ALMOST THERE

After a long process, he's not quite there yet, but he's only one step away! Yesterday, Edge finished his training to get accredited to teach high school in the public school system. Edge taught in Manila for 12 years, and at the best private schools at that! When we got here, we applied at EVERY SINGLE Catholic school under the Diocese of Parramatta, and 97% of them turned us down. Correction, 80% of them ignored us, 17% of them turned us down. Even though I got calls to do casual teaching, I got very frustrated and was just too happy to accept from the Department of Community Services.






But not Edge. He was determined to teach. He jokes that he is going for it because of the relatively high pay, and the school holidays, but I know that the fire is still burning inside of him. I refused to go through the accreditation that the public school requires (but this is also because I had already decided long ago that I did not want to teach anymore), but Edge started the process by taking the PEAT, the English test for teachers, last March 4. He said it was so difficult, the most difficult test he has ever taken in his life! But he passed it with flying colors -- A's in all areas! The next step was the 2-day lecture part of the seminar, which he did last May 11 and 12, then the 10-day practicum at a local public high school, which he did these last two weeks.

Edge got assigned to a relatively tame high school, not one of the notorious ones that we at DOCS often deal with (thank goodness!). For the first 3 days, he was just required to observe. He said that the kids were wild and showed no respect to their teachers. They would sit in class with their IPods in their ears, reading magazines, talking to one another. This is very frustrating for someone who comes from a country that values their elders. Anyway, Edge said that during recess, one girl actually came up to him and asked him how tough he was, as if to intimidate him! Edge just laughed it off.

When it came time for him to teach, Edge poured his heart into it. He downloaded pictures from the internet and burned them onto a CD, he looked for films relevant to the lessons, and he made use of his 7 years of Ignatian training. Edge said that the kids responded well to his lessons, and were in fact disappointed yesterday when they found out that it was already his last day. They even told him that they wished he would get assigned to their school!

Edge called me yesterday at around 1 p.m. because the principal had a chat with him. The principal told him that he had done a good job, and did not say anything majorly negative. I was so happy to hear that. I did not doubt that Edge would do a good job, but you never know how other people will judge his performance.

On Monday, he has his final interview at the Department of Education and Training. Once he passes that, he should be eligible to teach at any public high school in NSW. In fact, one school is already waiting for him. My friend's mother is a teacher in a selective senior high school. When my friend told her mother about me and Edge, the mother immediately asked for Edge's number. (Puti ito!) That's the first thing I will do on Tuesday.

We're on our way... Australia, here we come!