More on my teachers - and how I wish my classmates would comment on them here

In Prep our teacher was Ms. Olmedo. She was to us six-year olds, OLD. And in a sense maybe she was because she was my older sisters' teacher. She was a dainty lady, fair and classy. Very proper. Years ago, i heard she'd frequent the casinos carrying a small black bag. I don't take that against her. She had every right to enjoy herself, why not?

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In Grade 1 we had Ms. Purificacion Locsin. I remember how she'd give me a low mark because my workbook was full of erasures. I didn't draw very well but I wanted my drawings to be beautiful. So I'd erase and erase the imperfect fish I drew. And that didn't sit well with her.

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In Grade 2 the teacher who stood out was Ms. Xenia Vasquez. She was tall and thin and was always smiling. She taught us religion and I liked her stories. I liked her.

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Grade 3 our teacher in Work Ed favored one of our classmates so much that all her projects enjoyed prime space during the exhibit, or at least while our teacher was preparing our classroom. I think I made a comment and she heard it. She promptly pulled down all my projects and chided me. I cried. I can't remember now how Sr. Gerwigis found out, but she told the teacher to put my projects back. Who was she? I'm not telling, at least not here.

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Grade 4 we had Juranda Noche. She was a big deal for us because she came from Manila, making her "imported". I was scared of her and didn't like her. I think the feeling was mutual so I didn't do too well in her class. She was constantly asking me to have our gardener prepare drawings/posters for the class and I complied. But I never really warmed up to her. Speaking of that gardener, he'd do my Science projects really well. He was an artist of great talent. Wonder where he is now. I think his name was Willy Alunan (or Wally?) His father was Serafin, our gardener before W who was a stay-in. His style was like what the artists in Ermita produce: very Filipino. Imagine comic book art, Filipino style, colors included. The likes of Carlo Caparas' work. One time, now this is really funny, our project in Science was to draw the different members of the animal kingdom, crustaceans in particular. (Our teacher then was Ms. Manuel). So I asked him to make my assignment again and I cried because he colored the crab green. I said "Why green? They should be orange." But he said they should be green. I submitted my project with a heavy heart because of the green crab. I think I got a low mark there. Maybe the teacher thought they were orange too? Just kidding. The low grade must have been for another reason. Crabs, I realized later on in life, are green, olive green, when they're uncooked. But the green he colored them with came from a box of crayons that had only 8 colors I guess, because the hue was wrong. But I've seen raw orange crabs too you know. So we were both right, haha.

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Grade 5 was the time we had Ms. Nena Salazar (see earlier blog, Ms. Hechanova and Ms. Savaris)

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Grade 6 we had Ms. Kho for Math and Ms. Catacutan as teacher in charge. We had Ms. Magbanua for Filipino. Ms. Kho was a very competent Math teacher. I guess because she was Chinese, she really knew her subject matter. Ms. Magbanua directed comments my way that I've not forgotten despite her having made them 40 years ago. She made us read a poem in front of the class and she said my voice suited the poem. I was surprised she said that because I've never thought much about my oral delivery skills . She also asked if I studied ballet because I walked so gracefully, she said. Really that shocked me. Years later, in college, a male classmate said I walked so fast. Now I don't walk. At least when I did people noticed my gait? ngek.

Ms. Catacutan taught us Art. OF course I was frustrated. I had this best friend who drew really well. I asked her to teach me but somehow her work always looked so much better. She taught me how to draw these flowers which were made by drawing curves from one common point in the center. No, not the usual flowers with wide petals but flowers with thin petals that veer toward one direction. she'd fill an entire sheet of bond paper with them. wonder if she remembers.

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Grade 7 we had Ms. Tomas. She was really nice and warm, very confident. She only taught a year in our school which was a pity. She was very competent. For English we had Ms. R. Locsin. Behind her back we referred to her as "Dyangga". She was the strictest teacher ever. We quivered during her class. She had dark black hair tied in a pony tail, black rimmed glasses, think Ms. tapia but more scary. One time I got a line of 7 in a formal theme on the library. I capitalized the wrong letters or something. Harrowing. She told my sister in fourth year that I wrote better than that sister. How could I believe that when I got a line of 7 in a formal theme? I seem to remember she pronounced "encyclopedia" with an "f" rather than a "p".

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First year high school we had a teacher who taught us in grade school again. Ms. Casiano. I think that time she was Mrs. Tan already. She taught us Math.

Second year we had Ms. Villarosa who was super bubbly. Years ago, I saw her and she was still effervescent. She taught us Algebra. She had just graduated from college. Years back I saw an article on her daughter who now works at NASA.

Third year we had the legendary Ms. Tan and Mrs. Javier, referred to as the pillars of our school. We were super lucky to have had them. I think weren't it for these two and all my other teachers then, I'd have been useless when I became disabled. But because they taught me well I was able to tutor and write/edit when I became disabled. We had Ms. tan and Mrs. Javier again in Senior year so we were truly blessed. Mrs. Javier we often teased looked like Jack Lord of Hawaii 5-0. She taught us how to pronounce ceremony correctly. Accent should be on the first syllable, she said, not on the second. I don't think anyone of us in class will ever forget that. She also said we should not say "Condolence" but "Condolences."

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One unforgettable teacher was Ms. Teopiz. She taught us Biology and I pitied her. She always looked like she was about to cry. I think we intimidated her. Her voice was so soft besides.

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Mrs. Ledesma who taught us cooking was another gem of a teacher. We learned how to cook and love it in her class.

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We had Ms. Lim in fourth year Physics. She was a cool teacher who wore mini skirts and smoked. She joined our parties.

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More teachers in another post.