Saturday, August 29, 2009
Students Get New Assignment: Pick Books You Like
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?hp
Free books bring fun, hope to Sulu teachers
She could not help but just guess the number of reading materials laid before her. After doing a mental count, she still could not say how much the books might be worth.
“I guess those books are really expensive, I wanted to get more of that,” Pantasan said, pointing to the row of Mathematics books.
Learning English
Hadja Evelyn Salih, principal of the Julkanain Taup Central Elementary School in North Laud in Siasi town, said in jest that her hands were already itching to get hold of the Reading and English books.
“You know what? We really need those books for our pupils because the majority of our school children are very poor in Reading and English. With a copy of that with those beautiful and colorful pictures, I am sure our students will be delighted to read and learn more English,” Salih said.
Muhain, Pantasan and Salih were among the 500 teachers and principals from six Sulu towns who participated in the Sulu Book Fair held in Patukul on August 17. The event was sponsored by the US-funded Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (Equalls2) Project.
The teachers who came needed no money to get the books. Click the following link to read the complete original article
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090830-222654/Free-books-bring-fun-hope-to-Sulu-teachers
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Teachers' Month Campaign Launched
MANILA, Philippines - Our country’s teachers are some of the most important, yet underappreciated members of the community. This is why leading members of the business, academe, media and NGO sectors have gotten together to start the Teachers’ Month Campaign (TMC), which will kick off on Sept. 6 and culminate on Oct. 5, World Teachers’ Day. The group’s goal is to turn World Teachers’ Day into a major nationwide celebration, similar to Mothers’ Day or Fathers’ Day.
The Teachers’ Month Campaign participants include Metrobank Foundation, Dela Salle University, Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, GMA-7, SM Supermalls, National Book Store, Anvil Publishing, Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, League of Cities of the Philippines, Local Government Academy, Synergeia Foundation, Bato-Balani Foundation, Philippine Business for Education, Foundation for Worldwide People Power, and Museo Pambata, among others. Other companies, socio-civic groups, retailers and partners are invited to come up with their own Teachers’ Day activities to help make the celebration bigger and more meaningful for teachers, students and the public.
CARES is teacher empowerment
MANILA, Philippines - The Computer-Aided Resources for Educators and Students or CARES program is a parallel program of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers in the USA. Teachers are trained on to make use technology in designing, implementing, and assessing learning experiences to engage students and improve learning while enriching professional practice.
In our present time, it’s an enormous challenge to excite the creativity of the students who have become accustomed to passive learning. Through intensified Teacher Empowerment training, teachers are given tools to promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking by helping students solve authentic real world problems using digital tools and resources.
Teachers would be delighted that there are portable digital tools that would aid their classes any time, any day. These are called science-box, a science laboratory inside a box. With this teaching tool, they can explain temperature, renewable energy, and much more.
Most of the language learning solutions now have a built-in speech laboratory and guided writing laboratory. With a lot of intercultural model texts, videos and audio, students get well rounded experience in learning the language that in use to give them fright. Learning the language with the use of a digital solution will allow more repetition and privacy for the learner. Computers will never get tired of and will not laugh listening to the students’ tireless charades of broken English grammar, mispronounced words and questionable intonation.
These are just samples of what digital resources that teachers could be using in their classrooms. For free trainings and orientation on more of these kinds of digital resources for teachers, they can call Genetic Computer Institute at tel. no. 7254383. They can also check-out technology integration programs at www.geneticschools.net.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
MORE countries now want their citizens to learn English.
“Teachers need to know these changes. English, it seems, has raced ahead of its competitors. For the last 20 years, so many want to learn it,” she said.
Chew said Singapore, for one, is attracting many Koreans who want to learn to speak English.
The Philippines, India and Malaysia are among the Asian nations that are known as good English teachers because they have been using the language as their medium of instruction, she noted.
“The fast way of mastering English now is through content. And speed is crucial in the process. Many learn English quickly because this has been used as a medium of instruction when they started school. They have been immersed in an English acquisition-rich environment since they were young,” Chew said.
Being known as a nation with a pool of good English speakers, she added, will boost the influx of international students who want to learn English.
The Koreans made up 27.83 percent of Cebu’s tourist market from January to June 2009. According to the Department of Tourism, most of them come to Cebu to study English.
Meanwhile, the knowledge explosion and information technology (IT) across the globe also signaled the need for teachers to incorporate IT in their methodology for learners, especially the young, to easily cope and “survive” in their studies, Chew said.
The IT aspect of learning is characterized by digitization of learning materials, production of e-books (electronic books) and creation of Ebraries (electronic libraries), she said.
“Integration of IT also makes online education possible and enables learners to do many things (while on the Internet),” said Chew.
She pointed out that a good method of teaching English will depend on existing variables—such as time, type of students, place and culture—that teachers have to assess before conducting their lessons. Tuesday, August 11, 2009 http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/more-nations-want-english-language-skills
As Classrooms Go Digital, Textbooks Are History
Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for “digital sections” of several English, history and science classes. And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create — and share — lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites.
Around the world, hundreds of universities, including M.I.T. and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, now use and share open-source courses. Connexions, a Rice University nonprofit organization devoted to open-source learning, submitted an algebra text to California. 8/8/09 NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/education/09textbook.html?_r=1&hp
Writing your employment letter hints:
2. Spell check! It gives a very bad impression to have wrong spelling or grammar in your application.
3. Be careful when putting attachments that cannot be opened. Case in point: Be careful not to save it in Microsoft Word 2007 format as this is a new format and cannot be opened by companies that are still using Word 2003 or Word 2000.
4. Don’t use an e-mail address with a weird or goofy name.
5. Don’t ask a friend to send or e-mail your application.
6. Specify the job you are applying for. Don’t make the company evaluate what job suits you best.
Gullas pointed out that in India’s recent economic boom, their citizens with English skills were the ones who benefitted from it. “This is because they are the ones cornering the good-paying jobs,” noted the educator-turned-lawmaker. He said those without the skills were left behind. “Without access to gainful employment, they remain mired in poverty, amid the economic boom there,” he further stated.