An Introduction to Agape Boracay Academy

Welcome to Agape Boracay Academy! I will use this post to begin to show you around the school that I am teaching at this year. I am teaching first grade this year which is certainly much different from teaching at the fifth grade level! I am really enjoying it, though!

The picture above shows the back entrance of the school. The Red Cross is located on the first floor. A representative from the Red Cross comes to teach the students about health and hygiene twice a week .

My  Classroom

My First Grade Class.

This is Mrs. Salguero. We are co-teachers for our class; she teaches Filipino, Social Studies, and some other required subjects to our class while I teach Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Math. I really enjoy working with her!

I took some pictures of my students while they were practicing their spelling words:

Hazel, Ralph, and Heshen

Kent James

Danelle and Shawn

Alexis

One of the unique things about this school is the fact that it was built using donations. This means that a lot of people gave some of their own money away to help build this school! The school was also built by volunteers. All of the North American teachers are here as volunteers as well.

The photo below shows a room filled with donations that were sent to the school from a number of different places. Some of these boxes came all the way from the United States and Canada! Many of the resources that I am used to having as a teacher are not available here or are very expensive to purchase on the island. You may have noticed items like stencils and WikiStix in the photos above. Those items have been donated from across the globe!

Organizing the room filled with boxes of donated school supplies

When someone gives from their own resources in order to help someone else, it is called philanthropy. Since I have been teaching here on Boracay, I have seen many wonderful results of the philanthropy of others, especially at Agape Boracay Academy.

It is so exciting to see the results of people being so generous with their time, money, and other resources! Can you think of a way that you can show philanthropy? 

The principal of the school this year is from Canada. Her family is here and her daughters are 13, 11, and 9 years old. They are homeschooled here by their dad, but each week they each come one day to help tutor the kids at the school. That is one simple way they are able to use what they are good at to help others.

There are lots of small things that you can do that can make a big difference! If you think of something that you plan to do, I would love to hear about it. E-mail me at missebinboracay@hotmail.com. Start helping! :-)

More to come soon from Boracay Island...

Would You Like to Learn Tagalog?

The most common language in the Philippines is Filipino Tagalog, but most of the locals simply call it tagalog. Many of the Filipinos on the island speak at least a little bit of basic English. So, when I go to the store or ride a trike, for example, I can communicate with whoever is helping me in English.

While I am here, however, I am taking advantage of the opportunity to learn some tagalog. It is not easy for most people to learn another language, especially when you are an adult. If you are a kid reading this, I would encourage you to begin learning another language as soon as you can because it is easier to learn a new language when you are younger.

My roommate, Carla, and I have been taking some tagalog lessons with Aileen, one of the Filipina friends we have made. We write down what she teaches us on notecards and quiz each other. Even when you are a teacher, you still have to work hard to learn new things! Tagalog has many unique sounds and some really long words. One of the letters in this language is "ng" and you basically use your throat to make the sound for this letter.

I thought I would give those of you reading my blog the opportunity to learn some tagalog, too. I thought learning the numbers 1 through 10 would be a good place to start. I asked a couple of my friends, Ajay and Yon-Yon, to help me make a video to show you how to prounounce these numbers. The words are typed below and the pronunciation video is underneath.

Start Counting!

                                       
 1 Isa (one)         2 Dalawa (two)         3  Tatlo (three)

                                   
4 Apat (four)      5  Lima (Five)           6 Anim (six)

                                        
7  Pito (seven)      8 Walo (eight)            9 Siyam (nine)

  
10 Sampû (ten)

More to come soon from Boracay Island...

Updating Soon!!!

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last post! I have been incredibly busy since then with preparing to teach then beginning to teach my wonderful group of first graders. I have also been spending time with so many wonderful new friends and experiencing so many new things! I feel like I am constantly on the go!

I plan to write a more detailed post about many of these things soon, but I wanted my wonderful followers to know that I haven't forgotten about my blog!

Good thing I still have lots more time to update: 273 left on the island to be exact!

Also, for those of you that know about my younger sister's tryouts for the U.S. bobsled team, she ended up doing an awesome job! She placed first in the push championships and will begin training in Europe in December!

Here is an excerpt from an article about the event:
"Three veterans and one rookie claimed a 2011 U.S. National Bobsled Push Championship title in Lake Placid, NY today...Rookie athlete Katie Eberling (Palos Hills, Ill.) was the surprise winner in the women’s bobsled push championships. Eberling, 23, led a field of 15 women by 0.24 seconds to claim her first-ever title of what she hopes will be many."
Click this link to read the full article!

More info and pictures to come soon from Boracay Island!!!