Supported Learning

Photo c/o moviba.com

I had a lively and engaging class time with my Supported Learning class. Today is the start of their Level 2 Foundation Skills. The age range of my students are from 16 to 52, they are in-between high school and university/college, and they all have some form of learning and intellectual disabilities.  The 12 who started early this year are now joined by 13 more students.  They are divided into two sections (class size of 12 and 11).  Mine is the 11 one.  I team teach with colleagues from Pakistan and Argentina.

We do not follow the same schedule and curriculum as the ones in high school and so we are not on a term break.  In Aotearoa New Zealand, elementary and high school students have a two week term break after every 10 weeks of classroom instruction.  Right now the mainstream schools are having their term two break.

I almost, always incorporate my Filipino culture and mass media in all of my lessons.  It makes for a very enriching and engaging time inside the class. Of course my class is a multicultural one: Maori, Pakeha (European), Chinese, Indian, Pasifika, Romanian, and South African, plus their tutors Pakistani, Argentinian, and Filipino cultures.  It just blows me away on how I learn heaps from my students, just like when I learned heaps from my Miriam College, St. Mary's College, and Far Eastern University students.

Today's topic was on non-verbal communication and we just had an awesome time looking at how different cultures interact and communicate using their body language.  My students were particularly amazed on how we Pinoys use our lips in pointing out people and things (ayun o, nandoon), how we use our face, hands and gestures.  They were astounded to find out that our basketball coaches or perhaps other sports too? always smack the butts of their players as they get into the basketball court.  Some of them said that it's already sexual harassment, while I explained to them, it's just the coach's way of giving assurance to his player that he can do the job properly and that he's the best person at the moment.

I'm sure there'll be more exciting and quality moments in the days ahead, until they graduate in December.