By Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IN Clinton High in North Carolina, American students are learning about Cebuano culture and way of life, and are raving about Cebu’s beaches, the Sinulog, otap, dried mangoes and danggit. Students, who have never heard of the Philippines, much less about Cebu, even learned to use the Philippine currency and other Philippine-made materials in their Math and science classes.
Thanks to Cebuana teacher Lourdes Gana-Gonzales, Clinton High students now know that there is a McDonald’s in the Philippines, and yes, Filipinos have mobile phones.
It is for this purpose—-bridging the cultural gap between countries—-that Gonzales is now teaching in the United States (US) through the Visiting International Faculty (VIF) program, the US’ largest cultural exchange program for teachers and schools. It is dedicated to transform students’ and teachers’ lives through international exchange.
Gonzales’ commitment to the program and her students, despite the odds, has earned her the North Carolina Outstanding Cultural Educator of the Year award recently.
Thirty-one VIF teachers from 18 countries teaching in seven states in the US received the award. She was the only Filipina teacher on the list.
“The award means a lot to me. Filipinos are hardworking, kind, patient, loving, empathic, flexible, intelligent and competitive. We are good in this profession as we are in boxing—and a lot of foreigners have already noticed that,” she told Sun.Star Cebu.
“Most of my students and my American colleagues have never heard of our country—-its beauty and natural resources, beautiful places to visit, the beaches, the beautiful people and products. I want to show the world the good and beautiful side of our country, the heritage and culture that I am proud of. I always do my best so if they see me as kind, loving, caring, intelligent, humble, jolly, happy or even pretty, I would tell them that’s just who we, Filipinos, are,” she continued.
Gonzales, 46, admits that on her first few months on the job, teaching American high school students was a struggle that required daily meditation on her part.
Even if her students mocked her Visayan accent in class, she eventually learned to accept and love her students, and even learned to enjoy their “hip-hop ways.”
“My first year was terrible. I almost gave up because of homesickness, stress, the food and the different types of students, but my family was very supportive. Then I learned to accept and adapt to their culture and realized that it wasn’t that hard. From there, I learned to really enjoy and love my students and the new environment,” she said.
Gonzales left behind her husband and three children and a teaching job at the University of San Carlos for VIF’s three-year cultural exchange program.
She teaches math, science and chemistry at Clinton High in Clinton City, North Carolina, where her classes begin with the Filipino greeting “magandang umaga!”
Her classroom is decorated with posters of the old and new Mandaue-Mactan bridges, pictures of the Sto. Niño and Cebuanos in Sinulog costumes and the beaches in Lapu-Lapu City and Moalboal town—-landmarks and traditions that fascinate her students and colleagues.
“They always have lots of questions about Cebu and the Philippines in general. They would ask me things like ‘Do you have cellphones in the Philippines?’, ‘Is there a McDonald’s in your country?’, ‘Do you drive a car there?’,” Gonzales wrote in her email to Sun.Star Cebu.
She said that while she enjoys the advanced methods of teaching and the technology available to teachers in the US, she still misses her students in Cebu who are “very responsible, willing to learn and are very committed to their studies.”
Unlike most public high school teachers here, Gonzales has her own science laboratory, an interactive white board, a magic slate and three computers in her classroom. She also uses Power Point presentations in her discussions.
Next to nurses, teachers are probably the Philippines’ biggest manpower import to the US, where Filipino educators are held in high esteem.
Gonzales advised teach-ers who want to seek greener pastures in the US to keep an open mind and to do their jobs well.
“Follow your dream but be prepared, and never give up. Whatever negative comments you hear about American students, be open minded. As a teacher, you should not let anything distract them from learning. Insist your authority if you feel you are being disrespected and most important of all, embrace their culture and learn to enjoy it. As my students say, ‘Be cool!’,”she said.
As for the Visayan accent that some Americans are bound to make fun of, Gonzales has learned to laugh at the jokes.
She recalled that while talking proudly about the Philippines to her American colleagues, she invited them to visit the country to see the “beautiful beaches.”
“At an instant, they were all staring at me, horrified. I found out that my Visayan accent of saying beaches was the culprit. I made it sound like ‘We have many beautiful bitches there.’ After apologizing, I pointed out my accent and we sure had a good laugh,” Gonzales shared.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama released the following statement on the visit of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the United States: