The author finished a four-days seminar-workshop on Generate Your Business Idea/ Start Your Business Idea (GYBI/SYBI) Training of Trainers by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP). He is now a ILO certified Generate Your Business Idea/ Start Your Business Idea (GYBI/SYBI) trainer.
1st Philippine Conference-Workshop on
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
February 18, 19, and 20, 2010
Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
CONFERENCE THEME
Reclaiming the right to learn in one’s own language
ORGANIZERS: Department of Education, Region XI; 170+ Talaytayan MLE; SIL International; Save the Children; Translators Association of the Philippines; DILA, Nakem, CLLL-PNU; Capitol University.
TOPICS FOR PARALLEL SESSIONS
1. Reading, writing and comprehension in the L1 across disciplines
2. Teaching science, math and social studies in a multicultural/multilingual framework
3. Storytelling and other learning strategies in the L1 and in the L2
4. Developing quality and culturally sensitive MLE materials
5. Language-in-education policy and practice in a multicultural society
6. What makes a Philippine language (and what makes English)?
7. Language documentation and data preservation
8. No vocabulary?-the intellectualization issue about Philippine languages
9. Case studies in mother tongue instruction in the Philippines and in other countries
10. Sign languages in the Philippines the education of the differently-abled
11. Community-based school management and MLE
12. Endangered languages and their revitalization
13. MLE and peace education
CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: November 30, 2009
Guidelines for the submission of abstracts 1. An author is limited to one individual abstract and one joint abstract; 2. The first page of the submission should contain the name of the author or authors, affiliations, e-mail address; postal address and the designated topic of the parallel sessions; 3. The second page should contain the abstract not exceeding 250 words, including the bibliography, but should not contain any marks identifiable to the author or authors. 4. The submission should be written in any of the Philippine languages, in Filipino or in English. If written in Filipino or in a Philippine language, we will require an English version of the abstract for the evaluators. 5. The abstract should be submitted to mlephilippines@gmail.com and shall be duly acknowledged.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: December 16, 2009
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE/NON-ACCEPTANCE: January 11, 2010
SUBMISSION OF FULL PAPER: January 26, 2010
All paper readers shall be entitled to 30 minutes presentation. The presentation can be rendered in any Philippine language, in Filipino or in English, or in a bilingual fashion, provided the author shall be responsible for providing the translation(s). NO FULL PAPER, NO PRESENTATION.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Plenary Session Presentations
• A brief history on L1 use in Philippine education
• Doing MLE in Mindanao (Department of Education and Apo Palamguwan Cultural Education Center)
• The Lubuagan experiment and the Luzon Experience in L1 Instruction (Lubuagan teachers, NAKEM and NVSU, UPIS)
• Cultural Markers that Divide and Unite
• Language-in-education policy in the Philippines
• Teacher, Unsa man ni? Mother tongue education in the Visayas
• Our Tasks Ahead until 2015
Parallel Workshop Topics
• Reading, writing and comprehension in the L1
• Teaching science and math in the early grades
• Sounds, words and sentence patterns in Philippine Languages
• Building oral fluency in the L1 and L2
• Teaching strategies and methodologies for MLE
• Reimagining social science instruction in basic education
• MLE materials development and production
• Storytelling: from orality to literacy
• Language documentation and data preservation
• Designing an alphabet for a Philippine language
• MLE program planning, evaluation and assessment
• Bridging from the L1 to Filipino and English
Conference registration fee: P3,500 (10% discount for those who register on or before January 8, 2010)
*Speech of Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce *
Deaf Magna Cum Laude, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
Delivered October 17, 2009
Interpreted by: Nicky Templo-Perez
Brother President Victor Franco FSC, Vice Chancellors, Assistant Vice Chancellors, Deans, Administrators, Faculty, Parents, Sign Language Interpreters, Guests, fellow graduates, and the Benildean Community, Good Morning.
Let me begin my speech with this passage from the Holy Scriptures, found in Jeremiah 18, and I quote …”And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it”. In pottery, the potter places a mold of clay on a table and the potter turns it around carefully. Using his hands, the potter will repeat the process several times until he gets the perfect shape. As hands are important to a potter, hands are also important to us, Deaf
persons. Our main source of communication is through the use of our hands, we talk and express ourselves through them. And just like the potter whose hands make the perfect creation, we also hope to get the best if not the perfect performance for ourselves using our hands. With our hands, we can go places, change lives and make a difference.
I was born Deaf, and when my parents discovered this, like most hearing parents of Deaf children, they felt that the only way for me to survive was if I learned to speak and so they enrolled me in different oral schools where I had to wear hearing aids and learn how to lip read. I was enrolled in four different oral schools and we tried to find something workable that would fit. I tried my best in these schools but still it wasn’t easy for me to adjust. And then my parents thought of trying it out in a school for the Deaf and they enrolled me at the Philippine School for the Deaf where sign language is used as the medium of communication. I quickly adjusted and started doing well in my academics, and received several awards in grade school and I was also the class valedictorian of my batch. I was also an achiever all throughout high school and even if I transferred to a Deaf private school during my senior year I still managed to finish with academic honors.
