Das Wunder Kind aus Bern: Pinoy kid excels in class

The 10 June edition of the Berner Zeitung, one of the Swiss capital’s two leading newspapers, featured an eleven year old Filipino boy who is excelling in his Grade 4 class.  Robert Ramone Tesorero, son of the Philippine Embassy’s Attache Harley Tesorero, was interviewed by the newspaper’s Lucia Probst.  In the article, the teacher of Robie, as the boy is called, said that the boy, who was good at math, is a gifted child.

Robie was said to be asking questions about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and has expressed interest in becoming a physicist.  Given the child’s seeming potential, the school decided to test him whether or not he will qualify for a special program in school that focuses on gifted children.

Robie arrived in Switzerland almost three years ago with his family, not knowing a word in German.  Today, he is able to speak not just German but also has started French lessons.

The newspaper’s article was part of a series that focuses on gifted foreign children in Switzerland and why they excel compared to the locals.  Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Leslie Baja expressed his pride that a Filipino child was featured in the newspaper saying that “This only bolsters the fact that the Filipino, adult and child alike, can excel in any environment and circumstance he finds himself in”. 

Robert Ramone “Robie” Tesorero, in the online edition of the Berner Zeitung