Four months!

I've been away from this blog for four months and I feel guilty about this since this is my first blog. How could I have the heart to neglect this when I have put my heart and soul into this blog? If you go through the first posts I had done, you will be entering a very private zone where I had spilled my everything there--almost. I hope to do better by doing some updates here. "I'll be good. I'll be good. You'll see."

From the Daily Inquirer, May 31, 2010 edition

Director wants kids to see his new film
By Marinel R. Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:31:00 05/30/2010

Filed Under: Cinema, Entertainment (general)

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Independent filmmaker Joselito “Jay” Altarejos, whose work “Pink Halo-Halo” is competing in this year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, says his goal is to have the movie seen by as many schoolchildren as possible.

Altarejos is one of five filmmakers in Cinemalaya’s first-ever Directors’ Showcase category. “Pink Halo-Halo” is up against Mark Meily’s “Isang Pirasong Pangarap,” Joel Lamangan’s “Sigwa,” Mario O’Hara’s “Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio” and Gil Portes’ “Two Funerals.”

“Halo-Halo” is about Natoy (Paolo Constantino), who finds joy in the simplest things, especially in eating halo-halo with pink gelatin and red sago. Thus he leads his simple and happy life until, one day, he catches a TV report about a wounded soldier pleading for rescue. The soldier is his father. Natoy’s sudden transition into adulthood starts when he and his mother Sonia seek help.

“More than touring the film abroad, I’d like to arrange screenings in at least 20 schools nationwide,” Altarejos told Inquirer Entertainment recently. “Cinemalaya films should reach a bigger audience than those who go to the Cultural Center of the Philippines.”

He added, “It doesn’t matter if they can’t pay for tickets. I’d like students, especially in the provinces, to see this movie.”

“Pink Halo-Halo,” written in 2004, was Altarejos’ final paper in a Creative Writing course at the University of the Philippines. “I dreamt of making a movie out of it,” he said. “It wasn’t exactly easy.”

One-week shoot

Altarejos earlier directed the indie films “Ang Lalaki sa Parola,” “Ang Lihim ni Antonio” and “Ang Laro sa Buhay ni Juan.” While he normally finished a film in three days, he said, “Halo-Halo” took a week.

“We had a lot of day scenes and exterior scenes. Since our lead actor was a minor, we couldn’t work late at night. We were bound by the rules of the Department of Labor and Employment,” Altarejos explained.

The film was shot in San Jacinto, Masbate. He recounted, “We tried to get help from the provincial government, but since it was election period, the officials had other priorities.”

The Directors’ Showcase category is for Filipino filmmakers, who have directed at least three full-length feature films that have been released commercially.

Altarejos refused to be pressured by being pitted against veteran and award-winning directors Lamangan, Portes, O’Hara and Meily.

“I’m not after awards,” Altarejos stressed. “I just want to make a decent film. Winning would be a bonus.”

He added: “It was tough getting into the competition. I have a lot of good friends whose movies were rejected.”

“Pink Halo-Halo” also features Allen Dizon, Angeli Bayani, Dexter Doria and Mark Fabillar. The 2010 Cinemalaya film fest will be held at the CCP from July

My second for 2010, Jejemon text messaging....

I am sorry to be so neglectful to this blog but it seems like I just have too many blogs for a person like me who's got a lot of concerns. Well, here's my second blog for 2010. I do not want to wait another year for my next entry. That would be too thoughtless of me.
So what's new? Jejemon text messaging has recently occupied a lot of space in many local newspapers and even gaining the DepED secretary a number of television interviews. How important or crucial is this issue? Some sectors believe that the DepEd is just wasting so much time and energy on this new trend of text messaging. While it is true that this may negatively affect the communication skills of our students, but there are more important concerns in education that the DepEd people should be working on. For instance, it should get busy training teachers to teach better especially in the area of English. Jejemon or no Jejemon, the students' ability to spell or write or speak in good acceptable English will still depend on the teacher. When students know their spelling and grammar very well, Jejemon will never be able to put them down.

from teaching to television....

