we have grown

How fast time flies. A few blogs away I was sharing with everybody about our dog Lara who was in heat at that time and how it created a lot of noisy commotion in our otherwise sleepy neighborhood. Well, as you can guess, that stage was long over.

Fast forward, Lara has brought forth 6 liters; unfortunately, one did not make it, so that left us with 5 new members of the family--- 2 browns, 2 blacks, 1 white (the dead one was white). As of this date, the puppies are only a few days old so their eyes are still closed and they only crawl around in their new made-of cartoon house. Soon, we are going to move them to a bigger cage but that will be for later.

With two big dogs around the house, what do we do with 5 more? We have already figured that out. We will probably keep one or two, and the rest will be up for adoption. We are looking for good foster homes for these puppies when the time comes. And yes, one male is already owned by a friend whose kids had been pestering him to get one.

Photos above show only 3 of the 5. Aren't they lovely?

overkilling "Madam Chair"

Every meeting as I listen and watch with amazement at my summer kids speak and debate with improved public speaking skills, I notice that while some had junked "ladies and gentlemen" and "at the end of the day" in place of "uh--uhmm.." some had sneaked in a new crutch in place of those redundancies and are now dotting their speeches with "Madam Chair" after every short phrase.

This being the case, Madam Chair, I strongly suggest Madam Chair, that using too much of this expression Madam Chair will blur the meaning or the message that you are trying to express Madam Chair.

When the overuse of this expression Madam Chair becomes too much Madam Chair we are actually "overkilling" the phrase Madam Chair and that if we do not do something about this Madam Chair to eradicate this nasty phrase Madam Chair then I am afraid Madam Chair that we might end up not saying anything Madam Chair.

Redundancies and unnecessary body movements seldom happen in the Oregon-Oxford type of debate where students get to do research, write, edit and practice delivering his or her specch a month or so before the debate.

got myself a new header

One of the latest blogs I had set up is called http://offbeatmom.blogspot.com which is going to be a depository of all the junk and dirt that come with living and thankfully from now on this blog will be spared from all those.

Thanks again to my son who helped me do the header and also to my daughter who took charge of setting up the ads, my latest blog is now online.

The illustration above shows the header of my new blog.

this girl knows her stuff

Curiousity and interest led me to this girl's blog and site which I got from Mylot community and from then on, I got hooked. I am impressed and lucky to get her links here as part of my list of resources. Her blog, http://www.beasavvywriter.blogspot.com contains very spontaneous and useful guides to becoming savvy writers. I got tickled brown reading her article on how to handle rejection letters---yeah, you can do service to the environment because there is such a thing as fruitful recycling and the blog handled this with a large dose of humor that one can't escape a good laugh. I am surely going to go back in order to read everything she got in there because this lady knows how to handle the language with such ease and smoothness, especially when read aloud, her articles just feel like ice cream to the mouth---nice and smooth.

I may be easy to impress, but there is no doubt about it--Ashley is doing an impressive job in that blog---lay-out, good; language, very good; variety of content, worth a daily visit.

Wait---Ashley has come up with a new site you don't wanna miss. I was there and I saw the great promise of http://www.bellevere.net. The first page gives an appropriate welcome with this phrase "beautiful soul, key to a gorgeous life". With this catch phrase, who wouldn't be enticed to stay and discover its hidden treasures? This site showcases the secrets to real Beauty, Love, Dieting, Fitness, REcipes and everything you need to have a beautiful life. It is a great site owned by one so intelligent and gifted.

Ashley knows what she is talking about as evidenced by her works. Links to both her sites are found in all my four blogs so anytime I want to give myself a break from the monotony of everything, I just make a visit to Ashley's blog and site.

Two thumbs up for this young lady!

The photo above features the front page of Ashley's latest website.

adjusting the curriculum towards conversational English

The reason why India is the top UK market call center provider is because schools there have adjusted their curriculum towards conversational English. The Philippines is 2nd only to India when it comes to catering to the North American market's call center needs. Why? Because our English curricula in the Philippines are not adjusted to the demands of the market. Take the following facts.

In 2004, there were 40,000 seats available in call centers for graduates who could speak good English. Eighty thousand seats were available in 2005 and the Department of Trade and Industry projects a doubling of the figures every year for the next five years.

No other industry in the Philippines is generating and providing as many job openings as the call center industry with salaries that are highly competitive.

But are schools delivering products that fit the demands of the market which is the call center industry?

It is sad to hear that out of 2,000 applicants, they will be lucky to get 5 or 7 real qualified graduates to work as call center agents who will be dealing with English-speaking clients 24 hours a day.

The solution that was proposed by a representative of Bigfoot Global Solutions Inc. is skills practice or conditioning students into practising the kind of work expected by the market.

One of the ways proposed is by giving assessment through conversational English, using oral examination as the testing format for prelims, midterms, or finals. Other activities such as panel quizzes, debate, oration, panel discussion may also be used by the teacher. The point is, to make the students speak and use the target language as often as every meeting.

This may raise the eyebrows of many traditionalists, but hey, we've got to get real. Our students will not be asked to write down their answers in a job interview. No, they will be using spoken English when they will be looking for work and they better start polishing this skill now.

It is only by doing this that schools can truly claim to be relevant to the times.

smiling at strangers

This is not one habit I have-- I mean, smiling isn't. That is why this afternoon I was surprised to find myself smiling at someone I did not know. Actually, my granddaughter and I were at Jollibee because she wanted some rice and steak and while we were waiting for the food to be served, Dewey, my granddaughter said something which made me smile. Along came a woman who saw me smiling and who smiled in return like we knew each other. She was actually a stranger to me and I found it weird that it seemed that I initiated that when I was only smiling at what Dewey said to me. Anyway, I thought, why not? It does not cost you anything to just smile at everyone you meet. It will make them wonder what is it you have in mind and what got into you. So lesson for the day: SMILE AT EVERYONE YOU MEET TODAY. It will cost you nothing but it will make this world (cliche) " a much better place to live in."

will the many prohibitions lead to clean elections?

May 14 is one date Filipinos will have to watch. After six long years of silence Filipinos will be speaking up their minds in their ballots, trooping once again to their assigned precincts to cast their votes for the people who will again lead this country for the next 6 years. Do we dare make the same mistakes again?

While listening to TV Patrol tonight, I heard one newscaster enumerate the things that are not allowed this coming elections. Failure to follow any one of these could lead to 1 to 16 years imprisonment (if I heard it right), and disqualification for the candidates involved. It pays to know the things that are prohibited on election day:

1. Wearing of campaign t-shirts, caps, and other stuff bearing the name of a candidate.
2. Giving or receiving money from candidates.
3. Candidates giving free rides to voters.
4. No peddlers and other street hawkers are allowed to sell anywhere near the precincts.
5. Gambling of any sort during elections.
6. Drinking during elections.
7. No free food or feeding of voters by candidates.

Those are the only major guidelines I can recall. Look at all of them. If we can only strictly follow these guidelines, do you think this will pave the way towards a clean and honest election?

Yes. There is always hope for those who do not lose hope.

snake for sale?

This morning while waiting for my turn to pay our electricity bill, I noticed a lady edging her way towards the cashier. She was obviously trying to sell something. When she turned after the guy at the counter said he was not buying, she was now facing me directly and it came as a shock to see her carrying a big two-gallon bottle with a huge snake inside. Was she selling snakes? My curiousity got the better of me so I asked her if she was selling snakes. She wasn't. In that large bottle was a big snake coiled and submerged in what seemed like water. The lady asked me if I wanted to buy. Buy what? Then she told me that she was selling medicinal massage oil in which the snake was soaked. She showed me the different containers and prices if I was interested to buy. Snake oil, according to her, is very medicinal. It can alleviate body pains when it is used as massage oil.

coping with blackout

This one is tough. Coping with a scheduled power blackout from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. is hard to do. Anytime now this computer is going to go off, the fans will stop moving, the refrigerator will stop whining and the television will be mute. What do you do when everything seems to die around you? I have listed ways based on observation on how people cope with power loss:

1. The whole family hits the beach to enjoy the natural breeze from the sea.

2.One entire big family rushes to Bethel Guest House, one of the best hotels in the city, to have lunch and stay there until 5:00 to enjoy the coolness of the generator-run aircon.

