Being one of the busiest personnel in the school, we see him move around the campus in quick strides while in his office, we see people walk in and out in short intervals. If we have concerns with class schedules and other academic matters, he’s the person we bother next to our department heads. In school events and parties, he’s a mainstay star whose fashion flair never fails to win our attention if not our absolute admiration. And of course, what student could ever withstand his ‘superpower’ to make our noses bleed with his advanced vocabulary uttered in rapid fire? Yet, that’s not everything about our dear Academic Head.
“I love reading, cooking and staying at home but I’m not an introvert. I love to deal with people. I love associating with people from all walks of life because somehow I’m inspired by them or the other way around where I inspire them in anyway I can”, Mr. Noberto “Bert” Casabal says of him self.
However, in the classroom, there’s no chance for a shallow discussion although he also injects humor like when he mimics the voice of that fluffy creature Mojako. His exams could get very challenging though. “Students say that I am a terror teacher but I am not. [However] I always get frustrated when students do not study their lessons. I’m expecting to see students in the library but then students would prefer to stay outside the campus chit-chatting and they seem to not mind at all their academics. But then looking at them I believe that they just need teachers who will motivate them towards excellence. I think they have the knowledge in their minds and what they need is a teacher who will somehow provide them opportunity to develop themselves”, explains Bert.
He adds that as a teacher, he digs “deeper to the core of students. That means knowing them better by knowing their yearnings – the passion, the commitment, their dreams and aspirations in life.”
But what students might not know yet is that Mr. Casabal is also a student himself. He’s pursuing his Master of Arts in English Language and Literature Teaching (MA-ELLT) at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). “I believe that the road to education is always ‘under construction’ which means that it is not enough that you get education especially in my case where getting an MA means having to travel from Olongapo to Manila, then back. But it is always my desire for education coupled with my passion for personal development that I consider myself as a conduit of learning. I have to get the knowledge in Manila then transfer that knowledge here in Lyceum”, he shares.
His labor and dedication to his MA studies had started to bear fruits. His research entitled “Gay Language: Defying the Structural Limits of English Language in the Philippines” was published in the August 2008 issue of Kritika Kultura – an electronic journal of Literary/Cultural and Language Studies by the Department of English of ADMU. Before the gender-virtuous (quote, unquote) raise eyebrows, Bert explains that he submitted 2 proposals: one about curriculum development and the other has something to do with gay language. “My professor said that it’s better to work on gay language because there are few studies conducted about gay language in the Philippines so it was my professor who prompted me to continue the research on gay language.”
Mr. Casabal takes pride that his paper was also recommended for publication in Linguistics Society of the Philippines but then his professor suggested that it would be better to get it published in Kritika Kultura for international readership. Further, he was the first student from Ateneo’s MA program to get his paper published in said publication.
Recently, he topped the comprehensive exam and is now preparing his thesis.
Asked what gives him the energy to achieve all these, Mr. Casabal talked about his goal. “I have been dreaming all these years and I think I am almost there in the accomplishment of my dreams. I’ve been through a lot – the ups and downs, the twist and turns of life – but I am still standing triumphant.”
Truly, with his love for education and teaching he is able to do great feats. Why not? Would we expect less from this man who considers teaching as his mistress? END
This article was supposed to be published in the latest issue of Sine Qua Non but due to irrevocable circumstances worsened by time constraints, we were not able to append it prior printing. I was rather disappointed to not see this in the final template. But then I’ll take advantage of this available medium to speak well of good people especially mutual friends – one what Bert has always been to me.
