About

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences,” said the writer Audre Lorde.

This quote reminds us of our journey as a Korea-Philippine Teacher Exchange Programme Scholars. It leads us to a rollercoaster ride of a fun, tiring yet fulfilling experience. We realized that we became better teachers and individuals because of this journey.

Our awareness about Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and its advocacies began when we got admitted as one of the scholars of the 2021 Online Korea-Philippines Exchange Program. Being part of the the first and the only public elementary school in Mindanao to collaborate with its Korean counterparts in promoting Global Citizenship Education was such an honor and a privilege for us.

Prior to our participation to the Online Korea-Philippines Teacher Exchange Program (KPTEP), we were already aware of our Lead Coordinator’s journey as a GCED advocate and as an alumna of KPTEP. Mrs. Cherry Lyn Balbacal had kept in touch with us even when she was in Korea in 2019 for her two-months program. We already had a glimpsed of her interesting journey as a scholar. Her experienced was not a walk in the park but she finished the program with flying colors.

However, we never imagined that we would have the same opportunity as her until she invited us to apply for her reapplication. Thus, the 2021 Online KPTEP which we, the 5 teachers from Rizal Elementary School, including our lead coordinator were lucky enough to be part of the first ever online exchange program.

The programme rekindled our passion and love for teaching. It also became our breather from the routinary activities every day. It gave us a fresher vibe and an exciting atmosphere.

From the beginning ‘till the end of the three- month online exchange program, we experienced all sorts of emotions and feelings. They were the same feelings that we used to have while we were still new in teaching, hyper, excited and full of energy.

We felt nostalgic going through the process of making our lessons. Who would have thought that we would be jumping from one place to another to shoot our video lessons? Despite the hectic schedule, managing both our modular and online classes and the exchange program, we never felt exhausted, but rather we’re always excited. The long agonizing hours of brainstorming for every lesson and preparing required reports, did not lower our spirit. There was a time while preparing for our final lesson that we had to travel for eight hours to shoot. We filmed tirelessly, rain or shine. We ate meals at the latest hour. It was also the first time that we did not sleep. We were awake for twenty-four hours. That was one of our most memorable experiences. And surprisingly, we never got tired. We even wished to do more! During those three challenging months, we became dancers, chefs, photographers, make-up artists, foresters and many more. All these rolled into one making us a GCED advocate teacher.

Within the three-month teaching learning activity, our Korean partners from Daeyeon Elementary School were indeed our co-advocates of GCED and supporters of the SDGs. The Korea-Philippines partnership overcame our language barriers so that we could pursue the objectives of the program.

The key to the successful partnership was communication. It is very important to us teachers to be able to communicate well with our learners that’s why we employ all things necessary so that we can convey our inputs to the learners effectively.

However, communicating becomes challenging if the other party speaks a foreign language. That was our first impression when we got into the exchange program. But as a teacher, we knew that should not be a hindrance for us to be an effective online exchange teacher.

Thankfully our lead coordinator was very helpful especially during our first conference with our Korean counterparts from Daeyeon Elementary School. Since we both use English as medium of communication, we never had difficulty talking during our video conferences. One of the salient points in effective communication is being sensitive and aware of their preferences and language culture, so we dealt with them with utmost respect and understanding.

While conducting classes, we also had to adjust our pace while speaking to the class because our Korean partner-teacher will have to translate from English to Hangul for students’ better understanding of the lesson. Being respectful and courteous were both important to us. So, we did not have any issues regarding the matter and our classes went on smoothly.

Meanwhile, as we prepared for the lessons, we always bore in mind the real purpose of the program. We had to consider our students’ cultural background to avoid misinformation and discrimination. Our lessons should not impose our culture and beliefs but only showcase its significance and existence. We acknowledge that we all differ in many ways and that we should not set our own standard based on our beliefs. By doing so we were able learn together effectively and harmoniously. Learning from their culture and their work ethics made a good contribution in our life as teacher. It is important to research, learn and familiarize the nature and culture of the people that we shall be working with. By learning our Korean partners’ culture, we were able to achieve our goals and objective for the program.

Unfortunately, we only had three sessions for each class, so we had to make the most out of it. Our appreciation to Korea and its culture has intensified through their lessons and the interactions that we had with one another. Coincidently, our topics of interest were the same. We both planned to teach appreciation of one’s culture through food, dancing and artwork.

