The profile of the first group to go to the Philippines in 1961

PHILIPPINES

Peace Corps Volunteers in the Philippines will assist in improving the quality of English spoken in rural areas and in raising teaching standards in both English and general science. They will help Filipino teachers of rural elementary schools teach their students to speak better English and increase understanding of scientific principles. Volunteers will be assigned as educational aides on Filipino teaching staffs in four minor regions. They will supplement, not replace, Filipino teachers.

The Philippine Government is urging a general, rapid and comprehensive upgrading of education, especially in rural schools where teaching of  English and science is not yet of sufficiently high standard to prepare pupils for technical study. In the Philippines, English is the language of technology, trade, commerce and culture, but during the last five decades the influence of local languages and dialects has so altered spoken English that it is fast becoming incomprehensible to outsiders.

The Philippine Government feels that the work of Peace Corps Volunteers will help reverse this trend.

VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED — It is expected that by June 1962 up to 300 Peace Corps Volunteers will be serving as educational aides. The first group of 128 Volunteers arrived in the Philippines in October.

Two other groups, of 19 and 45  Volunteers, have already begun their  U. S. training and will be arriving in thePhilippines at the beginning of January 1962.

   TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS

College graduates with either a B.S.or A.B. degree.

TRAINING FOR THE FIRST GROUP —

1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park,Pennsylvania, July 25 — September 15,

Program Director  Dr. Paul Bixby, Assistant Dean, in Charge of Continuing Education.

Associate Director of Studies, Dr. GeorgeGuthrie, Professor of Psychology.

Structure, of Filipino culture, history, economics, education and government; teaching methods; refresher course in American civilization and international affairs; physical conditioning and health education.

2. University of’ the Philippines, College of Agriculture, Los Banos, October 12 — November 30,

Intensive Tagalog study, further country orientation, field trips to rural schools and studying the method of teaching English and general science to Filipino students.

The second group of 19 Volunteers had four weeks of field training at the Peace Corps Field Training Camp, Arrecibo, Puerto Rico, before their U. S. training began on October 1st.The Puerto Rico training covered physical conditioning, American studies, world affairs, and cross cultural adaptation.   ·

ASSIGNMENTS

Teaching English and general science in the third through sixth grades. Volunteers will live in groups of four in provincial towns where convenient groupings of barrio schools make possible their serving a broad area. Their schools are within commuting distance of their residences. The four major island groupings in which Volunteers will live and work are Panay-Negros, Bohol-Cebu, Bicol and Leyte-Samar; all are located in the central Philippines, town as the Visayas.

English

• Peace Corps Volunteers will give instruction in pronunciation, sentence structure and vocabulary development, not only to pupils but also to Filipinos in their communities
• They will teach reading and writing in the third grade, the year when Filipino children begin learning in English, and in subsequent elementary grades, continuing English instruction on the play-groundand in the classroom.   Volunteers will use English language materials developed by the Philippine Center Foreign Language Study, a  research institute financed by the RockefellerFoundation and aided by the University of California and the Philippine Bureau of’ Public Schools.

General Science

Volunteers will help in teaching general science; conducting simple classroom experiments and initiating science projects; using materials and equipment found  locally or made themselves.

Science teaching will, when possible, be related to agricultural and community health and sanitation practices.

Extra-curricular Activities

Volunteers are encouraged to play an active community role. They may join art councils, literary groups, social clubs, discussion circles, or tutor university extension courses.

ADMINISTRATION — A Peace Corps Representative is stationed in Manila to serve as over-all administrator of Peace Corps activities in the Philippines. Working under his general supervision are Volunteer leaders, stationed in capital cities of provinces where Volunteers are assigned. Volunteers work under the direct supervision of the Bureau of Public Schools through Division Superintendents.