Mariano Marcos
State University

<P><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=5><STRONG>GS professors tour Taiwan</STRONG></FONT></P>

DR. EDUARDO T. Borja, dean of the College of Teacher Education, and Prof. Edna C. Nagtalon, Dr. Jovenita A. Aragon, and Dr. Carmenchita H. Coloma, all professors of the Graduate School (GS), went on a nine-day educational trip to Taiwan on May 14-23.

The main purpose of the trip was to visit former Taiwanese students and their schools, observe preschool classes and encourage other Taiwanese preschool teachers to pursue graduate studies in the university.

The invitation to visit Taiwan was extended by the Taiwanese alumni who took up Master of Arts in Education (MAEd), major in Early Childhood Education (ECE) at the MMSU Graduate School from September 2005 to March 2006.

The Taiwanese brought Dr. Borja and company not only to their preschools but also to various historical, cultural, environmental, and economic landmarks in the country.

In reply to the professors’ appreciation of their generous hospitality, Joshua and Amber, two of the Taiwanese students, expressed what appeared to be the collective sentiment of the group: “You took care of us for one year and this is our way of saying thank you”.

It was not the first time that GS professors went to Taiwan to visit the students.  In July last year, Dr. Joselito L. Lolinco, Graduate School dean, and Prof. Irene T. Acuna, MA Ed (ECE) program coordinator, traveled to Taiwan to see one of the students who could not finish the course due to a terminal illness.  On that trip, Dr. Lolinco served as guest speaker during the inauguration of the student’s new preschool building.

Also on separate trips during the students’ thesis writing phase were Dr. Alegria T. Visaya and Dr. Nenita P. Blanco who flew to Taiwan to supervise the researches of their respective advisees.