Our lessons were anchored in the Global Citizenship Education objectives that aims for our learners to develop attitudes to appreciate and respect differences and diversity and to make them understand the interdependence and connections of global and local concerns. We were able to achieve these goals because we were able to meet at the center and found our commonalities through the lessons we prepared.

Indeed, the programme definitely made a great impact in our life personally and professionally. The exchange program also gave us an opportunity to contribute something to the community and to the environment. The said activity made us feel proud that we are members of this exchange program.

We were humbled and at the same time very honored with the experiences that we had. Our horizons widened because we were able to meet other people, most especially learners outside the Philippines. We felt proud as a Filipino teacher because it was a great privilege for us to introduce our country’s culture to the Korean students.

Furthermore, after hearing inspiring and encouraging words from Director Margarita Ballesteros in all our online conferences with her, it dawned on us that we need to reach out not only to our Filipino learners but also expand our influences as teachers through this program.

By understanding Global Citizenship Education and by supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, we can be an instrument of change and contribute to help heal the world and make it even a better place to live in. We want to be a part of this advocacy. We shall serve as a tool in empowering the youth, here and across the globe as informed, critically literate, socially connected individuals and advocates of Global Citizenship Education.

By this we would like to rephrase what Lorde said, “Our ability to recognize and accept differences will unite us.”

After all our brainstorming, we created Project LAYAG, our SDG and GCED initiated project. And this is where it all began.

Project LAYAG which means Leading Ardent Youth Across Globalization is a teacher-initiated and innovative project that aims to promote Global Citizenship Education and to discover one’s abilities to contribute to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals.

When we first found out that we were chosen as one of the participants in the 2021 Online Korea Philippines Teachers Exchange Programme, we felt elated and excited. Though pandemic hinders us from experiencing the real scenario, we were able to execute the program successfully by using the different online and media platforms.

Project LAYAG was born on the eve of April 15, 2021. We were teleconferencing what would be the best way to express our objectives as teachers and advocacies of the program. We believed that the journey to globalization is a never-ending process of learning. And just like travelling, education continues to adapt to new norms and innovations, thus, pupils must be equipped with the skills to compete globally. We believed that the youth must not only see themselves as useful citizens of the country but should be aware of what is going on in the world. Issues like hunger, violence, equality, environmental dilemma do not only happen locally but globally. We wanted the youth to be responsible and ethical global citizens. Thus, project LAYAG was created.

Because the team wanted a lasting learning and pupils nowadays are adept to technologies, we created video lessons promoting Global Citizenship Education focusing on Health and Wellness, Appreciation and Respect for Culture, and Protecting the Nature. Project LAYAG also showcased beautiful places in our region while teaching lessons on food and cuisine, Filipino Folk Dances and taking care of our environment.

We used these video lessons in teaching the Korean pupils. The video lessons that we have created are uploaded to our Youtube Channel where the pupils can easily view them. The outputs of the pupils are also posted in the padlet. We wanted to not only share our advocacies to the pupils in Korea but most especially to our Filipino youth.

We also faced many adversities along the way. Because of the pandemic, we need to postpone video shoot schedules to make way for the GCQ and MECQ guidelines. We followed safety protocols and adhered to the local government policies. Our resources and knowledge in video shoots and editing were also limited so we sought help from professionals. But though we have gone through a lot of challenges, we are very much thankful to the support given by our school, our division office, the local government of Panabo City and the parents who allowed their sons and daughters to participate in the program.

The team participated in the Sharing Stories Asia-Pacific Education Movement (SSAEM) last October 28, 2021, where we were invited as resource speakers sharing our valuable experiences and educational activities. The SSAEM Conference, which has been held annually since December 2014, provided excellent opportunities for the Programme participants and stakeholders to showcase the impact of the Programme on educational innovation and cooperation and to explore for the better quality of future implementation.

Project LAYAG is our advocacy campaign. Our response to the call of promoting Sustainable Development Goals and Global Citizenship Education. Our advocacy is to bring forth awareness to the youth and encouraging them to take action. Inspiring them to think, to care and to act.

We are teachers from Rizal Elementary School, Panabo City Division who were exchange teachers to the 2019 and 2021 Korea-Philippines Teacher Exchange Programme.