After teaching for 37 years, Teacher Delfin decided to retire from his work at the Philippine Science High School in May 2021.
Raised by his parents who are both teachers, Teacher Delfin is used to answering random questions from them.
“My father was like this: Learning was part of our daily life. Minsan dadaan ka lang sa tapat niya, nag babasa siya ng diaryo. “San ka pupunta?” “Lalaro po ako,” “Teka muna. Can you tell me, sagot ka muna 6 times 8?” Syempre you answer diba. O kaya ‘yung… questions like that. “Capital ng Florida?” Tapos ‘yung mommy ko naman teacher din. Kaniya Home Economics. Kumakain kami, “Anong nakukuha sa kalabasa?”, sagot kami vitamin A,” Teacher Delfin Angeles told The Philippine STAR.
One day, when he was taking care of his plants, he asked the kids playing in front of their house with a random question.
“‘Yung mga bata, laro sila nang laro the whole day. This street has children the whole day. Ayon ‘di, minsan tinatanong ko ‘yung pangalan. Ayun nga ‘yung pag may nakita kang bata, syempre I still feel like a teacher. “Ikaw, ano bang pangalan mo?” Pag sinabi ‘yung pangalan, slowly, “Anong grade ka na?” “Grade 4 po.” “So alam mo ‘to, tanungin kita ha.” ‘Yung style ng tatay ko noon. “Sige nga–” addition ang inattempt ko muna, very little ‘yung ano.. “8 plus 7?” Yung iba mabilis naman sumagot, ‘yung iba nagtatagal,” he shared.
Eventually, Teacher Delfin said that the kids kept asking him more questions.
“Meron sasagot merong hindi. Ayan day by day naging ganon na, random lang ‘yung teaching ko,” he shared.
“I was doing that to the kids tapos nasasanay na sila nandon lang sila sa likod ko, sa tabi ko. Tapos minsan “Di po namin alam ‘yun eh, turuan niyo na lang kami.” Ay sabi ko “Nag gagarden pa ‘ko eh.” Tapos inuulit-ulit nila ‘yon. Pero tinatanong ko pa rin sila. Different questions na I suppose alam na dapat ng ganong level, so sabi nila “Turuan niyo po kami” they were calling lolo,” he recalled.
“Lolo, turuan niyo kami,” and slowly, sabi ko why not. Then I started– sige, naglabas ako ng silya for a starters I prepared one sheet of paper na– ‘yung maraming serieso[of questions]. Isang buong papel. Sinagutan naman nila, then “bukas po ulit pwede?” Slowly it started.. Sabi ko “Magset na tayo ng time ha, ‘yung hapon pag wala nang araw,” he added.
Teacher Delfin eventually decided to teach the kids in front of their house in Sta. Ana, Manila. Although they don’t have a fixed schedule, the kids would visit him whenever they want to learn.
From six kids, Teacher Delfin’s students eventually became 12. His students are usually in grade school.
Teacher Delfin discusses basic reading, writing and math lessons depending on a student’s grade level.
While the students are also enrolled in different schools, Teacher Delfin said maybe the kids are longing for a “real teacher” due to the modular learning setup implemented during the pandemic.
“Siguro, it has been years that they have not seen a teacher o baka naman sabik lang sila sa ‘yung teacher na nagsasalita sa harap nila so ayon. But I was happy they are willing to learn new things,” he explained.
Teacher Delfin said that he would continue teaching the kids as long as they want to learn.
“Ayan so as long as they’re interested eh syempre, this is just starting. Inaaral ko pa ‘yung perseverance nitong mga bata,” he said.
