ASSOCIATION OF FIL-AM TEACHERS OF AMERICA, INC.

Mission Statement:

To strive, maintain, and persevere in achieving the highest level of competency in the teaching profession...

History:

The Association of Fil-Am Teachers of America (AFTA), a not-for-profit organization, was founded in 1989 with the aim of helping each other and working together for a common cause. The first major accomplishment of AFTA was the inclusion of an extension of H-1 visa from 5 years to 6 years in "The Immigration Act of 1990". After the teachers got their green cards, the focus shifted to professional development of teachers both in the United States and in the Philippines. Every September/October, AFTA conducts seminars/workshops at the Philippine Consulate in Manhattan. Every July and August, AFTA sends Balikturo teachers to conduct seminars/workshops in the Philippines. These workshops are on various techniques and strategies in the field of language arts, mathematics, science, early childhood, education, administration, and technology in education.

AFTA has gained prominence in the Filipino community by actively participating in the planning sessions of the Philippine Independence Day Committee (PIDC) in New York and the Philippine American Friendship Committee (PAFCOM) in New Jersey for the annual Philippine Independence Day and Phil-American Friendship Day celebrations. AFTA has also conducted or sponsored Philippine Arts exhibits, literary writing, and on-the-spot painting contests for young Filipino students in its Tuklas Talino Program.

Paaralan sa Konsulado is the most popular of AFTA's projects. For the past ten years, AFTA volunteers have been teaching the Filipino language, Philippine History and culture, songs, dances, games, arts and crafts to children ages 5 to 18 at the Philippine Consulate of New York every June/July for 5 Saturdays.

At present, AFTA is working on its new community service projects, namely: (1)Teaching Conversational Filipino and History to the Filipino Americans of Nutley, Bloomfield, and Belleville of New Jersey; (2) Teaching Conversational English to new immigrants of New York (any nationality); (3) Conducting Math tutorials in NYC; (4) Donating used and new books to the public schools in the Philippines; (5) Choosing the Ulirang Guro Awardees for 2012;

(6) Donating a classsroom in a barrio in the Philippines; and

(7) Summer Sportsfest.