Freelance Tutoring: impromptu

What's Up Readers,

In a teaching/tutoring situation ( or maybe in life in general ), sometimes you have to throw out the lesson plan in the middle of a class/session and start all over again ( accommodating the student? nature of student-centered ).  I was uber excited to try out an accelerated 6 weeks course on persuasive writing and rhetoric, but Tutee B had something else in mind.

After 3 sessions, I realized that Tutee B wasn't ready to move on out of the Ethos stage ( totally understandable, since many things about this approach is very foreign, especially co-learning [Paulo Freire] ).  The approach I would be adapting would be "pressing issues" supplemented by lectures from his English 10 class and principles from Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle ( indirectly applied ).

Some of his immediate concerns dealt with, summarizing, writing a personal response, outlining, and speech making.  On the side, we did poetry and flash fiction reading for vocabulary build-up, pronunciation, interpretation, reading strategies, and application.  For some reason, he was very curious about literary criticism, especially Marxism ( revealing his experience studying in Japan as an exchanged high school student, and his awareness of Russian Chess moves and strategies ).  I told him I'd share  my limited knowledge and tips from my GRE Lit review book as well.

Lecture: the Diva and Jose Rizal

Guess What Readers?

A Diva can exist in Academia.  Don't mind my shallow definition of Diva, who is all about aura and attitude.  Mind you, this Diva is smart as heck.  After all, she did give a talk on Filipino National Hero, Jose Rizal.  Before we get to her talk, let's discuss her Diva acts. 

During her talk, the murmurings of the crowd got on her nerves, and she told them to be quiet.  Only a drop of a pin could be heard.  The 2nd time she told the crowd to be quiet, she told them to get out.  Of course they stayed.  During QandA a female student asked for clarification and she replied, "Hija (Daughter) that was the whole point!" ( implying that the female student didn't pay attention or was stupid ). Grabe, naman!

Maybe appearing like a Diva comes with the territory of being smart, passionate, and frustrated?  Her lecture raised a question: "What does Jose Rizal mean to us ( and Filipino writers ) today?" Rizal's novels explored the socio-political realities of his times and painted a broad canvas of Philippines in transition from Medieval Spain and American colonialism.  Literature to him was a discourse of power.

Rizal's novels, such as "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo," unmasked the hypocracy of the so-called Western liberators ( with ulterior motives other than "democracy" and freedom ).  His realist approach wasn't just following the fashion of the times nor was it stemming out of a vacuum.  His work, which could be best understood through the theory of mimeosis?, also established the "Rizalian tradition" of: going abroad, returning to the homeland, and doing good acts for the people, wherein EDUCATION as his legacy ( such as cultural literacy ) can play a pivotal role in liberty, fraternity, and the pursuit of happiness ( quality of life ).

She concluded that Jose Rizal's broad appeal and general background in interdisciplinary studies made him an inspiring Renaissance man and role model, who couldn't be pinned down or limited.  The timelessness of his literary works can still reach out and touch various generations on an emotional, imaginative, intellectual, et. al. levels.  He's a National Hero because he sacrificed his life in service of others, so they may live better lives.

Manila Internship: swing of things (w10)

Good day Readers,

In spite of the short week ( due to the bagyo and holiday ) this week's activities just fell into the swing of things: ESL Practicum, and updates in Administrative professionalism and mini-projects.

During ESL Practicum, we reviewed parallelism and the use of various transitional devices, such as coordinates et. al..  I worked with Students B and B, whose definition of working together/team work was completing the task on one's own and only asking for help if the solution/answer was elusive.  Students started exploring "arguments" by sharing their stance about the "Journey through the Wasteland" article.

Director N came back from the conference in South Korea.  They accomplished their mission bidding for the Asia TEFL Conference location to take place in Manila, Philippines in 2013.  On a low note, she shared news that the Philippines Department of Education might be abandoning the UbD practice as the standard for secondary education curriculum design ( which would be horrible since UbD hadn't taken root yet and it would be difficult to evaluate such a program without substantial data, diba? ).

Several projects are on-going in the office.  As for the Book Project, contracts were signed.  Also during the meeting, they discussed several issues: royalty, publication and its market, relevance and 'dated-ness' ( timelessness/ article's shelf life ), new deadlines, revisions ( intros/chapter updates ), layout, and contributors' bio.  In the Library Project, call numbers were updated, and in the Conference Project, Secretary V prepared Conference Flyers/Brochures.

