In the name of public service

Rudolf S. Songcayawon
May 12, 2014
Assignment for Philippine Daily Inquirer Writing Workshop
May 10 and 17, 2014, Philippine Daily Inquirer Head Office
Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City


Public high school is where a number of good teachers find themselves displaced, that is handling
subjects they never imagined themselves teaching. Only a few succeed in taking the challenge, and best
of all, later realize they have become their better selves in the name of public service.
Christine L. Francisco also Tin as she is fondly called by her colleagues in Barangka National High School
is a 2008 BSEd English graduate of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina (PLMar). She studied English in
the hope of working abroad. In fact after her graduation she tutored English to Koreans. The job
according to her was a stepping stone to her dream of a greener pasture somewhere outside the
country where English teachers are a need. She truly wants to teach English.
Embracing a different world
Her entry to public school gave her the chance to live the dream. Indeed she taught English to nine
fourth year Filipino students. But her joy was short-lived as the following year saw her teaching Values
Education and later, Filipino.
Apart from teaching, being Acting Registrar is her other major task too. This, too, she never studied and
dreamed of doing, but she puts her heart and soul into her job. Obviously Miss Francisco is not doing
what she learned but she still says the public needs my service so I am here for them.
Preparations
Someone must teach Filipino on that second year of her teaching in 2013. Doubtful and hesitant yet
challenged, Miss Francisco took the task motivated by her guiding principle in the name of public
service.
Filipino is Miss Franciscos lingua franca. As subject this is also being taught in elementary, high school
and tertiary levels but she admits like any Filipino student she, too, took the subject for granted
believing it to be easy.
Her assignment to teach Filipino propelled her to do self-study to relearn the subject and says she is like
a student again. She talked to experts in the teaching of Filipino, collected Filipino books such as
Florante at Laura, and attended the K-12 seminar in teaching Filipino to Grade Eight. She read her
lessons before coming to class and spoke the language consistently. She used to read with a dictionary
for big English words. Later she appreciated Filipino dictionary.
All these fuelled her desire to teach Filipino the best way she can.

What its like for an English teacher to teach Filipino
I thought I knew Filipino well, she says of the challenges she faced teaching the subject. Teaching
Filipino is a heavy slap on my face, she adds with a smile.
The experience truly validated her guilty notion of the subject being easy.
Students habitual exposure to texting made them lazy readers especially of Filipino. They even skip
reading and give up on words they seem to find strange or difficult, she says. They became foreigners
to their own tongue such that most never understood nasusuri.
She realized there is so much to do to convince students to love Filipino and to treat the subject as
important as English. The students low regard to Filipino is the major reason of their awkward failure
in their own tongue, she says.
Good things about teaching Filipino
Filipino is more than simply speaking or writing it. There is much to learn and to discover, she says of
the good things she learned about teaching the subject.
The challenges she had overcome made Miss Francisco learn to love teaching Filipino. She laughed over
her idea of taking up masters in Filipino because she thinks any graduate school might wonder about her
decision.
Filipino became the best medium for her to educate students of the value of values in life. With Filipino
she talked to her students and gave them pieces of advice she knew they listened to.
Blessing in disguise
Miss Francisco is success story among many displaced teachers. To her, teaching a subject she has not
studied to teach isnt an issue to brood. Other than quality work, she says, every public school teacher
is demanded of readiness in response to public service.
Words for teachers to live by
The horrors of making lesson plans every day and the checking of test papers almost forced me to shift
course in college. But I realize my life would have been different if I werent a teacher, Miss Francisco
says.
A teacher must be flexible, she declares. I am willing to learn to teach any subject except Mathematics
(giggles) because I am sure my students will never learn from me.
Miss Francisco has high hopes seeing herself teach English, but as long the public needs my service I
would love to teach Filipino, she says happily.