Face to Faith Philippines Runs Third Teacher-Training Workshop
Manila, Philippines - The De La Salle Zobel School in Alabang, Muntinlupa City played gracious host to the 3rd Philippines teacher-training workshop of Face to Faith. The workshop, which ran from January 24-25, 2012, registered over 20 participants from an assortment of schools: private, public, sectarian, and non-sectarian.
The participants were a rich mix of educators (social science and religious education teachers, principals, IT personnel, department heads) who eagerly participated in the activities of the tightly packed two-day workshop.
The first day of the workshop which focused on the whys and hows of Face to Faith and its teaching modules, was supposed to end at 4 P.M. At 3:45 P.M., Marcial Lou Agtarap, the Philippines’ indefatigable assistant country coordinator for Face to Faith asked the participants if it was all right for them to stay ten minutes later than the appropriated time. The participants agreed. In the end, none of them seemed to have noticed that, in fact, the activity over-extended by almost twenty minutes.
The activity? A Skyped-in call from Simmi Kher.
Their enthusiasm to learn about Face to Faith was palpable! The eagerness to implement it was just as convincing!
The second day of the workshop began with a recap of the previous day’s activities and context-setting. When they were asked to share what their thoughts or feelings were about what they had learned so far, one participant said, “I feel excited and happy. Excited to implement Face to Faith in my school. Happy that this is the last day of the workshop!” When prodded to explain why he is happy that the workshop is coming to an end, he said that it is because it means that he can finally go back to implement it!
To ensure that he and the other participants could begin implementing the program as soon as they get back to their schools, the second day was devoted to equipping them with some basic technical knowledge to conduct wideo conferences, manage their school’s online community account, and adapt the program in their curricula. An important exercise was a simple curriculum mapping when the participating educators worked with colleagues from their own school and tried their hand at planning a unit of study for a specific subject and grade level. In discussing the sample unit plans, Fr Johnny Go SJ, the country coordinator for Face to Faith, focused on how learning would be more engaging and effective since students would be learning from peers of different religions and cultures from different parts of the world.
The final activity gave the participants the chance to draw up their own plans-of-action for implementing the program in their school.
The workshop ended with the awarding of certificates to the participants. Fr. Johnny Go and Brother Dennis Magbanua, fsc, president of De La Salle Zobel, both did the honors of presenting the certificates. The workshop ended at half-past four, thirty minutes beyond the target. No one was complaining.
Apparently, the participants’ eagerness to learn about and to implement Face to Faith in their schools are reasons enough for them to make sacrifices, even if it meant staying beyond the announced schedule by 20 or 30 minutes.
We hope that this eagerness to implement Face to Faith in their schools coupled with their willingness to make sacrifices will bear much fruit for them and their students.
