Teaching has always been described as a noble profession, and teachers have always been hailed and credited as second parents, heroes even.
But even within the lofty standards of the profession, there are those that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
They’re the ones who just give more and do more: more passion, more care, more love, more effort.
Enter Jeric Maribao, an elementary school teacher or Bag-ong Anonang Diut Elementary School in Misamis Occidental.
His style of teaching is unconventional, with un-convention gone up to eleven.
For instance, instead of getting his pupils to memorize postcards to learn tourist spots, he composed a song sung to the tune of Eraserheads “Ligaya” which he performed in front of an aaa-hing and ooo-hing audience.
Sample lyrics include:
“Mag water rafting ta sa Cagayan de Oro
Divine Mercy El Salvador didto mag ampo ko
Didto sa Malaybalay kay magpahangin while naghiking ko.”
The pupils are of course all in rapt attention because Teacher Jeric sure knows what to do with a mic and a few pieces of Manila paper.
And it’s not just his learners who get to appreciate what he’s done. Teacher Jeric has uploaded most of his lessons in his Facebook page, Jerics Channel. His videos have now garnered millions of views.
“I wanted to become an effective teacher po,” he tells DNX, “That’s why I keep looking forward to discover different strategies to build not only the intelligence quotience of my learners but also their emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects.”
Indeed. Just a simple task of getting his pupils to drink vitamins for example, or get them to eat nutritious food has special added treat: a serenade of Skyline Pigeon.
Each lesson is wild, complete with energetic performance from Teacher Jeric. And when I say performance with a capital P. A lesson on separating heterogeneous mixtures for instance is accompanied by a dance number, with Ricky Martin’s Maria.
It’s wild, it’s entertaining, and the kids obviously love it.
When asked where he gets the energy, Teacher Jeric replies: “I get my energy from the guidance of God… I always ask Him to have more wisdom so that I could share Good News for my learners.”