And then came College, during my first year I was enrolled in another college where Deaf and hearing college students were together in class. I found the experience to be more saddening than exciting. I often cried because my hearing classmates would exclude me in meetings and group projects, maybe because they thought I will not be able to understand them and communicate with them. I struggled to adjust and tried to show my hearing peers what I can do but they never gave me a chance to prove myself to them. Do you want to feel useless? I’m sure you don’t and neither do I or any other Deaf person for that matter. I tried to think that maybe my classmates were doing this because they have big hearts and are trying to understand me and make things easier for me, but I ended up frustrated and I
was the one left trying to understand them. Before the end of the first semester, I had set my mind to move to another school, this time, one that offers a program for Deaf students.
And so it was through the efforts of my mother that we found DLS-CSB’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies. At DLS-CSB, SDEAS especially, not only did I find an academic institution, but I also found an environment where teachers and other members of the community welcomed us. I felt loved and cared for, and I felt that the school was like a family. I learned that I am a Deaf person; the word, Deaf, being spelled with a capital D, which means that I am identified, not merely as a person who cannot hear, but as someone who is part of the Deaf community, partaking in its unique culture and natural sign language. And with that, I believe that one of the best fruits of education is our ability to understand and change people’s attitude about the Deaf and other Persons with Disabilities, and that is what SDEAS’s education has given me. Our Benildean education has developed us Deaf persons into persons of dignity, integrity, and with a deep sense of spirituality, and we are now being given the chance to become productive members of society.
If you go around the different high schools for the Deaf I am sure that all of the students there will say that they all wish to go to college. However, very few schools offer quality education and those that do, are expensive schools, and most of the Deaf cannot afford to pay the high cost of tuition and fees. And aside from that most people, sad to say even some parents of Deaf students, assume that because we are Deaf we cannot succeed in college so better not send us to school. For students like us, going to school is no walk in the park. We often need to rely on kind-hearted teachers and interpreters to understand the lessons. Getting an education is a big challenge for us.
And so I am thankful to DLS-CSB for opening its doors and welcoming the Deaf regardless of our disability. We have learned so much from this school and we can now proudly say that we are complete Deaf persons and we now embody the teachings of Saint Benilde Romançon.
I especially wish to thank Br. Vic for his utmost concern for the Deaf and his big heart by increasing the number of slots for Deaf scholars from 30 to 60 students starting the school year of 2008-2009. My sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you hearing students for your willingness to interact with us and for making us feel that we are not an isolated group and that we can also be active participants in school activities and be a useful bunch of interesting students. That we, the Deaf students, are your peers…your
equals.
At this point, allow me to make an appeal to all the hearing students and guests of this occasion. We may be Deaf persons but we can also do anything you can do, except hear. Communicating with our hands should not make a difference. We live in one country, one world. That means we also long for respect, inclusion in accessibility, and acceptance with dignity. We are not a different breed because of our disability. We also want to live in a society where people will not stare or frown at us or treat us differently. We are also human beings and we are similar regardless of our disability. Please allow us to show you what we can do; please, believe in us too. Let us prove to you that yes, the DEAF CAN. Dear fellow graduates, I hope that when you have established yourselves in the companies you are working for, or if you have successfully put up your own business, please remember the Deaf Benildeans who may need your help in advocating our skills and capabilities, remember us and other Deaf graduates who may have the talents and potentials to be a part of your companies and contribute to its growth.
To all our teachers, you are part of this achievement we are reaping today. You painstakingly taught us all the tools we would need to make us productive individuals and showed us the way towards academic independence. You instilled in us the core values of upright citizens and we will forever treasure our years with you in our hearts. To our parents, thank you for your patience and perseverance, for your selfless understanding of our endless needs, and your unconditional love and care that carried us through our countless years of struggle to get the degree that we received today. My utmost gratitude go to my own parents, Ramon and Vilma Arce, who loved, cared, and gave me all the support that enables me to stand before all of you today. We, the Deaf students, also wish to offer our sincerest thanks to all our interpreters with generous hearts, who are willing to serve the Deaf in assisting us in our communication needs.
I would like to enjoin my fellow graduates, especially my hearing batchmates, to always keep the Benildean Core Values in our hearts. Guided by these values, we can definitely scale to great heights. Let us never forget the people who made our presence here possible. Let us always remember the values of sharing and selflessness so that when we look back, we can proudly say that we lived a meaningful life and we made a difference in the lives of other people.
Graduation is not the end. It’s only the beginning of another journey towards a higher level of learning. Don’t be afraid to dream, for it can be the first step to achieving our goals. Always remember that with patience and hard work, success will be within our reach. The biggest challenge for all of us is to overcome our fears and uncertainty.
For those of you who still have doubts about your potentials, let me and my Deaf batchmates be the living testament of what we can all become despite our limitations. In previous years, only a handful of Deaf students would graduate every year. Today, 25 of my Deaf batchmates received our diploma, the biggest number so far, and this is a testament of our four years of struggle to attain our academic degree. I am probably the first Deaf Filipino Magna Cum Laude graduate, and I am not saying this to brag about my achievement. I am humbly sharing this with you to thank God, my potter, for molding me, His clay, into a wonderful human being. I believe we can reach our maximum potentials no matter what challenges we face in life, because God is our potter and we are his clay.
To all my fellow graduates, Congratulations and Good Luck! Remember to always be Proud To Be Benildeans and to always live Jesus in our hearts.
I found this wonderful site and use it to teach my kids, Luke Simon Wilhelm (3 yrs. old) and James Francis Wade (2 yrs. old) how to read. This is a good beginning reading learning resource!
Note: I am not in any way affiliated with the site but I highly recommend it for your kids and students.
I found this learning resource which could help kindergarten children build learning skills. It contains different questions which cover different learning skills like counting, predicting outcome, beginning reading, skip counting, making simple inference and others. After each page is an answer for each question. This learning resource could also develop parent-child rapport as they work together with these fast-paced question-and-answer format and bright full-color illustrations.
The results of the April 5, 2009 Licensure Examination for Teachers were released last April 30, 2009. The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that out of the 26, 812 examinees of the Licensure Examination of Teachers (LET), 7470 or 27.86 percent passed for the elementary level and 5,914 or 24.67 percent for the high school level.
University of Pangasinan – Phinma Education Network produced a second (2nd) Placer in the said licensure exam in the person of Catherine Joy Batrina Catalan with a rating of 89.8%. Lorivi Robles Huyaban of UP Diliman topped the elementary teachers' exam with a 90% rating. Dena Sasing Culaba (89.4%); Aileen Reyes Macapagal (88.8%); Hershey Gambon Calma (88.4%), all from UP Diliman were third, fourth and fifth placers respectively.
In the Secondary Level, Benedict Enriquez Barayuga, a graduate of Central Luzon State University, and Gerard Vincent Tanchanco Mendoza, topped the exams with identical scores of 91.6%. Rochelle Madjus Razo of UP Diliman placed second with 90.6% rating, while Albert Angeles Basa of the Philippine Women's University came in third with 90% rating. Swaggert Calado Tacio of St. Louis University placed fourth with 89.6%. Arlano Revilla Aquino of UP Baguio City and Jean Marzo Ginez of UP Diliman were tied at fifth with ratings of 89.2%.
Congratulations to my kumpare Dean Nigel Cabison for his department's achievement!
Are you a student looking for the right OJT (On the Job Training)?
Are you a fresh graduate looking for a job that really matches your knowledge and skills even if you still lack experience?
It’s nice to know that a group of students created a website OJTCareers.com which would bridge the gap between the students and employers and ultimately show them that students are already competent enough for a real job. It is basically a free website that allows students to find available OJT jobs online.
As written on the website: “OJT Careers highlights the abilities and competence of the fresh graduates and the interns that's why they are prioritized in the development of the site. People in OJT Careers believe that even the fresh graduates and interns should be able to prove themselves of what they can do, so you can be sure that when you apply through OJT Careers, your application will not be buried and forgotten as what happens when fresh graduates compete with those who have more experience.”
I have written more about OJT Careers in my other blog called SiRVis. Find out why I decided to partner them up here in Blackboard. By the way, Blackboard has a Google PageRank of 4. It used to have a Rank of 5 but I’ve been inactive for a while. Now I’m back, I’m hoping to increase my ranking again!
Yin Yang Theory performed at The Hall of Fame Bar and Restaurant on "The Anniversary", April 18, 2009. This is the culmination of the 8 days Anniversary Event Series. April 18, 2009 marked the 1st Year Anniversary of The Hall of Fame Bar and Restaurant and the 2nd Year Anniversary of Caltex Tapuac.
Here is their version of Bleeding Love:
The Yin Yang Theory is an indie rock band but they also play pop, alternative and RnB covers. The band is composed of Andrew Garcia, Carlo Remiendo, Edward Higashi, and Johanne Valiente. They were formed last October 3, 2007 and are based in Baguio. They usually perform at 18BC Music Lounge Baguio, Latino De Nevada Baguio and Giligan's Island Baguio. They are slated to record an album soon.
Street Magic by Sam Halili (a bizarre magician) @ Hall of Fame, April 17, 2009. Sam performs several tricks which are Bizarre, Dangerous and Squeamish. This is not for the faint-hearted!
