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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Supporting Foreign Language Teaching in our Public Schools

I read with interest, an article in the Bulletin Today wherein the Department of Education is holding a Summer Training Course for Teachers of the Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFIL) - Spanish in my Spanish school, the Instituto! That's cool! It's great that our Education Secretary Armin Luistro is pushing this program for another year. I remember last year, we had to have our classes in Adamson because of these teachers. The article says though that the participants of the seminar will use the AVE or the Aula Virtual de Espanol. We use that too in class!

Aside from Spanish, the DepEd has piloted different foreign languages including Japanese, French, German and Chinese for secondary school teachers from various schools nationwide in 2011. How cool is that! These seminars form part of the DepEd's thrust to improve the quality of education through teacher's education and training.

According to Luistro, "Knowledge in a foreign language will allow our students to participate in intellectual discourses during engagement in social, political and economic issues in a wider global and scientific community. And as we communicate our thoughts and understand others, we can further develop our potentials and enhance our capacity in learning life skills, as well as the cognitive and effective competencies, required of us to connect to the world."

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Bringing Back the Bayong

When I was still a young boy, I would recall our helper or Mama use the bayong or the netbag, when they bring produce from the market. In the early 80s, plastics were not that ubiquitous yet, so everyone had to bring their bayong or netbag when they went shopping.

Fast forward thirty years later, slowly, local governments are implementing the no-plastics policy - for obvious reasons. I don't think it would be a problem to return to using the bayong once again, or the netbag. I remember them being sturdy and they can carry a lot of stuff as well. I don't remember how they packaged the toyo and the suka before, because now, they are sold in tingi using plastic. But as they say, if there's a will, there's a way. I guess we really have to do our share in caring for the environment, even if it may inconvenience us in the beginning. Sanayan lang yan!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Funny Pick-Up Lines from Senator Miriam

I came across an article featuring a graduation speech where Senator Miriam Santiago saying these really hilarious pick-up lines which I'm sure reduced the audience into stitches! I am not a particular fan of this type of humor but it's bearable. Here are some of the really hilarious ones!

"Kapag naalala ko ang mga nagkagusto sa akin noon, para akong nasa rollercoaster, nakakasuka!"

"Pag may magtanong sa iyo, kumusta ang love life mo? Just answer back, katulad mo, pangit."

"Kapag may magsabi sa iyo, hoy, bakit ang sama mo makatingin? Ang isagot mo, e bakit ikaw, ang sama mo tingnan?"

"Ano ang tawag sa magsyota na pangit ang lalaki at maganda ang babae? Ang tawag diyan ay diskarte."

"Ano ang tawag naman kapag ang babae naman ang pangit, pero guapo ang lalaki? Ang tawag diyan ay swerte."

"Ano ang tawag sa magsyota na parehong maganda ang mukha? Ang tawag diyan ay tinadhana."

"Ano naman ang tawag sa magsyota na parehong pangit? Eh di sumpa."

Protecting Palawan's Endemic Species

Palawan, being a group of islands far away from the most densely populated human habitations here in the Philippines is a perfect place for species to breed into an endemic variety, meaning, that's the only place in the world, you'll find that kind of animal. The recent discovery of four new species of freshwater crabs called Insulamon Palawanense, in the Calamian group of islands, proves once again the importance that the island's biodiversity be protected at all costs. Doing so would allow local and international scientists to further investigate what else the province the offer, and maintain the fragile ecosystem of the place. That means, absolutely no mining or any tourism activities that could disrupt this ecosystem. Of course, we don't know until when that can be protected, knowing how money can corrupt our local officials, but for now, the people of Palawan and Filipinos in general, should be educated about protecting the biodiversity of the place, since we never know what we could learn and get from these new species. A cure for cancer perhaps, or something that can substitute for oil? You never know.....

Fostering Filipino Adolescents to Become Their Own CEO's

I read this interesting article today about these adolescent Silicon Valley CEOs, teenagers who have conceptualized ideas which can become viable businesses online and how venture capitalists have helped them nurture these ideas and making them a reality. I'm not sure if we have this here in the Philippines. I don't think our educational society fosters entrepreneurship, although, I can say that a lot has changed in the past twenty years.

When I was younger, all education was geared to being an employee. I know how that felt, because I knew I was never employee material, but my mother would always force me to aim to be hired by the best multinational companies here in the Philippines. But I knew otherwise what I wanted. I just wanted to strike it out on my own, not quite sure what business I wanted to be in. But I knew being an employee was not a good fit for me.

However, the landscape has changed a bit today as entrepreneurship as a course in college is being offered nowadays, and being a businessman is something that young people aim to be - a far cry from the "You should be a lawyer, doctor or nurse mantra" that my generation was subjected to. Too bad I was born into the wrong generation. It was really tough to explain to Mama why I didn't want to work for so and so. However, now she knows why I had to do what I had to do. I hope other parents won't be too harsh on their own kids too. Just let them follow their dreams and everything will fall into place.

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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Supporting Foreign Language Teaching in our Public Schools