3. Some would go malling, eat there and wait the whole time until everything is back to normal. Malls or big stores usually have their own generators so there should be no problem about dealing with the summer heat.

4. Stay home and make the most of it. Open all windows and doors to let the natural air in, find a good book to read.

5. General cleaning. Turn this blackout into an opportunity for you to clean your house. Make your house spot-free when power comes around.

6. If you are a student, do your school work outside. Bring a small table and a chair outside and do your work under a shady tree if there is any around.

7. Do your other house chores like marketing, cooking, setting the table.

8. Others would like to just simply lie in bed and sleep the day away.

If there are other more profitable ways of dealing with power loss, kindly leave them under comments.

a thousand "Ladies and gentlemen"

It is amazing to hear how young debaters, learning the skill of debating for the first time, had absorbed the bad habits of their predecessors. I do not only mean the dancing and the bouncing while driving their arguments but the profuse use of certain terms and expressions that can easily irritate the ears of the audience after listening to all of them.

In a short speech of 5 to 7 minutes, you would hear a deluge of "ladies and gentlemen" rattled by all 8 debaters. Multiply that by 7 and that's almost an hour of hearing "ladies and gentlemen" used freely all throughout. "At the end of the day" I thought I heard the expression a thousand times.

Another favorite expression which will most likely take the place of "ladies and gentlemen" is "at the end of the day" which I heard 20 times running second to everybody's favorite "ladies and gentlemen".

When their attention was called regarding the obvious and profuse use of "ladies and gentlemen", the new debaters have found another clutch on a new phrase, "at the end of the day".

Needless repetition and redundancy are discouraged anywhere whether in writing or public speaking. An expression should, as much as possible be only used once during the entire speech. Repeating it may not be a very good idea. Saying it more than twice will make you sound like a bore to say the least.

Excited

I am quite excited about my new blog on this same site. I will tell you its name later. As you might remember, I used to have still another blog but I have recently given it up because it failed to deliver its promise of paying. I have finally decided to have another one on this same site and true enough, in a matter of minutes, I was able to set it up, you may even want to view it now at http://speak4money.blogspot.com.

How is it different from this blog? I tell you. It is going to be very different because that one will be entirely devoted to ways and means of utilizing personal skills and talents to make money. There will be no personal crap there. It will be pure money talk.

We all want to achieve economic freedom, right? Will that day ever come? The answer is a cliche,"It is in your hands". Please make a visit to my new blog just because.

what is it about BP debating that makes students sway and rock while speaking?

I still don't get it. Is it the method of debating or the wrong training students are getting which makes them eat the words, speak too fast, sway and rock while speaking which I see rampant among those using the parliamentary style of debating? The skills or the manner is not there---poor audience contact, weak voice/delivery, rocking and swaying---what is that? There is too much haste in the delivery and the message, if there is any, is either lost in the effort or not understood at all. Students spend so much time and effort learning the wrong skills. In the end, it turns out to be a futile exercise teaching students the incorrect way by focusing only on the technicalities or format of the debate and neglecting to lay the important foundation of good public speaking or effective delivery which should be the end goal of all types of debate.

the manner AND the matter in debate

One cannot possibly separate one from the other without screwing the overall skill of a debater. He either has both or he doesn't. Judging from the way modern-day debaters are trained in the "latest" method of debate, I can easily see that much has been taken for granted. While it is true that the open display of stock knowledge in almost flawless rhetorics can put any traditional debaters to shame, but the manner by which these beautiful or erudite lines are delivered leaves many unsatisfied and confused.

What, exactly, is good debating? Is it just a mere show of knowledge, facts and stored information delivered in lightning speed because you have so much to say within only 7 minutes? In debates watched by a big audience, this kind of speaking is a no-no. Public speaking, as in debating for a big audience, requires proper pacing of phrases, appropriate gestures, and a lot of audience contact. No matter how well-researched or well-informed a debater is, but if he or she delivers her speech faster than the speed of light, looks everywhere except the audience, rocks and sways, uses only one hand to gesture, and whose voice lacks enthusiasm or power, then he better consider retiring from this activity.

ready to be mailed

Two winners had been picked for the "Guessing Game contest" earlier sponsored here and this is the prize of one of the winners who had already sent her forwarding address. This bag goes out to Greengal, a lady from Texas. I am awaiting for the other winner, Elk Hawk to send me his forwarding address so I can also send his prize.

