WALA KAYO SA TEACHER KO! Talim island teachers use ‘air laser’ to keep things interesting in the classroom

Welcome to Talim Island, where lake life and unpredictable weather are pretty much expected—just like laser-enabled internet??

Recently deployed air laser technology by PLDT and Google Taara has been a much-needed game changer for teachers like Renelyn Antonil, who has been teaching English for the past 25 years to students at Subay Elementary School on Talim island in Rizal province.

Teacher Renelyn, 50, says the days of teaching using the usual chalk and manila paper are out, while ‘YouTube University’ is definitely in—thanks to fiber-like connectivity enabled by air laser technology, which beams data using light across long distances (no underwater cables required!) In Talim’s case, it spans an 11.8-kilometer link across Laguna de Bay, delivering fiber-like speeds to a community that used to be difficult to reach.

This is a great relief from the old days when terrible connectivity made it hard to communicate, and even harder to use the Internet for lesson planning.

“Nung first time magkaroon ng connectivity rito, (naging mas) madali na yung communication. Yung mga reports, madaling ipasa. Yung mga lessons na kailangan naming isearch online, madali naming nagagawa.”

That high-tech feel

More than that, Teacher Renelyn’s classes now feel completely different.

“Kumbaga, high-tech na ngayon ang paggawa namin ng lessons. Yung YouTube, nakakadagdag din ng information para sa mga bata, para mas matutunan nila yung lesson,” she explains.

Gadgets have also been key to keeping classroom interactions fun and interesting. “When we use gadgets, nagiging mas exciting yung lessons namin. Mas nakikinig ang mga estudyante kaysa nung manila paper pa lang.”

From old-school methods, her students can now enjoy videos and more visual learning aids, for classroom experiences that truly spark curiosity. From zoning out previously, her kids are now more (ahem) laser-focused than ever before.

Siyempre, ‘excellent’

Asked to ‘grade’ the tech and its helpfulness on her school and its students, Teacher Renelyn does not even hesitate: “Siyempre, excellent! 100 percent!”

Quietly powering all of this is the air laser technology deployed by PLDT with Google Taara—technology designed to overcome the challenges of rolling out connectivity in an archipelago like the Philippines, where Talim is simply one of over 7,000 islands, some of which are also considered Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs).