The best rewards from what people consider a low-paying job :)

As I am about to check and grade my students’ essays (or compositions), I am reminded of how much I love my job and how I can’t imagine myself in any other job. I love my colleagues, the people I chose to join, because even though most of them have MA’s and PhD’s already they are very accommodating and humble. Our Department Chair especially, a man with many publications tied to his name, is every young faculty member’s dream mentor. He nurtures those of us on the junior faculty by making sure that we are always working towards honing our crafts. He also believes in ‘knowledge transfer’, a concept that has come to mean sharing what you know to the younger ones so that they will emerge as even better individuals. That’s the kind of faith that young people need today especially when we hear stories about, let’s just say more experienced people bossing others around.

And now, because I am inspired, I’m posting some of the best things students have ever said about me. Future teachers, this is the kind of luxury that money can never buy.

• The teacher is very approachable. Her love for the Spanish language improves her teaching skills. Her passion for teaching stimulates her students to participate actively in class and her friendly nature invites respect, which is rare. The way she encourages her students to do their best and how she appreciates simple recitations, I think, improves the self-confidence of her students.

• Ma’am is only twenty years old. Enough said. 😀 She’s really a perfect professor. She helps us not to fear foreign language. Though I really find this subject hard and am nervous every recitation, ma’am doesn’t embarrass any student committing mistakes. She’s always cheerful and there’s no boring meeting. 😀

• she’s so lively and young! she knows how to reach out to her students. her class is never boring.

• She is very enthusiastic with her teaching and her students are encouraged to participate actively in class.

• Very student-centered and fun to listen to.

• Ma’am Jad belongs to the group of those precious few professors who have the innate and uncanny ability to make learning fun. One could tell that she was born to teach. I can’t say anymore- that, right there, after all, is the highest quality a faculty could have.

• Areas for improvement: Can’t think of any. I think she will be a very great prof in the future as she gains more experience 😀

• She’s very good considering she’s young. 🙂

• kind….. a smart professor. i’ll really recommend the professor to my friends. she has a good communication among her students..

• perfect! best prof ever! 🙂

• Our teacher is by far the best foreign language teacher I’mve [sic] known. She makes students feel better about themselves especially when they speak the right grammar. I know that she also makes things really clear and corrects whatever wrong she might have taught us. She also industriously compile [sic] all our readings very well for us to practice. And, shew [sic] has a very happy attitude when she goes in our class […] She tries to help out students who are behind too.

• She is young, so she can relate to us more. She is not boring. She is not intimidating, which makes Spanish more fun to learn.

• very smart! charming! considerate! very good! effective professor!

• Ms. Monsod is one of the best teachers I’ve come across… She is articulate, confident, thoroughly knowledgeable in her field of study and most of all, she has an exceptional knack of providing a classroom atmosphere that is both conducive to learning and fun.

x

Last day of school

One of my favorite persons in our department, Señor Maranan (who is retiring soon, by the way), told me on my first day as a teacher, “love your students”. Since then, that has become my mantra. There are days when my students are too sleepy to listen because it’s Friday and they haven’t had a decent sleep since Monday night, times when I almost lose my patience trying to explain a grammatical structure or the etymology of a word but these are rare. Most of the time I love my students, but of course, what’s not to love about these intelligent, energetic, and inventive college kids?

The two sections I have been handling this semester had their final presentations earlier.

One section presented a skit they called “Dónde estas, Elisa? (Where are you, Elisa?), inspired by the Filipino telenovela “Nasaan ka, Elisa?”, which, in turn, was inspired by the telenovela “Dónde esta Elisa?”. The skit tells the story of Mariano who embarks on a quest to find his missing daughter, Elisa. On his journey he encounters Dora la Exploradora, Budoy, Kris Aquino, Mark Lapid, Nora Aunor’s character from Himala, and other persons who either help him or discourage him throughout his journey.

The other section presented a skit starring Voldemort. In this skit, lost and lonely Voldy enlists the help of Dor (the male counterpart of Dora la exploradora) and Botas (Boots) to find true love. Together they go to three different places believing that they will meet a couple who can prove that true love exists. They first go to Hogwarts where they meet Freda and Georgia who then lead them to Ron and Hermione. They find them bickering, however, and Voldy becomes more disillusioned. Next, they go to Sporks (Forks) where they find Bella, Edward, and Jacob in a love triangle. They then go to Hollywood where they meet Justin Beiber and Selena Gomez. Nevertheless, it looked like JustinSelena was only interested in quizzing each other about languages and geography. I was particularly amused by the lines of Selena, which when translated from Spanish to English goes like this: “Oh, I love it when you sing to me. I especially love it when you sing ‘bebe, bebe, bebe, oh’! It’s so profound!”

After the presentations, we ate pizza and said our goodbyes.

I’m proud to say that my students, apart from being intelligent, inquisitive, creative and amusing, are clingy. Last day! The best part was when they said “thank you”; the worst part was when they all left the room and kept waving and saying “bye ma’am”. I will miss them.