voice and audience contact

Two general observations had been made among the kids that have enrolled this summer for public speaking and journalism. Out of the nine only two showed confidence in projecting themselves with the right volume of the voice, while the rest still needs more training in this area. This can be achieved after more practice and drills which they are getting every meeting. Another thing which they need to work on is audience contact. It seems like majority of the kids have the tendency to look everywhere---the roof, windows, floor --- and avoid looking at their classmates who serve as their audience. Eye contact is vital in putting across your message. Without this, everything else fails. So these two aspects of public speaking will have to dealt with early on before proceeding to more serious topics. Today, a review on the parts of the stage will be done for the sake of those who were absent yesterday, then we move on to gestures, how important they are and the different types, then the different public speaking situations will be discussed. There is so much to be done with too little time but my goal really is to make these kids excel in their classes and in school because of the skills they have gained from this month-long seminar workshop.

Hey, guyz--new poll...

So we had resolved the issue on Britney's comeback or not. Time to take up a more serious concern which involves the entire human race---the issue on violence perpetrated or done by children as young as 9,10 to 17 killing and beating homeless people in the US and around the world. In fact over the past few months we have read news of 15-year-olds killing their own mothers. Why? Is it the lack or absence of discipline at home and in school that some of our children are behaving like monsters? Are we over-protecting our children needlessly from adult intervention that tries to correct misbehavior through discipline? Are our laws over-shielding our children so much so that we are actually encouraging violence among them who we are trying to protect by using the law against anyone who tries to intervene through punishment and discipline for misbehavior? In short are we letting our children grow up to become violent adults by abusing the law? All these questions can be answered if you join the poll where you only need to click for your answer. You are also welcome to leave your opinion if you desire.

Sunday morning rant

It's one lazy Sunday morning, the internet is crawling, I'd been staring at the monitor for what seems like ages before I get to the page and right now I am feeling drowsy. I'd been wanting to accomplish much at www.Mylot.com/?ref=funny52f, an online discussion community that pays, but the slowness of the internet makes it impossible. I had walked the dogs for about 20 minutes and now ready to tackle my online task with full concentration since Dewey, my granddaughter is still asleep and there is no class, nothing to worry today except that the internet does not seem to cooperate. I mean, talk about how the internet can easily blow an otherwise perfect day into another lousy Sunday... Come on...

Britney's out of rehab

Britney Spears got out of rehab and had expressed her intention of writing a book telling the world about how her relationships with ex-bf Justin Timberlake, ex-hubby, and parents had pushed her off the wall and led her into doing the series of scandals that had screwed her life. Her family had been devastated of this news and had hoped that the once-popular teen star will be able to get back on her feet and think twice about what she says because everything will always go back to her.

As of today, poll results reveal that people are not quite sure whether the one-time pop princess will be able to successfully go back to the limelight and enjoy the same popularity she once had after the scandals. To the question on whether Britney Spears will be able to make a successful comeback after rehabilitation, 38.46% said "maybe", 23.08% said "no", another 23.08% answered "I don't care" and only 15.38% answered "yes".

let people hear how good you are

Whether you like it or not, whenever you are given the task to be the MC or host of a certain program you must have to put tons of enthusiasm to it. Get excited about it even if it is only a small affair and no talent fee is involved. Look at it as an opportunity to grow, to learn more about the craft, and to let people know how good you are at hosting. Having enthusiasm, excitement, love, or passion for the task at hand will pay off in the future as your skill will spread by word of mouth and people will be wanting you to host their shows or programs. Since you are only a beginner, the rule is to never say "no" to any invitation to host unless it is in conflict with a really important engagement you had earlier scheduled. Welcome any public speaking opportunity that comes your way and you're on the road to being a successful toastmaster.

Lucky 9

Nine kids have signed up for my summer workshop in debating, hosting, and journalism. I welcome and congratulate the following lucky stars who made it: Rio May, Bien Raphael, Michaela, Jea, Kate, Dianne, Charla, Russel, and Angel. These guys are just lucky for they will be learning the rigors of public speaking for a month, after which a debate or talk show will be put up by the same people. I would like to thank Mark for giving them a good motivational start-up.