Paper Airplanes, Sock Puppets, and Joy: ‘Teaching Was My Calling’
Published: | by Hannah Sparling
Catherine Palomo’s first response when she was offered a job teaching kindergarten in China was “no way.”
“I cannot teach children,” she told the school director, who was looking for a long-term sub. “There’s no way.”
Palomo had a background teaching English to Korean students, but it was a mix of business English and public speaking. She’d worked with adults and some children, but the youngest were 7 or 8 years old.
“Four years old is too young for me,” she told the director. “And to be honest, I’m kind of scared to handle those kids.”
But the offer was tempting. The school didn’t seem to have another option, and Palomo did want to help. Plus, if she took the job, her own two children could attend the school for free.
In the end, it was too good to pass up. Palomo went for it, and about a month in, she realized she’d stumbled into her calling. What started as a long-term sub job turned into a career, and Palomo is now going on 15 years in early childhood education.
“I just love being with the kids,” she said. “Teaching young minds is a calling. It’s not really a profession, because it takes a heart to teach young children, and it’s a good thing that’s what I have.”
Catherine Palomo was initially nervous to teach kindergarten students, afraid she wouldn’t know how to manage a younger age group.
Airlines, Nursing, Teaching
Palomo grew up in the Philippines and, after earning a degree in foreign service/diplomacy, went to work for the airline industry. The airlines required a lot of shift work, though, and when Palomo had her first child, she no longer felt like the schedule fit.
From there, she taught English to Korean students in the Philippines for a few years before going back to school for nursing. Palomo and her husband were talking at the time about moving to the United States, and they thought a nursing degree would give her options. She completed the program, her second 4-year degree, and registered for the nursing exam.
She didn’t pass on her first try. Then, before she could sign up for a re-test, she and her husband moved to China. Palomo started looking for nursing jobs there, but the answer was always the same: You can’t speak Chinese, you can’t read Chinese, you can’t apply for this job.
She started tutoring students as a fallback, and that’s how she met the school director who offered her the kindergarten position.
One of Palomo’s favorite parts of teaching is helping students learn through play.
Formal Teaching Education
By this point in her career, Palomo had plenty of teaching experience but still no formal teaching education. She enrolled in the University of the Philippines online and earned a teaching certificate, but she still didn’t feel fully equipped.
Then, one of her colleagues told her about Moreland University. She looked at Moreland’s website, read graduate testimonials, and talked it over with her husband. He encouraged her to apply. After thinking it over, Palomo decided it was the right next step for her.
She loved her Moreland instructors, who were all knowledgeable, supportive, and responsive, she said. They taught her a lot about technology and how to incorporate it into her teaching, especially through game-based learning.
Palomo graduated from Moreland in November 2022 with her U.S. teaching license and her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education.
“After finishing Moreland, all opportunities just opened,” she said. “I got accepted to one of the prestigious international schools in China, and I was the first Filipino who got accepted just because of the master’s degree that I had from Moreland.”
Her Next Chapter
In 2023, after 17 years in China, Palomo and her husband decided to move to Australia. Their daughter was already living there, studying early childhood education just like her mom, and it seemed like a good next step for the family.
Thanks in part to her M.Ed., Palomo found a job as a kindergarten teacher for an early childhood center. On any given day, you might find her folding paper airplanes with her students for an experiment about distance and measurement. Or, they might be using their socks as hand puppets for story time, sitting in a circle around a paper fire, in the tradition of Aboriginal Australians.
Palomo has career goals. She wants to get trained in special education so she can better serve that population. She also wants more professional development on Aboriginal traditions so she can more effectively pass those on to her students. But for the most part, she’s just happy. She loves her job, and she loves her life.
People ask her where her joy comes from, and she always gives the same answer: No. 1, she’s a woman of God. No. 2, she’s happily married. And No. 3, she teaches children.
“I’m really grateful nursing didn’t work out for me, because teaching was really my calling,” she said. “I still love going to school every single day. I love being with the children. I love talking to the children. I just love spending time with them. I’m 50 years old, but I don’t feel like it.”
Palomo is continuing to build her teaching career in Australia.
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