From teaching to television hosting. Well, some might consider this career shift too late and too drastic for someone like me who'd been in the teaching profession for a total of 27 fruitful years. But if you ask me, I consider this change a sort of moving forward. Getting stuck in the teaching profession for 27 years wasn't really that bad but we need to grow, right? We need space, we need to see the other side of the pasture if there are some greener areas there for us. Honestly, in my two years of producing and hosting a local TV show, it is only now that I can have some money stashed away for savings. My 27 years of teaching never allowed me to save a single cent. And that meant lots of work and time investment. I believe that there is really nothing wrong with career shifts at any point of your life especially if it leads to better working hours and compensation. Forgive me for saying this but I should have done this 20years ago. But for as long as the clock still ticks and the earth still revolves in its own axis, I'm feeling good with what I have now.

teachers speaking "carabao" English?

That's simply catasrophic! A teacher, supposed to be the model to her students, is no better than a "carabao" in using the medium of instruction. That is why our graduates aren't any better because many teachers in the grade school, high school, and even in college have inherited the problem from their own teachers and so it goes on and on unless some solutions are done to screen out students who want to become teachers. I believe that this is the root of the problem. Little or no screening is done among those who want to finish a degree in education. It seems like the teaching course only succeeds in inviting students with mediocre IQs and why not? Brilliant students know which courses will lead to good pay and more opportunities. So one good way of solving this problem is by raising the standard of the teaching profession by giving educators better pay and better benefits. Otherwise, we will be hearing more "ungas" than necessary.

teaching is 50% knowledge & 50% communication skills

The value of having good communication skills in the teaching profession can not be taken lightly. Knowledge of the subject matter alone is not enough. A teacher in order to be effective must acquire good communication skills so he or she can effectively teach or transfer information or knowledge to the learners. However, it is sad to note that many teachers do not have the other half of the pie. As majors of the subject they are expected to know it fairly well, but that is not just enough. Being competent in the language that will be used in the teaching process is also as important. Otherwise, the transfer of knowledge will not likely to happen. Seminars and trainings should help but not much.

almost abandoned but not really.....

Where have I been all these months? It's almost like a year ago since I last did my last blog here. Too bad. I got busy with my other online activities so I thought that I could make this wait. When I visited it today, gosh, December 2008 was my last entry, how embarrassing. Anyway, here's an update: English for Kids and English for Adults are offered starting August 3. Of course they have separate time slots. For more info contact rarity45f@yahoo.com

on teachers who don't teach

There is no teaching going on right now in many classes in the country, and if there is, probably only just very little teaching is happening. One boy in Grade 1 is burdened with school work he could not answer. Why? He does not even know how to read. In Mathematics, he has not even learned the concept of subtraction and addition, but his teacher does not see this. He goes ahead with the next lesson on Roman Numerals, then counting money, on and on. The boy does not even know how to read and write numbers! How can he perform the tasks assigned by the teacher? Obviously, the "teacher" is not doing any sort of teaching. He just presents a new lesson no matter what. He does not know where his students stand. He marks and crosses the boy's works in which he was getting failing marks each time.Poor, poor boy. The parents have to hire a private tutor to make the boy understand his lessons but even the tutor is flabbergasted because the classroom teacher just keeps on bringing in new lessons without thought on whether he had succeeded in making his students understand the lesson. What a rotten teacher this one is.

English for Koreans or non-English speakers

Koreans or other non-English speakers can learn to speak English the fastest way. There will be a lot of interactive learning, feedbacking, and situational conversations that will surely make the learner acquire fluency of the target language in the shortest time possible. Interested? Text or call cellphone no. 0918-642-1670

like she owns the road

There is something very annoying about people who cross the street and are doing so in slow motion like they have all the right to dilly dally or delay other people.This is just one of my rants but I really have to express this. Please, when you cross the street, can you do it with more purpose and courtesy? What I mean here is, those waiting for you to reach the other side could be in a life-an-death situation and here you are taking your sweet time. This is the city with many vehicles plying to and fro. You might be so used to your hometown or place where no vehicles tread the roads you could even sleep in the middle of them, but when you are in the city and even if you are using the pedestrian lane, please cross the street with more purpose and courtesy. Time is gold and you have no right to waste other people's time with your lazy walk.

Toastmasters' club for kids

ABC Learning Center in Dumaguete City is launching a toastmasters' workshop in their school. This is going to be a once-a-week training in public speaking for grade schoolers who have the potential or gift of gab. This is going to be a very welcome program that will surely develop the kids' self-confidence and their speaking talents. This will also boost the school's curriculum, turning the school into another cool place to hone talents.

why not?

After-school lessons in ballet, piano, guitar, karate, etc. are offered to parents who desire to develop their kids' full potential. An after-school training in communications should be a most welcome addition since some parents want to better the communication skills of their kids, so why not? Is this a redundance or repetition of what schools are teaching our kids?