Random? Irony in the Philippines (Politics)

Namaste Readers,

With a Fil-Am status, speaking up is like being a Cassandra OR the boy who cried wolf for the 3rd time.  It's comforting to hear 10,000% Filipino nationalists speak of the ironies in the country. 

For example, Tutee B pointed out how English is more common than Tagalog ( part of this might deal with personal regional resentment ).  Tagalog is the main dialect of Luzon; however there are more Visayan-speaking Filipinos in both the Visaya and Mindanao regions.  But since the capital and center of the Philippines is in Luzon, then Tagalog became the default.  In a way, for spite, a foreign language may be more favorable than the dialect of the perceived nemesis.

Tutee B also highlighted how Filipinos are more suspicious of their fellow countrymen instead of foreigners.  Runner J added how Filipinos have selective hearing.  One would get a better response if one were to speak in English instead of Tagalog, especially in institutions in power.

According to Director N's husband, a majority of the Filipino people can easily forget public politics, such as the heinous crimes of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose lively lineage is fighting for his hero's burial.  Meanwhile, Filipino families will hold onto personal grudges for generations.

Being monopolized by a Filipino is better than being monopolized by a foreigner, such as the pervasive SM (Shoe Mart) corporation.  This multibillion Chinese company started out with a man's noble dream of ensuring that every Filipino men, women, and children can afford a pair of shoes ( says the current TV commercial ).

But knowledge of SM's development can show a different picture.  Runner J stated that SM's rise was aided by the Marcos Administration.  They were able to garner huge real estate for the cost of nothing with tax-free benefits to last at least 10 years.  SM has branched out into different services: supermarkets, residential buildings, loaning banks for small businesses etc.  Student A revealed that SM's current goal is to establish a SM Mall for every 1 hour's worth of distance.

To be fair, SM does develop the land, and they provide safety and convenience for shoppers ( c'est moi ).  On the other hand, the meteoric rise of SM mostly encourages consumerism instead of production: reliance on foreign goods ( expensive imports, such rice from Thailand and Vietnam ) instead of natural resources ( self-sustaining exports, such as rice when Philippines had mostly an agrarian economy ).  But if people aren't aware of abused of power and monopoly, and don't learn from history ( forgets history ), then history is bound to repeat itself, diba?

Random? Taiwan 101

Namaste Readers,

I met Roomie C's fellow classmate and countrymen, who was more comfortable speaking English.  He's name is also "Mike" and he's studying English Literature.  Roomie C and S ( also a skateboarder ) are studying ecology ( with an emphasis in the environment and endangered species ); they are all attending Providence/Provident University/College  ( probably established by Christian missionaries ).  When Taiwanese Mike took the college entrance exam ( totally different from U.S.'s education policy of open admissions ), he did well in the language component of the exam ( which determined his course of study ).  He speaks Chinese well, and likes writing in Chinese; he dreams of visiting Los Angeles, California someday.  With his degree in English Literature, he wants to focus in filmmaking.  He likes the Godfather saga, and he's currently reading a translation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment for fun.

I recalled the mini info I know about Taiwan as a country "independent" from China.  I was interested to hear his take on Taiwan's relationship with China.  "It's complicated," Taiwanese Mike says.  Albeit similar Chinese roots, Taiwan has a culture and language unique from China.  He expressed that most of the international community see Taiwan the way they see Hong Kong; they're both island territories that need to be returned to China, but Taiwan was never under British sovereignty (?).  He bluntly stated that the people of Taiwan was ready for war if China were to take away Taiwan's democracy ( of course we want to avoid that, right? )

He said that although his generation believed their independence, they didn't talk about it ( the way people in the U.S. don't talk about their independence from Britain ).  Then we compared the situation: U.S. had at least 200 years of foundation for democracy, and the safety cushion of distance ( the Atlantic ocean ), whereas Taiwan recently started establishing their independence around WWI-WWII responding to China's Cultural Revolution ( I think ), and it was only around 1.5 hours away from mainland China ( factoring in today's technological warfare compared to the 17th/18th century [?]; destruction would be massive ).

Maybe part of the international community's perspective of Taiwan's status is that since there's no BIG war ( full of tragedy, bloodshed, and death ) to demarcate the switch from oppression to liberation then Taiwan hasn't "earned" the right to nationhood; maybe most of the international community don't understand why Taiwan would separate from Communist China? "Maybe, if your generation is more vocal about your independent status, maybe it'll change the way other countries view Taiwan? Maybe you can write a book or make a movie about it?" I suggests.  "That'll just cause trouble," Taiwanese Mike comments.