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.
  

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?

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!

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!