Jump into this hub!

Read and learn. Get a pool of information, activities and lessons to help you learn English. Be a habitue here at SkyBlue's Activity Hub.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

My Mom Conchita's Christmas Crafts

I am always proud of my Mom's handmade Christmas crafts.  When she was younger, she would always prepare for Christmas.  She'd open boxes full of colorful retazos, yarns, ribbons, colored paper, balls, sequins, Spam and sausage cans, Pringles canisters, glue, colored pens and pencils,...what-have-you.

She would come up with her own creations to make our house look festive for the holidays. The last one she'd put up would be the Christmas tree.  This year, she did away from putting up that tall Christmas tree.  She says she doesn't have the spunk anymore to climb and hang balls and lights around it  But, of course, she is still brimming with the spirit of Christmas.  She still has those EmoSantas she made years ago and the unique Santa Parol.  I am keeping two of her EmoSantas in my own house.  They never fail to catch a glimpse from passersby or visitors.

Take a look!  Happy Holidays everyone! 

Oh, my Mom's name?  Conchita de Leon Blanco.

Mama's Santa Parol

This Santa Parol is my hubby's favorite

Mama's EmoSantas (made out of Spam and sausage cans and Pringles canisters).  Aren't they cute?

Mom made the Christmas table cover too.

These Christmas decorations made by Mom Conchita gleefully welcome visitors to the Blanco abode.



Sunday, December 9, 2012

877 liked "Tubig, Tubig...Nasaan Ka?"

Yes, 877 clicked "like" and 290 shared our video.  THANK YOU for all the support. 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

INCAT Natan-ok Joins "Danum Para Biag" (Water for Life) Infomercial Contest

INCAT Natan-ok's entry is on the facebook page of Ablan Foundation: "Danum Para Biag" (Water for Life) Infomercial Contest.  The video is actually titled "Tubig,Tubig...Nasaan Ka?" and was promptly uploaded on Youtube.  For the contest, Ablan Foundation uploaded it on their fb page with the entry number #01.  Online voters are urged to click "like" upon spotting video entry #01.  Ratings will scoop 20% from the number of "likes". The contest will end midnight of Dec. 9,2012.


My team feels good for coming up with a vid without the help of professional video editors.  It's all hard work done in a jiffy to beat the original deadline which was set. After submitting our entry, we found out the submission of entries was extended.  Whew!  We could have had more time!

Well...God always blesses the work of our hands.  

 Visit the site now and vote (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ablan-Foundation-Danum-para-Biag-Water-for-Life-Infomercial-Contest/114822428669222?ref=ts&fref=ts).  Let INCAT win!
 For a short back story re our video, read my previous post
( http://skyblueactivityhub.blogspot.com/2012/11/tubig-tubignasaan-ka-incat-natan-oks.html)

Friday, November 16, 2012

" Tubig, Tubig...Nasaan Ka?" :INCAT Natan-ok's New Vid

INCAT Natan-ok, a multimedia club which I organized last school year, has just wrapped up a new video, "Tubig,Tubig...Nasaan Ka?" This vid is the school's entry to the Ablan Foundation Infomercial Contest dubbed as "Danum Para Biag" (Water For Life). 
  
  I mobilized INCAT Natan-ok videographers and tapped some actors from INCAT Theater Arts Guild for a half-day shoot last Thursday (Nov. 15). Editing and finalizing had to be rushed to beat the deadline, Nov. 16.

According to the contest guidelines, the 2-minute video should be funny.  Well, I hope "Tubig, Tubig...Nasaan Ka?" is funny enough.  Imagine a day without water.  What would happen if no drop of water  is available to quench your thirst, to rinse your bubbly mouth after brushing, to wash down some hot or spicy food, or to help you clean after a visit to the restroom?  What a mayhem!

With the help of Mr. Jerrimie Arrieta, Science coordinator, we were able to submit our video to the coordinators of Ablan Foundation.

Check iloconatanok Channel on Youtube and help us win by clicking "like" and sharing "Tubig,Tubig...Nasaan Ka?" with  your friends.  Watch and get the prime message: "bawa't patak, katumbas ay buhay" which means every drop equates life.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Know the Great Writers

Know more about writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Leo Tolstoy, O. Henry and Frank Stockton!  Simply click on the links on the right panel of this blog.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

SkyBlue's Activity Hub: SHORT STORY

SkyBlue's Activity Hub: SHORT STORY: Brace yourselves for an exciting tour into the world of literature.  For the second grading period, we will focus on SHORT STORY.  I will p...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Facts About Language

The English language includes words from other parts of the world.  Take these examples:
poodle (Germany), mammoth (Russia), coffee (Arabia), tea (China), cider (Israel), and gum (Egypt).

Monday, August 6, 2012

Why Students Dread Spelling

When Friday comes, students would gleefully shout "TGIF...Thank God it's Friday!"  But to some, Friday comes with an uneasy feeling.  Why? Because Friday is Spelling Day to my students.

What are the factors why students dread spelling? 

Ignorance is one.  Students can't pin down the right letters of a certain word because they are not familiar with the word.

Laziness to read or lack of interest in reading comes second.  How can they spell if they don't even bother to read books, magazines, journals, newspapers, the Bible and other reading materials?  They can't even figure out road signs!  Parents should be the first ones to instill love for reading.  If parents inspire their children to read, only then can students discover words and build their vocabulary.

