Jeff Branscome of the Star interviewed the new Filipino teacher, Ferdinand Batoon, who said he had to point out to his students the map of the Philippines where he held a physical education position in the Department of Education.

He recalls that the first thing his students asked was: “Do you speak English there?”

The Charlotte Observer also wrote about a recruiting agency which is now heading to the Philippines to hire Filipino teachers and whose cost will be shouldered by the hiring agency.

Recently, a Wichita, Kansas newspaper also related how newly-arrived teachers from the Philippines were trying to adjust to the way English is spoken in the US, the winter weather and the system of education.

Branscome of the Free Lance Star said that most of the Philippines’ teachers know English. “That’s one reason Stafford school officials recruited Batoon and 18 other special-education teachers from the Philippines. A shortage of special-education applicants in the United States prompted Stafford to look outside the country, said Rick Fitzgerald, the county school system’s director of human resources. So far, School Board Chairman Ed Sullivan said he’s heard nothing negative about the teachers.”

Spotsylvania County recruited 12 Filipino teachers last year, spokeswoman Sara Branner said. Eight stayed this year and nine new ones arrived. North Stafford High teacher Teresita Guevarra, 51, taught at a private school in the Philippines. When asked whether she planned to stay, she said, “I cannot answer you because I am still adjusting here.”

Both school divisions used a firm called Green Life Care International to find applicants. The company paid school representatives, such as Fitzgerald, to fly to the Philippines to meet teachers.

Branscome continued:

“Isidro Rodriguez, president of Green Life, said the Filipinos give him a month’s U.S. pay to set them up with employers.  Most end up staying in the United States, he said, partly because they earn just $250 a week in the Philippines. In Stafford, they are paid as much as others  with similar experience.  The Filipinos join teachers in ”collaborative classrooms," helping students with behavioral problems, learning disabilities or anyone in need of some extra guidance, Fitzgerald said.  Some students in Individualized Education Programs also report to the new hires.

“Batoon, 39, said American students are bigger, more outspoken and more confrontational than their Filipino peers. And sometimes, he said, he asks students to repeat themselves because ”they speak very, very fast."

“But we’re coping,” he said. “For us, learning is universal. You can always adapt to the situation here.” Eventually, he said, he hopes to work with sports teams, such as tennis and track.

“Schaller, a physics teacher, said Batoon mostly takes notes for students with special needs. By the end of the year, he hopes Batoon can teach 5 percent of the classroom lessons and add to lectures.  ”I believe in a year, maybe two at the most, he’d be pretty much up to speed," Schaller said.

“Recently, Schaller taught his class about rain forests. Afterward, Batoon asked him whether he could interject during discussions.  ”I said, ‘Man, come on, of course, I want to hear what you got,’" he said. “Obviously, that wasn’t the way things ran in his country.” Hampton Oaks Elementary teacher Loreto Cruz, 43, lives in a North Stafford house with five of his Filipino colleagues, including Batoon.

“In his home country, he worked as a special-education teacher during the day and a college professor at night. At Hampton Oaks, he works with six students on IEPs, helps teachers with their lesson plans and teaches weekly Italian lessons to five students.  Sometimes, he said, his housemates question his happy disposition.  That’s partly because some deal with older students, who often misbehave.

“How is it that these kids, when they grow up, they are contrary to what I see here?” he asked.

“Acting Superintendent Andre Nougaret said the division will probably continue to recruit and retain foreign employees. But he said he wants to give the program more time before making any final decisions.

“I think it’s important for us to take a good look at how they’re doing and how they’re acclimating to a totally different environment,” he said.

The Charlotte Observer also wrote about a recruiting agency which is now heading to the Philippines to hire Filipino teachers and whose cost will be shouldered by the hiring agency.

The Charlotte Observer said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools go far to find desperately needed math, science and special-education teachers in the Philippines.

“Two CMS recruiters will head to the Philippines next week, hoping to sign up teachers for 2007-08. Taxpayers can relax.  Costs are covered by an international staffing agency — and ultimately the Filipino teachers hired. Teachers in the Philippines, who earn about $1,800 a year there, are so eager to earn American wages that they’ll pay an $8,500 fee if they get a job.

“Charlotte-Mecklenburg teachers start at $32,000 a year. With 10 years’ experience and a master’s degree, a teacher earns almost $46,800.

“For CMS, importing teachers means a chance to head off a repeat of this year’s debacle at Harding University High, where students in a math/science magnet program spent several weeks without teachers qualified for advanced math courses.

‘The Philippines is highly recognized in the world for mathematics,’ says Kathy Auger, CMS’s acting head of human resources.

“CMS joins districts in Las Vegas, Wichita, Virginia Beach and other cities in sending recruiters to the Philippines. Like other growing areas, the district needs far more teachers than it can get from nearby education schools.

“CMS recruiters have previously traveled with Visiting International Faculty, a Chapel Hill-based exchange program that placed 129 teachers from 25 countries in CMS this year. VIF started bringing teachers to North Carolina for foreign language classes in 1989; 10 years ago, state officials asked the program to recruit for other hard-to-fill subjects.

“VIF charges CMS about $12,455 per teacher, to cover such costs as recruiting, travel expenses, and support and insurance for teachers.

“The private Green Life Care International, which is sponsoring the Philippines trip, has promised at least 15 candidates each in special education, math and science, Auger said. Once hired, the teachers will be able to stay beyond three years and become eligible for green cards.

“Hiring foreign teachers poses two big challenges: Students can’t always understand them, and instructors used to a formal, lecture-based teaching style sometimes have trouble handling American students.

“Green Life recruiters talk to job seekers about discipline problems they may encounter in U.S. classrooms and techniques for handling them, Auger said.

“And during interviews, she said, the CMS team will be looking not only for academic skills but clear English.

“North Carolina needs to hire 11,000 teachers a year. UNC schools produce 3,000 to 3,500 a year. About a third of those leave the state. CMS employs 8,400 teachers. Needs to hire about 1,600 a year."