BEING A STUDENT FOR ONLY ONE DAY
By: Iris P. Concepcion

Takuapa School in Bang-Rai Si, Phang nga, Thailand immediately made me compare it with the University of the Philippines campus.

I am here upon the invitation of my sister-in-law's sister who is teaching Mathematics in high school. I have almost forgotten that the triangle, no matter how you expand or shrink it, would still result to the same size in all angles.

It houses teachers' dormitories in their old states, untouched. The buildings are sturdy but need some repainting.  Each classroom has different wooden desks and chairs. I had noticed that the Rotary Club donated at least a million baht from its members to properly stack up its library shelf. The amounts are marked outside, similar to Anuban Primary School in Yala. Its books are properly catalogued and has a lavender "Welcome" sign at the right side of its entrance.  It has a mini-stage in front for its school's extra-curricular programs.

I had noticed a mini e-library with old computer units as monitors blinked of anime characters flashing the peace sign. I like coming in here because of the paintings adorning it. They are fit to be hanged at any reputable museum. I know a little artistry and this is indeed one piece of such.  I have seen a variation of this from a tourist information center, with lobsters installed inside canvasses. They costs around 3,000 baht and they look immensely priceless. I also saw a chiller for drinks and water inside the library.

The school's flagpole is eerily dramatic like the improved pole at our very own Rizal Park. I attended its flag raising ceremony with surrounding, functioning fountains and widespread green leaves. It looks like a park.

It has a covered pathway similar to La Salle's at the main gate. Based on the newness of the structure, I had surmised that  these had been one of the improvements introduced to the place.

Since I am an incorrigible and, using the word of one of the teaching staff, naughty, I found myself being a student for one afternoon in two of the teaching sessions.

I personally think that being a teacher is more difficult than being a carpenter or an investment banker.  A teacher must control at least thirty minds in a united direction. It is one heck of a bionic composition to marshall divergent craniums, much less, the young and agile bodies of these craniums, in one destination.

The classes that I had sat in are all about conversational English. The kids can craft sentences admirably well and can do impromptu improv on their language usage with props. The topic is all about ordering food from a restaurant. I could sense a wonderful person with advocacy as a daily vocabulary gadget in his mind. I presume he had divested himself off material wealth  and had spent day-in-day-out, teaching these kids absorb the English grammatical fixes such as present continuous and past continuous.

This brings me to the vibrancy of the topic.  I have read in one of the Top Notch books a starting off point for learning English. It goes along this way:

A: "What's this called in English?"
B: "A stapler."
A: "A stapler?"
B: "Yes. That's right."

Of course, in The Little Prince, the author Exupery just drew a boa constrictor for immediate comprehension of an object using the words:

"This is a boa constrictor."

Dave Eggers, bless his snaky hair, had revolved it around the words:


 "This is a drawing of a stapler."

My otherwise stale and poor mind drafted little contributions to the ongoing conversation fit for a film scene.  I thought of it as overtly hilarious.

Here:

A: "What's this called In English?"
B: "A stapler."
A: " Oh, a stapler."
B:"Yes, it is a stapler."
C: "Oh my God, it is a stapler!"
D: "Is it really a stapler?"
E: " Yes, it is a freaking stapler!"
F: "How could it be a stapler?"

And so on and so forth. In varying intonations no less.  Of course, I need to insert character G with his ominous, biting words, for heightened cadence:

G: "No, it is a boa constrictor."

Education has all the balance, rigidity and evolvement that could shape or break a nation. I say, put the teachers just below the President/King/Prime Minister in that Top Most Important Occupations In The World.

Upclose, their job is like going to the guillotine. I suggest governments pay them extremely well.

And do not mess around them nor twist the words of teachers' wives. They can be ridiculously dangerous. Razor-sharp and direct.

Postscript:

Back in the Philippines, the new buzz word in President Aquino's economic team is Aquinomics. In Ana Marie Pamintuan's Philippine Star column, Secretary Cesar Purisima outlined the gist of this program :

"Aquinomics 101? Its four pillars: fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic stability; private-public partnership or PPP program; ease in doing business, for both local and foreign investors; and, investment in people—giving Filipinos health care, education and the skills 
necessary to become productive participants in the economy.