Philippines: Teacher Training Weekend
Added to website: 21 May 2007
The teacher training weekend took place on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of April. 29 teachers from a variety of barangays, as far afield as San Bernardo on the other side of Sogod Bay, came along to take part.
There were two main aims to the weekend. Firstly it was a chance to educate the teachers in regards to what there is to find under the surface of their Filipino waters. This included some basic marine ecology and coral reef biology on the Saturday followed by some work on threats to coral reefs and conservation on the Sunday. This gives them a good starting background of knowledge by which to teach there students. Secondly it gave us the opportunity to work through some related activities which would allow the teachers to involve their students on a more interactive level.
The weekend started off rather slowly with only a few teachers arriving on the Saturday morning. The programme continued as planned with a series of lectures on coral reef biology and some fun activities, such as quizzes and creating your own coral polyp.
Sunday saw the main group arrive. This group was quickly brought up to speed with some shortened lectures on coral biology before being introduced to the bulk of the days work regarding the threats to coral reefs and their conservation. With a basic knowledge of coral reef threats and conservation methods they took part in a fictional scenario regarding a pier development in the local area. Groups of 10 were split into a further three groups, conservationists, locals, and developers. Each had to create a poster putting across their arguments before presenting it to the other groups.
It was fantastic to see them taking all the information we’d given them and using it so creatively and effectively. This kind of activity is also something they can pass on to their students.
The weekend finished with a snorkel allowing the teachers to put images to everything they’d been taught, it was a great success.
All in all the weekend achieved what it set out to do. Most importantly the teachers left with a lot of enthusiasm and interest for the reefs that surround them. This enthusiasm will hopefully be passed on to their students, the future of coral reef protection in the Philippines.
