
Below are some pictures of Intramuros.

I visited San Agustin Church. It is a World Heritage Site. Below are some pictures of my visit to San Agustin Church.

After the tour, I had dinner at Gap's house. The dinner was delicious. You can see the food I ate in the picture below.

The next day I woke up at 4 am. At five in the morning I left my hotel. I went to Batangas. In Batangas I got on a ferry. A ferry is a kind of boat. I took the ferry to Calapan on the island of Mindoro. Then I went to San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy. San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy is a school. After I arrived at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy, I had lunch. You can see pictures of my lunch below.

After lunch, I did a workshop with some teachers at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy. The topic of the workshop was Kamishibai (紙芝居). You can see some pictures of the workshop below.

Here is the powerpoint I used in the workshop.

Kamishibai: a collaborative project for young learners of English

View more presentations from mickstout. (tags: kamishibai projectwork)

Here is a picture of a classroom at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy.

After the workshop I had dinner. You can see a picture of the food I ate below.

After dinner I was very tired. I went to bed early. I slept in a classroom with the other teachers. We slept on mattresses on the floor.

The next morning we woke up at four thirty in the morning. We washed. Then we had breakfast. After breakfast we got into a jeepney. You can see a picture of a jeepney below.

We took the jeepney to the village of Banilad.  Banilad is a Mangyan village.  Please look at the pictures of the village below.

 

Banilad is in the mountains. The view from the village is beautiful. 

 

There is a branch school of San Lorenzo Ruiz in Banilad.  I taught six lessons at the school.

I taught children. The children were in grades 1 to 6. I taught the children with my friend Brent. Brent is a teacher too.  

 

 

I was very fun teaching the Mangyan children. They were very clever and they were very interested in English.

After the lessons I met the Chief of Banilad. Here is a picture of me with the chief below. The chief is the man on the right. He is wearing a white shirt.

After I met the chief there was a closing ceremony. There were speeches and there were performances by the children. After the ceremony we went back to Calapan.

The next day we woke up at six in the morning. After breakfast we took part in a parade. The parade was very colourful. Many children wore costumes. The jeepneys were decorated too. 

 

Some of the Mangyan children wore traditional Mangyan clothes.

After the parade. We went back to Manila. We were very tired. The next day I woke up at four in the morning. I went to the airport and returned to Japan. It had a great time in the Philippines.