Not really because this after-school training in communications is a specialized kind of school where there is emphasis on the honing of the kids' speaking skills. Schools can only do so much and reinforcement should be most welcome.

getting better & better

It is not because these kids are enrolled in my summer workshop in communications that I am saying this, but honestly, they are getting better & better in every episode. It's just a sad thing that summer could only give a month-long exposure to these workshop participants who I believe can become excellent speakers in the future if given more time. The second batch of workshop participants, only 6, will be done with the workshop next week but this is not going to be the end of the training for starting next month, June, training continues twice weekly, Mondays & Saturdays. Why not? Students enrol in after-school programs in dancing, guitar, singing, piano, etc. Why not an after-school training in debate, hosting, newswriting, etc?

Yes, it is going to be the first time that such a training is made available to everyone interested to hone their communication skills.

will training & workshop help?

There are people who, from early age, just seem to be not cut for any sort of performances. One just seems to see at a very young age if a person can amount to something or can become somebody great in the future. But this kind of biased thinking may not be helpful to this group of people who probably are late bloomers and who could actually turn out to be a genius to everybody's surprise. NOthing is more frustrating than to be stereotyped as this or that, as someone who isn't and could not be somebody else in the future.

Well, I believe that a lot of things in this world can be taught and learned. Training and practice could do miracles. How did Manny Pacquiao become a world boxing champion? He got trained to be one. It also holds true to all other skills which could easily be taken as talents.

shy

Is shyness a virtue or what? Of course for one thing we all hate arrogance, but shyness is another thing. A person who behaves or claims to be shy can be doing others some discomfort. Shy to do what? Shy because of what? Sometimes it is hard to understand why some people try to use shyness to avoid doing something.

Is the word synonymous with modesty? Is it an inherent Filipino trait? Any reaction or comment?

why whisper?

Again I make the same observation. Students have the tendency to only "whisper" their answers when speaking. Why? Is this habit perhaps an extension of the kind of training kids are getting in the home?

I think teachers should draw the line between private speaking and public speaking. Maybe whispering may be allowed in private speaking but it is not acceptable for one to whisper one's answers in public speaking.

Self-confidence can be shown through one's voice. When one speaks loud and clear, the person would instantly come across as confident and one with authority.

wouldn't it be a lot better?

Friends would proudly tell me about their kids' talents in singing and dancing but I'd always reply that it would also be a lot better if their kids can also speak very well in front of people. I have many times witnessed talent presentations but at the end of the singing or dancing, when the kids are asked simple questions, like their names or age, they'd answer only in whispers. Why? They could sing and dance very well but could not even say their names properly?

Let's admit it. A lot of people fear public speaking. They'd rather sing or dance, but speak? That is why for me, talent is nothing when you cannot even talk about it. The whole point here is that no real talent can make it big if the ability to market this talent is not there. See? Speech still rules. It should be the basis of all other endeavors.

Janina San Miguel's "victory"(?)

The whole world knows the recent joke that happened during the search for Bb. Pilipinas when one winner, Janina San Miguel, still made it to a major award inspite of her outrageous answer during the interview portion. Now she's going to represent the country in seven months to the prestigious Miss World competition and everybody's biting their nails as to what could possibly happen during the big pageant if she does not straighten up her act. I mean, seven months? Is that time enough to put some sense into her or to make her express herself in straight acceptable English? How long should one learn to sound good in the international language? If you ask me, my answer is this: about your age---if you're 17, then you should have learned it for 17 years to be able to really master the language. Seven months is like asking for a miracle to happen. But let us just hope.

good teachers like a needle in a haystack?

A school principal recently expressed her number one lament every school year---finding GOOD teachers. According to her it is hard to advertise for more students to increase enrolment because there are no real good teachers available to teach the students. She did not like the idea of just hiring ANY teacher. She wants good teachers to teach in her school---which is a real big problem by the way considering the fact that many graduates of education courses do not know how to speak English. Which is a big problem, really. Looking for good teachers is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Remember last Summer?

Yeah, we had a summer's workshop in communication and those enrolled in the course got to hone their writing and speaking skills. This year will be an improvement of the previous years because this time we have a TV show in which the kids will have chance to share their talents to the whole Negros island.

Registration starts last week of this month while sessions start first week of April.

Come on. Ages are from 7 to 16 years old.