Sunday, November 9, 2008

2008 ESOL Teacher of the Year Award

Alright, I've noticed that I have been posting a lot of sad stories about OFW lately. So, this time I want something that would inspire us, something that would give us a spark to keep moving forward and do excellent performances in our respective host countries.

This one is a story of a Filipino Teacher in New York City, he is Feliciano "Chito" Jaime Atienza, a world-class OFW.

Feliciano Jaime Atienza, known to everyone as "Chito," is a Filipino immigrant and a career ESOL professional in New York City. He has been an ESOL practitioner with the YMCA International, ELESAIR Project for 22 years and the Queens Library for 10 years. He received his ESL/CO teacher training at the Southeast Asian Refugee Program in the Philippines, a joint project of the UNHCR, ICMC and funded by the US State Department. Chito is a compassionate professional whose classroom is characterized by a healing and empowering concept of "skinship " and trust. He possesses a cheerful "can-do" attitude and time-tested skills as a teacher, teacher trainer, mentor, test-giver and facilitator in the following areas: Diversity and Conflict Management in the ESOL Classroom; Literacy Teacher Training and Cultural Orientation; ESOL Testing and Evaluation; Language Program Development and Implementation; and UNHCR/ICMC Southeast Asian Refugee ESL/CO Programs.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/college/faculty/esol-teacheroftheyear.html