Ate Angela. It means Big sister, while technically its only the name of the first born girl, but its also a sign of respect.
Tita Angela. It means Aunt Angela.
But every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM I am called Teacher Angela. When I walk into a class I am greeted with "Good morning Teacher Angela" or "Good afternoon Teacher Angela". When I leave it's "Good-bye and thank you Teacher Angela." So the question you may now be asking is what am I teaching. I am teaching 1st through 6th grade art classes alongside Teacher Jessica at Cuatro Christian School.
Classes here in the Philippines are different from in the United States, but at Cuatro they do things a little differently from the public schools here. In public schools kids are placed in classes according to their age. At Cuatro they are placed by their ability level, which means that I have kids ranging from 6-16 years old and some of the older kids will be at a second grade level instead of a 7th or 8th grade level. It's not a big deal to them because they are learning instead of not understanding what is being taught. Most of the kids come from two orphanages and the rest their families are able to afford to send them to a private school. Class size average is about 14 students, but don't let that make you think they are easy to handle. There is little to no class management, which usually means the kids act out a lot. Another big difference from classes in the states is that the teachers change rooms and not the students, which makes it a bit more difficult having to constantly carry everything with you hoping you didn't forget anything.
I absolutely love it though. Jessica has her masters in art education and worked the last 3 years at an international school in Seoul, South Korea. She knows her stuff. The biggest struggle we have is that the kids are at square one in art. We are teaching them color groups, lines, and patterns. They either don't care about the project and rush through it or the sky has to blue and the striaght line has to be straight. When I started this month helping Jessica teach the kids were working with water colors which were messy. Their favorite project they have done was when they learned about Piet Mondrian and then had to make a picture like his. On the 28th of Janurary they are putting on an art show to display their masterpieces. I am so excited for them. I have watched them start to understand concepts and become more creative. We just worked on doing crayon resists and most of them painted tie-dyed giraffes instead of yellow and brown ones.
Teaching is tiring and frustrating, especially when you have a class that has to sit with their heads down and lights off instead of doing art because they won't listen. I come back and usually just lay down for an hour. I don't think God has called me to be a teacher, but I have loved teaching this month and I am so thankful for the opportunity to do so.
Now I think it's time for some photos!
The Taylor University girls leading chapel on Friday
There line/ watercolor projects, Piet Mondrian projects, and feet pattern projects
The fingerprint project made them think creatively and turn their fingerprints into something
another fingerprint project
crayon resist giraffe
and another one
