Mr. Jessie Labiste Jr. believes that inside the classroom are layered opportunities for growth - personal, academic, and professional development. Having taught in almost all levels, elementary, junior high school, senior high school, tertiary, and graduate students in the Philippines, Mr. Labiste takes pride in bringing the classrooms to various sectors and groups that enable him to actualize his teaching mantra: an opportunity to teach, is an opportunity to learn.
He plays an active role in providing teacher training programs in local communities in the Philippines, which aim to offer current and emerging understanding on how local communities become collaborators in the design of educational aims and practices geared towards social transformation. He worked with students and youth leaders in his country to localize classroom instruction that incorporates local cultural and social contents in the instructional sequence.
Drawing from his background in the various lenses and epistemologies of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, child and adolescent psychology, and community and social behavior, Mr. Labiste brings a lot of talent to Vista Grande High School. He graduated with honors and a Metrobank Foundation-Pi Lambda Theta scholar from West Visayas State University, a center of excellence in teacher education in the Philippines. He earned his Master of Education (English as a Second Language) degree from the University of the Philippines Visayas.
Before he joined Vista Grande High School, he taught, in various capacity, students from PAREF Westbridge School for Boys, PHINMA University of Iloilo, University of San Agustin, and University of the Philippines Visayas.