Favorite and not-so-favorite Subject/s

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.  ~Henry Adams

Last week I talked about my favorite gradeschool teacher. Today’s theme is about one’s favorite subject but I would really like to highlight the teachers behind those subjects so this post would be a mix of both. This time I’m picking 3 of my highschool favorites.

I was quite the slacker back then. If I found a subject difficult, I would sometimes simply skip class (Accounting, for one). I know, not exactly the best way to learn to like a subject! 😄

But if there were two subjects where I had almost perfect attendance, they would be English and Filipino. I have always had a penchant for languages, even then and until now. Had our high school offered more foreign languages, I would have loved that. I also enjoyed Literature, whether in English or Filipino.

My interest in History and Geography probably came from my dad, who would send postcards whenever he was away. The places he visited fascinated me, and those little postcards made me curious about the world beyond what I knew. Then there were my mom’s college books of short stories, mythology, history books and novels, which I would read as a child. Looking back, I suppose a lot of what I loved learning started at home.

Because my dad always sends postcards when he was away, the places he’d been to piqued my interest…that’s why I love history and geography. Add also my mom’s college books of short stories, mythology, history books and novels that I read as a child to my influences.

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Meet Ma’am Galarse. She was our sophomore class adviser and Filipino teacher.

She introduced me to Rogelio Sikat, Alejandro Abadilla, F. Sionil Jose and Cirilo Bautista — writers whom I would later look up to, especially when I became part of the same school publication they once wrote for, the Varsitarian of the University of Santo Tomas.

I was fortunate enough to meet Sir Sionil Jose and Sir Bautista later on. In fact, Sir Bautista’s biography eventually became the subject of my thesis.

It was through the influence of Ma’am Galarse, together with one of my grade school English teachers, that I eventually pursued Journalism as a course and career.

Hanggang ngayon, naaalala ko ang mga itinuro niya sa Panitikan at Balarila. Ginagamit ko pa rin ang mga iyon sa pagtuturo sa aking mga anak, lalo na’t iba ang wikang kinalakihan nila. Narito ang ilan sa aking mga isinulat sa Filipino.

But Ma’am Galarse was more than an effective teacher. She was one of those rare adults who actually saw me as me.

She was also the person who made me like tikoy. 😄

During lunchtime, we would often eat our bentous (or bugong, as the older generation would call them) inside the classroom. She would sit at her table with her own lunch. Whenever she brought tikoy, she would call me over and give me some.

It was from her that I learned how to cook tikoy coated with egg. So imagine my surprise when, during graduation, she gave me an entire box of tikoy as a present!

Her thundering voice is something I can still hear in my head. But more than that voice, I remember her kindness, her sincerity and the way she cared enough to be a mentor.

(I was half-finished with this entry when the lappy stopped and there was no autosave! 🙁 Had to write down what I can remember – it’s not half as good as the first one.)

Ma’am Gala, as we fondly called her, has a friend whom she lovingly called her “kaibigang putik.” Loosely translated, that would be a mud-friend or perhaps a good-for-nothing friend. 😂 Obviously, it was a term of endearment, although it may have been an inside joke that we students never quite understood.

We sometimes called her Ma’am Camantigre — her real surname being Camantigue. I am divulging this now assuming she already knew about it long ago. If not… well, the cat is out of the bag. 😄

The nickname somehow suited her strong personality, despite her being rather petite.

Ma’am Camantigue was one of those teachers who would tell me honestly when I was misbehaving. And believe me, I did that quite a lot.

She didn’t just keep quiet about it. She would call me out, tell me what I was doing wrong and make sure I knew it.

I learned a great deal about grammar and vocabulary from her. I can no longer remember all the lessons we had, but I have always regarded her as one of the best English teachers I had.

Miss Camantigue’s command of the English language was something that went beyond our school. It was known not only among students and teachers in our campus but also in neighboring towns, perhaps even farther. She had a way with words : precise, confident and unapologetic, and you knew that when it came to grammar and vocabulary, she knew exactly what she was talking about. Her reputation as an English teacher was something we were all aware of, and looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to have learned from someone whose mastery of the language was so well regarded.

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Then there was Ma’am RHB — Rosalie Hizon Balagat, the best History teacher I had.

She taught us Economics during our third year and World History during our fourth year.

Just like Ma’am Gala, she saw something in me that I was eager to develop, that is…my ability to face a crowd.

She may have forgotten this completely, but I haven’t.

She would call me to her class and ask me to explain what the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) was about. Somehow, those little moments helped me overcome my uneasiness about speaking in front of people.

In class, Ma’am RHB was the bubbly teacher who always had a joke ready. And, oh, were they corny! 😂

But that was precisely why we laughed.

My former classmates and I were talking about those jokes just recently, and it amazes me that we still remember most of them. They sound even funnier now that we are reminiscing about them.

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These three are my most favourites but there are a lot of subjects that I also enjoyed…

English – 1^st year with Mrs. Bayan

Literature and Optional English – 1^st year-2^nd year with then Miss Samson

Technology and Home Economics – 1^st year with Mrs. Rojas

Asian History – 2^nd year with Mr. Gabriel

English – 3^rd year with Ms. Alba

Stenography – 3^rd year with Mrs. Belardo

English – 4^th year with Mrs. Gemanil

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Of course, having favorite subjects also means having the opposite : the subjects that gave me headaches.

That would be Numbers and their proponents. 😂

Chemistry tops my list, followed closely by Physics. Accounting comes next, and until now I still don’t particularly enjoy it. To think that I actually have to learn it again for our home-based business… I just can’t.

I still remember our graduating students’ deliberation day. Having made it to the top, our Accounting teacher came up to me and asked:

“Matalino ka pala?”

Ahihihi.

That was probably because, aside from skipping her class quite often, I was always the last one to finish our tally exercises.

But jokes aside, they were all good teachers, some of the best in their fields.

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Favorite subject or not, I will always be grateful to all my teachers for the knowledge they shared and, more importantly, for helping shape the person I became.

It wasn’t until I became a mom and started talking to my children’s teachers that I fully appreciated how difficult teaching really is.

It takes tremendous patience, organization, focus and, I think, a special kind of heart to teach well. A teacher doesn’t simply teach a lesson for an hour or a school year. Somehow, bits and pieces of what they teach stay with us long after we leave their classrooms.

That is why I truly believe teaching is one of the noblest professions.

A teacher may never know how far a lesson, a kind word, a little encouragement — or even a box of tikoy — can travel.

Years later, we may forget the details of the lessons, but we remember how a teacher made us feel, what they encouraged us to become, and sometimes, the little things they did that made us believe in ourselves.

And after all these years, I still stand by my claim:

I was, and still am, a student made for letters — not for numbers. 😄

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shared to:

Edit: I asked another teacher ( who happens to be my bestfriend’s mom) if she has photos of my two teachers above.  She asked a colleague to upload them on facebook, hence the recent photos. Ma’am RHB has an FB account too so I took that photo and messaged her that I’ll be using it, she hasn’t agreed yet. 😀

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