CULTURES-FILIPINO

Classroom Implications for Teaching Filipino Students

A teacher’s experience working with Filipino students
By Jo Ann Cagasan

Before attending USD for graduate school, I was a third grade teacher for two years for the largest public school in the Honolulu district. Its main population was Filipino and most of my students ranged from 1st to 2nd generation Filipinos who immigrated to the United States and many of them were bilingual, speaking English and Pidgin English as well as a variety of Filipino dialects which included Tagalog, Visayan, and Ilicano.

I found my students to very respectful and newcomers can be seen as very quiet. Newcomers may be perceived as hesitant while others who have become more comfortable and acculturated to the island and American culture may behave differently. I found all of my students to be very willing to share about their personal lives by discussing their experiences growing up in the Philippines. They were very open about what kinds of foods they eat, family legends and superstitions, and how life has changed since moving to the United States.

One particular family tradition that was often celebrated in the classroom was birthday parties. Parents would bring an enormous amount of food to celebrate child’s birthday such as pancit (noodles), lumpia (egg rolls), cake, and drinks. I later discovered that pancit was a significant food item during a birthday celebration because it symbolized longevity. Often parents would invite other relatives like grandparents, aunts, and uncles and take photos of this memorable event.

From my experience, I found that working with Filipino parents were very cooperative and supportive towards the faculty and staff. Although they do value education for their children, it may be difficult for them to get involved with school activities and functions primarily because most parents are working two to three jobs. Older siblings or extended family may take a parental role while the children are at home. Sometimes multiple families may live in one household thus, life at home may be chaotic and students may be unable to do homework assignments because there is no quiet place for them to work and they may not have adequate supervision. During parent-teacher conferences, I needed to be flexible because parents’ work schedules may conflict with our meeting times.

Strategies that I used for my class included

Building a trusting a relationship
Initially, students may be perceived as quiet and not willing to participate in answering questions. This behavior is typical due to several reasons:

• Teachers are perceived as an authority figure and by being quiet students are demonstrating respect.
• They may not understand you.
• They may be apprehensive in speaking English if standard English is not their first language.

In order to create a trusting relationship with my students I had to ensure that our classroom was a safe environment. The tribe agreements, a set of five basic rules that was consistent throughout each classroom and grade throughout the school, set the foundation of what was expected from how we were going to interact with one another. These five agreements were Safety, Mutual Respect, No put downs, Right to pass, and Attentive Listening & Appreciation. The first few days were used to discuss what these terms meant to us and role-playing and drawing were some of the teaching strategies I used in order for the students to comprehend and demonstrate their learning of these concepts. Team building exercises were also an integral part of the routine, starting off as a daily ritual and as the class became more cohesive, eventually as a weekly event. Over time, my students slowly became comfortable with each other and the classroom became a place that was safe enough for them to be risk takers. Students who could be perceived as quiet could now be seen involved in discussing how to create a project. For students who were not comfortable speaking English, I usually paired them with a student who could speak their dialect or someone who they often interacted with during group work or during recess. Throughout the year, I let them discuss their ideas in any language (standard English or Pidgin English) they chose so long as they were sharing their ideas. Eventually we would go over ways on how to communicate these ideas to a non-Pidgin English speaker. These skills would also be integrated into their writing pieces as well.

I also made it a point to get to know my students personally and every week, I had a “lunch date” with a small group of students. Here we had a chance to “talk story;”it was a time for us to get to know one another by asking each other questions we normally wouldn't ask during classroom instruction. Having this time with my students allowed them as individuals to feel comfortable to be with me and this relationship made it easier for them to learn in the classroom.

Instruction
The faculty and staff were very aware of the needs of second language learners and as a school, we worked to accommodate the needs of our students by being consistent in our teaching strategies. No matter what grade a student can be, each teacher was expected to immerse them in as many experiences to continue building upon the foundation of their vocabulary.

One way to link their own experiences was to incorporate their culture into the lessons we taught. As a grade level, we started off the school year with a thematic unit entitled Communities. Students explored their own community through walking field trips and they compared and contrasted living in this community with the one they grew up in the Philippines.

There were also different ways in which I enhanced their skills in learning English. Words were written out and, sometimes accompanied with pictures, and displayed around the classroom. Words that students wanted to challenge themselves in spelling correctly came from their own writing resources such as their journal, drafts of writing pieces, and any words that were interested in. Students also had a “Quick Word” a resource they could refer to when they needed assistance. Students used our classroom library and often times they used the internet as sources for information. We also had daily routines of reciting and discussing poetry and in the afternoon, we discussed and wrote about our day.

Small group instruction
When students were assigned to work in groups, there were a variety of ways students could work together. Depending on the lesson, if students were heterogeneously grouped, students could either be assigned a task or as a group, students could decide which roles they wanted. Some examples of different roles included artist, speaker, writer, reader, set up/cleanup person. As students become more comfortable with this routine, roles can be changed and students can assist one another if they are hesitant in taking on a new role.

Individual instruction
When students had difficulty comprehending a concept either my assistants or me would tutor students individually. When tutoring students, I would change my teaching strategy that would be most accommodating and interesting to the student. Sometimes explaining something in a different way was not enough therefore, drawing, role-playing, taking them outside, using hands-on materials, singing songs, or turning the lesson into a game where a reward can be earned, were just some of the teaching strategies that I utilized while tutoring my students. Sometimes students liked learning from their peers so before I tutored them by myself, I would usually pair them up with a friend to see if they could learn from their peers first.

Other cultural tendencies that are important to be familiar with when working with Filipino students:

• Many Filipino students exhibit reluctance speaking out in the classroom. Filipino culture emphasizes obedience and respect which is essential for teachers to understand as they work with these students.
• Filipino students are not inclined to challenge authority or question the teacher even if they disagree. Likewise, this reserve may block them from asking teachers for help when they need it. It is important for teachers to be proactive when working with Filipino students and make sure that they understand the material.
• Filipinos often use their eyes, lips, and hands to convey a wide range of messages. Raised eyebrows and a smile indicate a silent "hello" or a "yes" in answer to a question.
• Fixed eye contact between men is considered an aggressive gesture. The proper method to summon somebody is with a downward wave.
• They place great emphasis on polite language and gentle conversation. Voice tone is always soft and gentle, and direct questions should be avoided.
• They value their self-esteem, so be conscious of criticizing or arguing with them publicly. Many men, when so provoked, will fight for the preservation of their pride or self-esteem.
• Avoid topics such as politics, religion, corruption and foreign aid. One topic that Filipinos enjoy talking about is family.