Our teacher said that we will conduct a remedial class to the grade-7 students.

At that
moment I feel excited and nervous at the same time. It will be my first time to teach a
kid except for my younger sisters and brother. I really wish at that time that we will
succed in our immersion. I wish that the students who will be assigned to me are little
boys or girls because I know that it will be easier for me to deal with the kids than the
students who are bigger and taller than me.

On our first day, Ma'am Pauline assigned two to three students for each of us. She
accompany us to the classrooms of our students. She introduced us one by one. When
she introduced me to the student that was assigned to me and the student stands up,
my classmates laugh. The student that was assigned to me is the opposite of what I've
expected, of what I've wished. My remedial student was a guy who was taller than
me. His name is Jessie. He was a bit shy and quiet at first but as our remedial classes
go on I can see and feel that he became comfortable. Our first lesson is all about the
alphabet. I noticed that he can identify the letters but can't give an example of word
using it. One of the instances that I can't forget about our lesson is when I told him to
give an example of the word that starts with letter T and he said "titi" in a low voice. I
am surprised by his answer and was about to laugh when I remember that it is not
appropriate so I hold my laughter and just give another examples. Jessie can read
limited words only. It takes time for him to understand our lesson. It was also needed
to discussed him the lesson repeatedly before he can understand and remember it.
There was also an instance that I let him read the WH questions. He was able to read
it but he don't know what it means. I told him the meaning of each word in mother
tongue. Then I asked him again but he can't still recognize the meaning of each word.
We repeated it for more than five times before he got it. When we already running out
of time I gave him a copy of the drill that we prepared so he may use to practice
reading.

My other student was Benjie Bonilla. I haven't saw him from the start until the end of
the remedial. He was also in the same section as Jessie. According to his classmates,
he was not attending his class anymore because he works at the sugarcane. As I heard
about it, I realized how lucky the other students were, including me. We were given
an opportunity to study without worrying about our expenses.

From this immersion, I found out that there were lot of high school students who can't
read and comprehend especially those who are in the lower section. From that
experience I realized that there are lot of students who can't read but still graduated
elementary. I learned that the students who must be given much attention are those
non readers. They take time to learn so the teacher must also give them the time they
needed.