Partnership between Philippines, U.S. benefits Gallup community
Each month, the Sun recognizes a local teacher for his or her determination to help students go above and beyond. Anyone can nominate a teacher by emailing the Sun at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and providing the teacher’s name, where they teach, and why they should be selected as that month’s winner.
This month’s award went to Dr. Ethel Villalino, a fifth grade teacher at Navajo Elementary.
PATH TO
TEACHING
Villalino grew up in the Philippine where both her parents were teachers. She said she grew up wanting to teach as well, but her father had a different dream for her; he wanted her to go into the medical field.
After graduating from college, Villalino went to work for the Philippine’s Department of Health as a medical technologist. But eventually, she sat her dad down and told him she had a different dream for herself.
“My dad really wanted me to become a medical practitioner,” Villalino said. “So after my nine years with the Department of Health, I talked to him. I said ‘I think nine years is enough for me to serve our constituents.’”
After she had that conversation with her dad, she went back to school to get her degree in education. Once she graduated with her degree, her mother helped her get a job at the school where she was a principal.
Now, Villalino was finally living out her childhood dream.
She worked in the Philippines as a teacher for two years before she decided to taking on a new challenge: teaching in America and sharing Filipino culture with students there.
J-1 VISA PROGRAM
The J-1 Visa program allows teachers at the primary and secondary levels to come teach in the U.S. for five years. Once the five years is over, they go back to the Philippines and are able to share what they learned about the U.S. education system with their community.
The 2023-2024 school year marked Villalino’s fifth year in the program, so this summer she will return back home to the Philippines. She is then required to spend two years back in a Filipino classroom, using the techniques she learned at Navajo Elementary.
Grace Doll, a fourth grade teacher at Navajo Elementary who worked closely with Villalino said she hopes she comes back after the two-year period.
“She better come back to us, because she said she would, she promised,” Doll said.
Doll spoke very highly of Villalino and her teaching abilities, especially when it comes to math.
“You look all around the world for people who have the level of math abilities and skills she has, that’s why it’s so awesome that she got to come here,” Doll said. “She could’ve gone anywhere in the world, but she came to us.”
Navajo Elementary Principal Joshua Stepney nominated Villalino for May’s Teacher of the Month award. He said he did so because of how skilled she is as a teacher.
“She’s very adaptable and understanding,” he explained. “She has a very diverse array of pedagogies that she utilizes in her classroom to support her students with their work. Any time we need support she’s there to support us.”
Villallino said her favorite part about teaching is getting to mold students into who they’re going to be in the future.
“I wanted to teach at the foundational level so I could share a lot of things,” she said. “I can influence and motivate [my students] to do good things and to become somebody in the future.”
She also explained that for her, teaching isn’t all about making sure her students understand the material.
“There’s a lot to teaching,” she said. “It’s not just about building the students’ academic skills. It’s also about building their aptitudes and behavior. Teaching isn’t just about improving a student academically, it’s also about sharing good things, especially for those students who may have a difficult home life.”
Villalino said she doesn’t just want to be her students’ teacher, she also wants to be there to support their emotional needs.
“I can just be their teacher, but at the same time I can be their friend, I can be their mother, I can be whatever they want me to be,” she said.
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
