tap-tap goes to school

The length of this entry just shows how excited I am about this.

Today was Tap-Tap’s first day as a pupil. After buying yesterday the supplies he needed for school, he was so excited he was carrying his backpack wherever he went. We were also very excited. Haha. That must be how a mother feels the first time her child enters school.

The class was scheduled to begin at 10am. But at 9:30, Tap-Tap was already dressed, carrying his backpack, and begging us to go bring him to school already. Thirty minutes from the schedule is way too early for him because the school is only a minute walk from his house. If not for the wall that’s going to be built around the school, Tap-Tap can make it to his school in less than 5 seconds. Hehe. The school is right at the back of their house, because the territory used to be my grandmother’s.

So, there were 5 of us who accompanied him: his mommy, his ninang (ehem, that’s me), my sister, my cousin Joyce, and their househelp Sheila. Haha. With us also was my cousin Julie Ann, who decided to enroll her 2-yr-old daughter too just today. I brought the camera with me, and I took so many pictures. The people there must’ve thought I was a parent.

It was cute chaos. The kids were inside the classroom minding their own business (either eating, walking around, playing with their crayons, shouting) while the teacher (I think her name was Anna) was sweating like a pig, trying to call their attention, at the same time, comforting those kids who started crying. Haha. Kudos to the teachers for their patience. Jeez. 30 kids aged 2-4? And of course, what was even cuter was seeing the parents outside the classroom, watching their kids through the windows, and smiling at every move their child makes.

The kids were like dominoes. One move and everyone else follows. One opened his snack, and the others followed. One stood up and the others stood up as well and walked around. Tap-Tap went to the faucet at the back of his classroom and washed his hand, and another kid followed him. Haha. The teacher went to him and told him to sit down and stop playing with the water. So I guess that was sort of his first scolding.


Adie from playing with the faucet, he behaved well because he wasn't crying like the other kids, or going in and out of the classroom. But nearly an hour since the class started, he started complaining because it was too hot inside the classroom. So we had to let him change his clothes, or else he would just walk out and throw a tantrum.


A few minutes later, the teacher was finally able to start an activity. The children were given a piece of paper each and were instructed to trace the lines to form a box, and color the box. The kids took out their crayons from their bags and did their thing, still noisily. When Tap-Tap was done, he excitedly ran towards the teacher and submitted his paper.

About 10 minutes before the class ended, another teacher went in to help control the kids while teacher Anna was checking the papers. The 2nd teacher brought a mat, and with the kids sitting on the floor around her, she taught the kids how to roll and unroll it. It worked well because it was the first time in about 2 hours that the kids were quiet. The teacher asked the kids who wanted to try it. Tap-Tap looked at us and said he wanted to do it, but was too shy to raise his hand. So, we were telling him and signaling to him to raise his hand. I guess the teacher noticed how noisy we were that he finally asked Tap-Tap if he wanted to try doing it, and he said yes. He did pretty well, but I wasn’t able to take a picture of him while doing it because the teacher closed the door. Haha. The teacher must’ve been irritated with us that she told the kids after the activity, in a voice loud enough for all the parents outside to hear, that tomorrow parents were not allowed to go inside the classroom anymore. I don’t like that teacher. Haha. When the class started she was talking to the kids in straight English. Hello? She was talking to a bunch of kids aged 2-4, first time to enter school, all Filipinos. English isn’t the language spoken at their homes. How the hell were the kids supposed to understand her?

And finally, after two hours, and much to Tap-Tap’s relief (he was really complaining about the heat), the children were sent home. Tap-Tap looked like he attended a whole day of school, but he said he liked it, and he’s going back tomorrow. I’m sure tomorrow will be a lot more fun for the children.


I don't want to be a teacher. Not that I have anything against teachers, but I’m just not fit to be one. When I worked at the guidance office of the elementary school of UST, I discovered I was prone to having a favorite. I remembered easily names of kids who scored high in the IQ tests.

But I experienced teaching. During my senior year in highschool. I was a student catechist, and every Tuesday afternoon we would walk our way to the public school a few blocks away from our own school, and teach the children religion for an hour.My friend and I were assigned to one class of 2nd graders. They were too difficult to control that we often resorted to playing games just to get their attention. We played too much that at the end of the year, the kids knew the game songs by heart, but didn’t even memorize half the Hail Mary.

But it was fun: one of my most memorable experiences in highschool. During our last day of teaching, I gave the pupils pencils with some sort of a toy at one end. However, I wans’t able to give it to them personally because I got sick that day. But my partner told me that the kids were so happy upon receiving the pencils. I’d also not forget the time when, a year after that (I was a college freshman already, so I was wearing a different uniform), on the way to some place, we passed by the school and I saw some of my former pupils walking on their way home. I asked my father to stop, and I greeted the kids. They couldn’t remember me at first, but after a while, they finally recognized me as their teacher in religion. That was really a great feeling. :)

*Sigh* I’m studying to be a doctor. I just wish it’s right for me. Hehe.

Wow. This is reeeeeaaaallllly long. Haha. I gotta end this already. Ta-ta for now!