“ To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right." This quotation of Confucius struck me a lot for it made me realized on my purpose as a teacher. As a secondary teacher for nineteen (19) years, I have lived the exact opposite of this adage. I teach because this is the course I finished and I have no choice! (I was a working student then. Though I aspired to be a nurse; my benefactors allowed us only to choose the low-priced, low-cost and second-rate courses like Education, Secretarial, and Liberal Arts!) Now that I am married, I viewed teaching as an opportunity of augmenting my family’s income in maintaining the provisions at home and sustaining the needs of my growing kids. These were my only motivations to work as a teacher then. Though contented with ordinary life, I still have this unexplainable emptiness within and continue searching for it. I never thought teaching was rewarding.

These injurious views were totally erased when I was required by my principal to proxy a fellow in a seminar two summers ago. It was a three-day Training- Workshop sponsored by MSU-IIT and Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education, Inc. (FUSE). The training eliminated my pessimistic assessment of government officials as generally corrupt. Not with Senator Angara. He invested greatly on education, empowering FUSE members in providing skills and materials to teachers in the country. The materials in our school are judiciously used by teachers and students in the three core subjects. Teachers nowadays need to inject technology because students can learn better with the aid of technology.

Secondly, the summer training inspired me to develop my own teaching materials. Ms. Ruth Alido, presented us with her own materials: games, oral interpretation readings, vocabulary materials. She encouraged us to develop our own too. With the infectious enthusiasm shown by her, I developed my own kind right after the training. Hence, I came up with anagrams, vocabulary materials and other mind games which I applied to my students. I walked an extra mile from developing simple materials in class. I did an action research which lead me to the development of an instructional material on speaking skills and soon to be out in the market pending upon the release of copyright permission. It was then my advocacy to bring students to division, regional and even national declamation, extemporaneous, and oratorical speech contests which we always won if not first at least second or third place.

The speakers were not only experts; they were living examples burning with zeal to teach teachers on how to teach. Another interesting and impressive speaker during that seminar was Dr. Teresita Ignacio. Even at her twilight, she is an epitome of an ideal teacher in these modern times! She shared her teaching experiences and unparalleled teaching prowess. I was enamored by her British twang that led me to enroll in an IELTS class and eventually shared with my students. She was oozing with warmth as a person, commitment, dedication and charisma as a teacher. I welcomed her invitation to participate in the PALT International Conference in Manila Hotel December of 2007 at my own expense! From that conference, my perspective of teaching was radically changed. Dr. Ignacio was instrumental in my desire to aim high! I realized then that education is a continuous process and a lifetime commitment. Next month, I will be presenting a paper on: Development and Validation of ICT-Enabled English Lessons at the 5th PALT- TESOL International Conference at the Manila Hotel. I was among the lucky 24 public school teachers who passed the SMART Scholarship Program. We were awarded MA-IDT and hope to graduate in March. With these as my qualifications qualifications, I was promoted to Master Teacher I.

With all these inspiration from the FUSE training experience, I am now convinced that we cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own. I believe education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change our world. And the only person who can act on it is a passionate teacher. The torch ignited by FUSE will surely be passed to the students in its seamless grandeur and beauty. May the fire of FUSE keep on igniting to touch teachers as well!

Founded by Dr. Lucio C. Tan on December 1, 1994, FUSE seeks to improve the skills in English, Science and Mathematics teachers. Its programs include regular teacher training workshops; a post-graduate scholarship program for Science and Engineering teachers; production and distribution of telecourses in English, Elementary Science, Chemistry, Physics and Math; and a host of other educational programs in partnership with government and private learning institutions.