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Welcome to the Eastern Visayas State University, located in the capital of Leyte, an island
among the 7,000 that make up the Republic of the Philippines. E.V.S.U. enrolls 14,000
students in more than 40 degree programs, with a vision to be a world class institution.
One way to become world class is to professionalize students' English skills.
And that's where I come in. My name is Mark Fullmer, and as a Peace Corps volunteer, I
am teaching students and working with teachers for two years.
I love my work because my students really want to learn and my co-teachers are some
of the hardest working people I know. But with limited resources, education in the Philippines
hard. Students travel long distances to reach campus. Classes have 40 or more students.
There are few textbooks, and even photocopying is a luxury. But we're resourceful. Teachers
copy passages onto Manila paper, students share photocopies, and we all work very hard.
But we could do more if we had more. That's where you come in.
Right now, the EVSU library fiction collection consists of a three bookshelves. 152 titles.
I know. I counted. The majority were published before 1970. It serves as an interesting historical
archive, but it does nothing for the reading skills of EVSU's 14,000 students.
Reading is the number one way to professionalize English skills. It does things for the brain
that talking and television and Facebooking simply cannot.
So friends, lend us your books. If you've got novels, chapter books, story collections,
history, popular science, psychology, or self-help literature, back issues of periodicals or
magazines you subscribe to, and teachers, if you've got books on teaching--and you want
to give them a second life, lend us your books.
The process is simple. Contact me. I'll put you in touch with my assistant in Southern
California. The books will be shipped in low-cost balikbayan boxes to the Philippines.
I leave you with this image: moments before class, you see a student sitting in her seat,
next to her a sits novel, she's finding a spare moment, yes, to read. These students
want to learn. Give them that chance. From Peace Corps Philippines, I thank you for your
contribution.