Project Report - La Trobe University

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Apalis (Ombin) Abaggoy reviews yet another English version of a story while his son Ayfa (Edmar) Abaggoy sits in his lap. Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 24 application was not successful, or without the input of professional artists, for example). This approach meant that we could easily adapt to changing circumstances and unexpected challenges (like when Edwin returned to Australia for almost a month in response to a medical emergency). It also meant that we could easily take all opportunities as they arose, like the chance to incorporate the work of the Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan illustrators. …except time The only parameter which we didn’t treat flexibly was the project timeframe: we were adamant that we must complete the project within five months. This was useful in that it forced us to produce something fast without the luxury of stretching the timeline out indefinitely: we needed to produce something tangible before we left Chananaw when the five months was up. The right people for the job In terms of us as the two individuals driving the project, two characteristics probably contributed a lot to its success. First, the fact that we are a couple meant that we knew each other well, enjoyed working together and could provide a lot of support to each other in a way impossible if we weren’t already so close, to the point of taking over from each other when needed. In terms of being foreigners, the fact that we’d lived in the Philippines for a year before commencing the project meant that we didn’t have any cultural adjustment issues and we already had strong social and professional networks to draw on. Genuine partnerships, not charity We focused on only building genuine working partnerships. We weren’t seeking charitable support for the Ichananaw – not least since we consider them a resourceful, capable community with the ability to solve their own problems without the need for charity. Genuine partnerships, however, where each side contributed and each gained something from the interaction, were the vehicle we used to achieve those aspects of our project which we couldn’t achieve alone. This was important, in our eyes, to maintain the dignity of the Ichananaw as the official project beneficiary. But it also meant that, even though most of the contributions to our project were volunteered, all involved were serious and committed and produced work of a high quality.
What challenged us? The main challenges we faced sprang from the limited timeframe. For example, we weren’t able to even start on some of the educational materials we’d hoped to produce, like a history reader with local content, given the lack of time. Also, we didn’t have time to translate all of the stories we documented into Chinananaw. One compromise we made to meet our deadline was to rush the graphic layout and printing of the educational materials (Bebs Pavia and Pinky Pavia at Art Angel Printshop did a magnificent job of helping us to meet our deadline and still produce high-quality outputs). Due to time constraints, the books were not as polished as we’d have wished (according to our personal standards only, that is – the community, the school, the artists and Ateneo were very pleased with the final output). We chose to rush the final layout and printing so we could still present the community with the full set of educational materials before leaving for Australia, as we’d initially said we would. We saw this as vital to maintaining our relationship with the community and to setting the standard for future engagements by following through on our word. The other major challenges we faced were medical emergencies and illness. Fargwog (Daniel) Aga-id, the main tribal elder involved in the project, was seriously ill for the first half of the project and wasn’t even in Chananaw for this time. We worked around this by focusing on aspects of the project for which his input wasn’t essential, and drew on the support of other interested tribe members until he returned. Edwin also encountered an unexpected medical problem which took him off the project for almost a month. We dealt with this by adjusting our plans, cutting back on aspects of our work, and by Maria filling in for him while he was away. Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 25 Agom (Arlene) Dawing translates a story from English to Chinananaw in Tabuk, the capital of Kalinga Province, in a spare hour after Dr. Gloria Baguingan’s seminar on the First <strong>La</strong>nguage Component Bridging Program we organized for the Ichananaw teachers concluded on April 6, 2009.
Page 1 and 2: Project Report Indigenizing Educati
Page 3 and 4: Chananaw is surrounded by terraced
Page 5 and 6: Once upon a time… Project backgro
Page 7 and 8: The project at a glance Timeframe P
Page 9 and 10: Arranging support Obtaining funding
Page 11 and 12: At the forefront of our mind was ou
Page 13 and 14: Maria drafted the written English t
Page 15 and 16: The tangible results Project output
Page 17 and 18: The intangible results Project outc
Page 19 and 20: issues. It is possible that the net
Page 21 and 22: Thank yous and goodbyes Project han
Page 23: Friends first Probably the single m
Page 27 and 28: Publishing for a wider audience? Al
Page 29 and 30: Appendices Project schedule and pro
Page 31 and 32: Appendix 2. Philippine Daily Inquir
Page 33 and 34: materials suited to the needs and c
Page 35 and 36: culture, language, traditional poli
Page 37 and 38: Appendix 4. Connect Magazine articl
Page 39 and 40: centers and pre-schools across the

Project Report - La Trobe University

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