“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning and how to learn.”

Loris Malaguzzi

“Being a teacher is quite far from what I wanted to do,” Pauline Sulit would fondly recall every time she is asked why she chose to be an educator. Graduating from the University of Perpetual Help- Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, she would always say that she took up nursing for “Financial purposes- you know, nurses are in demand abroad,” she said. She was quite surprised that she passed the nursing board exam, and resigned herself to work as a nurse- even if it scared the wits out of her. “I felt lost- I was quite young and I wasn’t really aware of what I WANTED to do. I just thought that being an adult is simply graduating with a university degree and getting a job- that’s it,” she said. “Oh and going back to school never crossed my mind- I mean, that’s the purpose of graduating, right? To finally get out of school,” she added with a laugh.

Yet, here we are- and she has been teaching in a classroom for close to twenty years. As she recounts her professional career, “I have worked as a hospital nurse, a clinic nurse, a call center agent- but none had given me so much fulfillment than being a teacher. I am thankful that the stars have aligned and that I have stumbled upon teaching- and being with the children gave my life so much direction.”

An opportunity took her to Shanghai, China, where she had the opportunity to work as an ESL teacher. Later on, she worked at an international kindergarten for almost seven years- as Foreign Homeroom Teacher and Training Manager, training Chinese staff in ESL. She also had the opportunity to work and record practice dialogue and songs with Disney English. This experience will later on inspire her to create a YouTube channel with her husband, creating stories and songs to educate young viewers, and having the time of her life as the voice behind their puppet Polly.

Doors opened for her to travel to another country- Tokyo, Japan. “It was love at first sight for my husband and me,” Pauline said. Her husband is Lighthouse Center Director John Adduru. They decided to move and have been here in Tokyo for almost eight years, working as Lead Teachers in an international preschool. Her work, she said, made her grow as an educator, which inspired her to build Lighthouse with her husband, and with Ms. Yoko; it was something that let her teaching philosophy evolve and put emphasis on the importance of being child-centered and striking the right balance with the child’s academic needs. “I grew up in an educational climate where the usual flow of information was from the top down. My teaching experiences have helped me understand that there’s so much to learn from children, and they have so much to teach us. They help shape us into better educators,” Pauline said. That is why she has decided to become a student herself- she finished her Professional Education Certification from the University of the Philippines and is currently completing her Masters in Education Major in Early Childhood Education from the University of San Jose Recoletos. She said that after that, she wants to pursue a doctorate degree. “This is something that the children have taught me as active participants in their own learning- that learning is never static; it should be a living, evolving process. There’s always something new to learn every day,” she mused.