So it is April 27th, just less than two months from my group’s June 24th departure date to the Philippines. I am going with 11 other participants in the Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program, run by IREX and the State Department. I am extremely excited about the trip and the opportunity to spend nearly three weeks in a country I have never visited. I have spent time in Asia in China, Singapore (http://twoweeksinsingapore.wordpress.com/), Thailand and Cambodia, and I have always wanted to visit the Philippines.
I am eager to learn more information about the trip as we do not have firm details yet about which parts of the country we will spend the majority of our two-week-plus journeys. I do know that we will spend the first few days together as a cohort in Manila before branching off in pairs. I am eager to learn who my partner and host teacher will be and what part of the country I will be headed. Over the course of the two weeks in our placement area my partner and I will spend time at our host school meeting the students, teachers and administrators. We will observe classes, teach lessons, lead professional development sessions, and share our experiences with our host community as we learn more about it.
My immediate attention is now back to my school in Boston as our Spring Break comes to an end today and it is back to reality tomorrow. I have learned a great deal this year during a TGC online course about globalizing my lessons and developing global competencies and 21st Century skills in my students. I look forward to my upcoming unit about water scarcity. When I find out more information about my placement in the Philippines I will provide an update. Until then, thank you for reading and I hope you are able to follow my adventure this summer through this blog.
Two weeks in the Philippines 