NEW FILIPINO TEACHERS GET TRAINING ON L.A. CLASSROOM SURVIVAL

It was recently reported that the Los Angeles school district has been recruiting about 115 teachers from abroad - the largest group of foreign hires in more than 20 years - due to teacher shortage.

Here's a report from FilipinOnline contributor Art Pacho about a training attended by the new recruits:


NEWLY ARRIVED TEACHERS GET TRAINING FROM FELLOW FILIPINOS
By Art Pacho

New teachers from the Philippines attended an orientation training on surviving the classroom in Los Angeles. On August 15, about 58 teachers who were recruited by the Los Angeles Unified School District received the training conducted by the Filipino American Educators Association of Los Angeles (FAEALA). A similar training was held in June by FAEALA for 23 Filipino teachers.

The teachers learned basic topics as preparing a resume, classroom management, survival skills, transportation, housing arrangements, and comparison of instructional and discipline practices in the U.S. and the Philippines.

Facilitators of the training were Zaida Monserate JRA, Frances Lacebal, Dan Gumarang, Lucila Dypiangco, Joseph Nacorda, Glenn San Pedro, and Ron Hage. The training was held with the support of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Human Services Department, represented by Imelda Fruto. Erick Mata, a Filipino American principal at Marina del Rey Middle School, was the training coordinator.

Other community service groups which cooperated with the training include the Filipino American Service Group (FASGI) represented by Bernie Targa and Filipino American Library (FAL) represented by Jonathan Lorenzo.

A CBEST review is also scheduled for September 15 and 22, 2007 to be coordinated by Glenn San Pedro, Zaida Monserate JRA and Junnie Verceles. It will tentatively be held at Cochran Middle School in Los Angeles. Passage of this test is a requirement to qualify as a teacher in California.

FAEALA is an organization dedicated to helping the needs of Filipino American educators and promoting Filipino culture and heritage. Zaida Monserate JRA, the current FAEALA president, stated that this was the second training program conducted for free by the organization to help the largest number of Filipino teachers ever recruited by Los Angeles. The training was a community effort to support the newly arrived teachers become successful in the classrooms in Los Angeles.