It is the mission of the School of Arts, Sciences and Teacher Education to provide its students with the necessary skills that will lead them to new discoveries, enable them to be lifelong learners and succeed in life. Hence, we constantly encourage them to be effective, efficient and excellent in their field of endeavor. We have always believed that it is essential to come up with teacher training programs that will provide the required knowledge and skill sets to our Education students as these would help in shaping their personal and professional lives.
In his quest to create opportunities for our BSE students to acquire innovative teaching practices and professional development, the Dean of SASTE, Dr. Lino C. Reynoso, designed a teacher training program in collaboration with Bhudi Dharma School, a Basic Education School of the Congregation Sisters of Charity of our Lady of Mercy in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
On July 18, 2018, a Memorandum of Agreement was made and entered into by Dr. Jose Paulo E. Campos, the President of Emilio Aguinaldo College and Bro. Bogor Lumbanraja, PhD, representative of Budhi Dharma School. This agreement would allow six students from the School of Teacher Education to participate in a training program that will provide them with opportunities to develop the competencies set in the National and International Competency- Based Teacher Standards and apply their learning in actual classroom situations.
Henceforth on September 28, 2018 the six students travelled to North Sumatra to begin their international training program. These students were Shein Umadhay, Gladies Aguilar, Melanie Tumanda, Aira Marano, Danika Vargas, and Ardeth Sapalo. Armed with a deep desire to test their knowledge in a real world scenario and harness their full potential, the BSE students ventured into a new horizon in Indonesia.
After a month of teaching high school students in their assigned schools, these students reflected on their experiences and they were one in saying that they had a wonderful time in teaching students from a different culture. They were able to introduce Outcome Based Education and encouraged the students to join activities that will allow them to use their English ability. On their last days in the school, they organized a program for the students and convinced them to perform in Speech Choir, Poetry Reading, and Role Playing. They invited the whole school populace to watch this program as well as the parents who were very delighted to see their children perform on stage.
In essence the experiential learning and critical practice that these students attained can be viewed as a process that created opportunities for them to become dynamic teachers able to initiate changes in the field of the academe.