The Course Starts

Today the course of which I am the superviosr started. I had 15 participants. There was no one from Myanmar, 4 paying participants from Thailand and one from Kenya. This afternoon, I gave them the briefing and it turned out to be wonderful. Though there were those who could not communicate well with English, it should not deter them in fully participating in every session. When I was one of the particpants back in 2004, I felt the difficulty of having them as co-participants. It is as if asking them why were they here in the first place. Now that I am the supervisor, I see it in different perspectives. Language is important but should not be a barrier to communication. I told them if they could not say it, then write down. If they could not put it on papers, then make use of sign language. If still it is not possible, then use facial expressions. The thingi would like to get across at is that we have to find ways and means to express ourselves. In our first session this afternoo, I encouraged each of them to share. That means they would talk. I think we had a good time listening and sharing each other's experiences.

I began the session telling them of my experiences as a participant back then. Making them aware that I enjoyed it but I worked hard to get most of what I had come to accomplish. Now I am telling them the same things. Enjoy while learning. Learning is fun. Students should see it that way. When we ask people about hobbies, nobody would say studying or learning. I wonder why. But of course, I would notsay it is my hobby too. Studying entails a lot of hard work, patience and determination. Sometimes the best effort one puts in is not even good enough. There could be a lot of pressures, tensions, successes and failures. In a world where results are appreciated and become a source of fulfillment, man strives for excellence without knowing that there lots of consequences involved.

So the day ended. I had a nice start. It was a day I have been looking forward to since I came. I just hope that until the end of the month-long course I would be blessed with the same vigor and zeal.

Life is a challenge. This is my challenge. If I could make a difference in these people's lives, in the way they look at teaching, then the reason I am in RECSAM is justified.