Paolo Graduates From Elementary

Paolo has finished grade school a few days ago. After their commencement, he's now on his way to high school, or what the newly implemented K+12 education program would call, Grade 7. 

I believe Paolo's the youngest of their batch, and one of the littlest among the boys because he skipped the preparatory level, but he manages to pull through with honors garnering an average that fetches him a bronze medal for academics, a gold one for Scripture memory, and a ribbon for being Most Polite. His being raised in a predominantly Tagalog household with Tagalog customs like blessing hands of elders and using "po" and "opo" in the manner he speaks may be credited for that.

Like his Ate Kitkat, Paolo went to Church of the Holy Redeemer's Pre-school in Project 6, while we lived there, then here at Doane Baptist Academy when we moved back in 2008. Over the years he's shown much liking to Mathematics and Christian subjects, as well as with Science and English. But what goofs him up is his unfamiliarity with Filipino. Which should have been an advantage for him having spent his early years in Manila, but unfortunately not so. He was still very young at the time and we were quite fond of his toddler's stammer (baby bulol) that we unconsciously wished that he didn't lose it. Hey, it was really cute.

But then we moved to Iloilo, and he started school with classmates who spoke Ilonggo, the local dialect, it must have been confusing for the little boy. Fortunately, his classes were all conducted in English (save for Filipino) so there was little worry that he won't be able to keep up. Years later, he's gotten a good grasp of both Ilonggo and Tagalog. 

We decided to keep speaking mainly in Tagalog at home though, so as to keep him abreast with how to construct sentences and conjugate Tagalog words properly. His father after all, embraces Tagalog for a living. This ensured he had exposure with both dialects... Tagalog at home, and Ilonggo with his schoolmates. I though, "so far so good", and his grades reflected this arrangement. 

Well, it's been six years since he was subjected to a multilingual (Tagalog, Ilonggo, English) learning ground, and now halfway through the primary years of education. Congratulations Pao-pao! We love you, and are very proud of you!

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A day earlier, non-graduating students including our youngest Issa, held their Recognition Ceremonies, where Issa also brought a couple of medals (With Honors, Scripture Memory) and "Most Polite"ribbon home. Hey, my kids are all polite!