Addiction to video games takes away precious hours for learning. Students are lured to cut classes just to spend their allowance for video games.  Instead of mastering what they are supposed to learn in their academic subjects, they hone abhorrent skills ...violent, murderous, evil, treacherous, greedy and callous.  What a waste of youth, what a waste of time.  There have been reports of young people instantly dying after long hours of playing video games. They died not even knowing if they could level up in other skills like spelling.

So, what really makes students dread spelling?  NOT READING.  But, there's still time to save this generation.  Promote READING.  Knowledge starts from reading.  READ NOW and SPELL RIGHT!

                                           Copyright (c) 2012 Ritchelle Blanco-Dejolde. All Rights Reserved.
  



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Will K-12 work in the Philippines?

It's a new school year ( 2011-2012) and what makes it a very controversial one is the start of the Aquino administration's basic education program ( K-12 ).  Some organizations are up against it for obvious reasons.  The government is NOT ready.  It is ill-prepared.  I can imagine and almost hear Sen. Miriam Santiago saying "tarantado" to underscore the hasty implementation of K-12.


Looking back at the past generations, Filipinos lorded it all in Asia especially in English.  We have produced College graduates who became highly competent in different fields.  Some got recognition in other countries. There is a long list of writers, educators, scientists, artists, film makers, doctors and health practitioners who made this country proud ...all because of the education they got in our country.  


There were only a few subjects but enough hours to master them. There were good books         ( well-edited and researched). Nowadays, every time there is a new administration,  DepEd comes up with a new set of books which are flawed ( well, not all, though).  I was once sent to be an evaluator of textbooks in English about 6 years ago.  The 3 textbooks pre-chosen by DepEd  assigned to me for assessment did not pass my standards.  I marked them not fit for publication and distribution.  Do you still remember the flak DepEd got for allowing the distribution of a Social Studies textbook that contained a lot of errors?  It's like discovering a website with erroneous data.


I heard from the radio that with  K-12 , multiple shifts will force some students to attend classes as early as 5:40 a.m. and as late as 7:00 p.m. This is to decongest schools.  But, will that ensure good education?  


Why does this country allow drastic changes in the curriculum every time there is a new President? To get money from the national budget?  isn't that corruption?



Monday, April 30, 2012

It's summer! I am currently teaching Speech Improvement to students in the elementary, high school and college levels under my own SkyBlue Talent Center. But this is not the only thing that puts a smile on my face.  It's 3:00 o'clock in the morning and I just chanced upon my name included in the list of bloggers considered to meet Malacanang Communications Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III on May 4! Read the latest blog entry of Herdy Yumul (http://riknakem.com/2012/04/21/mlq3-to-meet-ilocos-norte-bloggers/).  It would be great to meet with other bloggers. I was considered mainly for my other blog: http://resurrectingtheilocanospirit.webpress.com. I just can't stop smiling. Yumul's post is like a soft ego massage, but of course, my feet are on the ground.  Hey, praise God for a wonderful opportunity!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Music Video by INCAT Natan-ok


This is a music video which I and my team INCAT Natan-ok produced last week.  It's done in mixed English and Filipino languages.  It showcases the talents of the students not only in video production and editing but also in acting for short films.  Join us in our one-day VIDEO BLOGGING SEMINAR on March 17 at RM. RA-1. See you!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

ESSAY and ESSAY WRITING

An essay is a short piece of writing that discusses, describes or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinion, or just report information. Essays are written for different purposes and for different occasions. 

An essay has been defined in a variety of ways. One definition is a "prose composition with a focused subject of discussion" or a "long, systematic discourse".[1] It is difficult to define the genre into which essays fall. Aldous Huxley, a leading essayist, gives guidance on the subject.[2] He notes that "[l]ike the novel, the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything, usually on a certain topic. By tradition, almost by definition, the essay is a short piece, and it is therefore impossible to give all things full play within the limits of a single essay". He points out that "a collection of essays can cover almost as much ground, and cover it almost as thoroughly, as can a long novel"--he gives Montaigne's Third Book as an example. Huxley argues on several occasions that "essays belong to a literary species whose extreme variability can be studied most effectively within a three-poled frame of reference". Huxley's three poles are:

  • Personal and the autobiographical essays: these use "fragments of reflective autobiography" to "look at the world through the keyhole of anecdote and description".
  • Objective and factual: in these essays, the authors "do not speak directly of themselves, but turn their attention outward to some literary or scientific or political theme".
  • Abstract-universal: these essays "make the best ... of all the three worlds in which it is possible for the essay to exist". This type is also known as Giraffe Style Writing.

The word essay comes from the French infinitive word "essayer" or 'essais" which means "to try" or "to attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning. The Frenchman Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing, and his essays grew out of his commonplacing.[3] Inspired in particular by the works of Plutarch, a translation of whose Oeuvres Morales (Moral works) into French had just been published by Jacques Amyot, Montaigne began to compose his essays in 1572; the first edition, entitled Essais, was published in two volumes in 1580. For the rest of his life he continued revising previously published essays and composing new ones. Francis Bacon's essays, published in book form in 1597, 1612, and 1625, were the first works in English that described themselves as essays. Ben Jonson first used the word essayist in English in 1609, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.