Born in Manila, Chito was able to have his primary and secondary education in the prestigious schools in Pasay and Quezon City. After having spent years of college in Taft Ave., he found himself teaching in various high schools and university in the area.  “It is in this University that I first got exposed to students from other countries like Thailand, Taiwan, and Jordan.  It was also in this University that I met Ms. Norma Cabading Lim who was then finishing her masters and working at the Bataan Refugee Camp teaching English as a Second Language to Southeast Asian Refugees bound for the U.S. The rest was history.” cited Chito, “That time English was taught as a foreign language without the methodologies now used in language acquisition.  ESL was really born in the Philippine Refugee Processing Center.  It all started in the late 70's and early 80's when there was a big exodus of Refugees from the war stricken countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (The former French Indo-China).  The place was run by the United States Department , the ICMC (International Catholic Migration Commission, and the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission on Refugees) Thousands of dollars was spent on the program to train teachers on how to teach English quickly to a group of people bound for the U.S.  Experts and Consultants of Language teaching and Education went to the camp like Carolyn Graham, John Croes and his lovely wife Patt Ryan, Duane Diviney, Joyce Stadnick, Mirriam Burt, and Bill Bliss to mention a few.  We wrote curriculums, created, and implemented materials in the classroom.  The whole place became a laboratory of language acquisition with the refugees as our clients.  Cultural Orientation and Pre employment training were integrated to the language teaching.........the whole place became the birthplace of ESL.”

From the Phil Refugee Processing Center to the YMCA of Greater New York, Chito has now found himself his new home.

Being an ESOL teacher in the US is no joke. Chito has to continually study for this profession and be able to overcome the struggles that the project face including budget concerns to keep the classes going.

When teaching, Chito focuses on his student’s needs like housing, food, health, jobs and money. What makes him effective as a teacher? He was able to experience what his students are going thru when he was sent to Rome for the first GEN (New Generation) School. Though he was able to understand 90 percent of the language, he finds it hard to express himself. He was laughed at and questioned by the people around him. This part of his life made him more sensitive as an ESOL teacher and molded him to be more effective as he empathizes well with his students. But when I asked him what makes him an effective ESOL teacher? Chito answered “All Teachers working in the field of ESOL are effective, especially our fellow 'kababayans', a pinoy always teaches with a heart.  But at times some people will ask me really what makes me special as a teacher?  Yes I have the training from the best teachers in the field...but there's always this teacher that has guided me all the time, giving me strength and His name is Jesus.  And of course the motto of Chiara Lubich (who died the same month I got the award....I mentioned her name and her motto when I received the award at the NY Times building) 'God is Love', 'That All May Be One', 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself'. Live a certain phrase from the gospel every month....this has helped me a lot to survive in this big city.”

With his perseverance, dedication and love for work, Chito was the first Pinoy in the city to have received the Literacy Award Practitioner in 1993. After that, the blessings continued “Now the first pinoy and of course asian in the field of ESOL, they categorize teachers as NEST (Native English Speaker Teacher or NNEST (Non Native English Speaker Teacher). This award is not only for me but for all the NNEST, a celebration for any hardworking teacher who teaches with the heart!”

To be awarded as the ESOL Teacher of the year, Chito sees this as “A chance to be of service to humanity, uplifting and continuously changing people's life for a better one.”

The need and demand for ESOL teachers will continue to grow says Chito, “There are a lot of community based programs that are constantly in need of a Language Teacher.  Teachers in general are a dying species (forgive my terminology here) or better a rare choice of a profession here in the US. As long as there are schools around the globe, there will always be a need for teachers, and as long as there are people migrating to English speaking countries...there will be a need for ESOL teachers.”

Lots of adjustments need to be made by Filipino teachers when teaching in the US. The weather is different, the culture is different, the food is different and the system of teaching is different. Being away from the family is an added bonus to a teacher’s dilemma and a continuous fight to overcome loneliness is the greatest challenge of all. “Teachers should communicate their feelings and network for a better job to avoid abuse and plain loneliness on being in a foreign land.” Chito cited. Remember that being an ESOL teacher in the US is tough, but to face it alone is tougher.

A word of advice from Chito to teachers considering this profession, “Learn a new language so you can experience how to learn a new language yourselves.  It is in putting yourselves to the students' situation that you can experience first hand learning.  Then you can make different kinds of activities that will help you in language teaching.  If you plan to teach in Canada then you must also learn how to speak French.  Or if you plan to teach in any European coutry that is a member of the European Union then learn the language of that country...it would be a big help.  My regret is seeing some talented teachers doing manual jobs overseas (not that I have anything against hard physical labor..I have very high respect for people doing these jobs).  I know that there are other jobs that could be very rewarding financially but stick to your calling as teachers.  I can still send money to my mother back home and travel from time to time.  We will always be taken cared of by the greatest teacher of all times and his name is 'Jesus', it is through him that I draw most of my daily inspirations.  Yes my dear pinoy teachers...time to think global and let's network through 'daigdig pinoy'.”

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