Monday, February 25, 2008
There's more to learn.
The Manila Times, to some is just the longest running English-language newspaper, but to aspiring journalists, it’s the perfect place to learn and be trained.
The Manila Times newspaper was revived in 2001 and along with this was the reinstitution of the Manila Times School of Journalism. A school that is run by professional journalists including the faculty that is composed of experienced print and broadcast practitioners.
The School of Journalism also has similar curriculum like those of the top universities in the Philippines such as the University of Sto.Tomas, Colegio San Juan de Letran and many other.
Aside from the school’s exceptional academic offers, their programs and training that require only three years of studying has been attracting students from all over the country. And the achievements of the earlier graduates of the school had been the greatest proof of the excellent training the school offers.
But just recently, the Manila Times decided to change the school’s name from “School of Journalism”, to “Manila Times College” and with this they also changed the school year division from Trimester to Semestral and added another year of training along with additional courses offered.
The question now is that, would these changes affect the school’s power to attract more aspiring journalists?
Additional year for training would definitely decrease the number of students enrolling in the school but to the administrators another year of studying means more to learn and more practice before the students face the real world.
Mr. Dante “Klink” Ang had once quoted during one of his classes that though the earlier graduates of the school have showed outstanding performances after the training inside the walls of the school but their attitudes toward work were seemed to be a little immature compared to the graduates from different colleges.
To the administrators, talent means everything but less training and exposure may affect the students’ attitudes and personalities. Hopefully, these newly implemented changes in The Manila Times College would help develop and nurture journalists and communication practitioners to possess, represent and build upon the values of competence, ethics, social responsibility and truth.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Excellent feature writing
Advantage English<br>
By: Art Villasanta (Panorama Magazine March 5, 2006)
When I was Grade 6 back in 1965, we had a “Speak English” campaign at the UST Elementary School.
English was big in the 1960s. It was the medium of instruction in schools. English programs dominated prime time TV and the movies.
My school’s “Speak English” campaign fined violators five-centavos for every spoken Tagalog word. Student “sheriffs” were assigned to enforce the campaign and “arrest” violators.
Don’t laugh but five centavos was a really big deal back then. Jeepney fare was ten centavos, pupils rode free if they stood inside the jeepney or if they made kandong (sat on another person’s lap). A bottle of Cosmos (now Sarsi) cost five centavos; Coke seven centavos.
Being comfortable with English, I had no problems with the campaign until one day.
I was playing tag with one of my classmates. After vainly trying to catch him, I gave up exasperated and screamed “Mansanas!” His family name was Meneses and I jokingly called him “Mansanas.”
Unfortunately one of the student sheriffs heard me as I screamed “Mansanas” which is the Tagalog word for apple.
He “arrested” me and took me to the principal. I told the principal that “Mansanas” was my nickname for Meneses, my classmate.
The principal said “Mansanas” was still a Tagalog word and I could hand over five centavos. I did so with a heavy heart. On the way home, I sat on my best friend’s lap to make up for my lost five centavos.
This mishap didn’t make me dislike Filipino, I love our language. It did, however, force me to ask a difficult question: Is English more important than Filipino?
My father, then an editor for The Weekly graphic Magazine, said English is an advantage. I’d understand this when I grew up.
He reminded me that he spoke English, Filipino, Spanish and Ibanag, as did his father. I spoke only English and Filipino.
He urged me to consider learning Chinese because he believed that China would become capitalist one day. And this was in 1965!
“English is an advantage.”
That made sense to me. But I never did get around to learning Chinese.
For English to resurrect today, however, it will have to thrive in supportive school and home environments. That environment was present in the 1960s when knowledge of English was a skill to be respected.
The pervasiveness of English in the 1960s was acceptable to Philippine society, dominated as it was by the generations that were schooled during the American occupation.
The generation of the 1940s and 1950s now hold sway over Philippine society and these people were English schooled. It shouldn’t be difficult to resurrect English given this fact.
Schools can always hold “Speak English” campaigns or set aside “Speak English” days. They can also do one better by resurrecting the “Spelling Bees” so popular in the 1960s.
What is more important now, however, is to remove the stigma attached to English as a language of middle class homes.
It is a very remote hope that English will ever take root among the poor. To the poor, English is a language of the rich and the mayabang (arrogant). “Spokening dollar” will remain an epithet.
The future of English as a thriving language rests with today’s middle class. Its mothers and fathers, schooled in the 1960s and 70s when English was still respectable, must find the courage to push English at home.
It isn’t necessary to speak English everyday. Parents can encourage their children to read English stories or watch English channels on either free to air TV or cable. Programs that educate and inform should be at the top of the list.
Not all our children will take English seriously. Only a few will, but it is these few who stand to profit from the rewards proffered by a command of spoken and written English.
Our children’s workplace will be dominated by information technology (IT) and IT enabled services. English is the word language of IT.
Their workplace will be dominated by the health and wellness industries and by medical tourism. All these industries will demand Filipinos competent in spoken and written English.
And, of course, the Overseas Filipino Workers will remain a giant in their workplace. More and more of these workers are professionals and managers. English is the world language of management and the professions.
For our children, a command of English is more than an advantage. It’s a matter of survival. We should prepare them for this fight.
By: Art Villasanta (Panorama Magazine March 5, 2006)
When I was Grade 6 back in 1965, we had a “Speak English” campaign at the UST Elementary School.
English was big in the 1960s. It was the medium of instruction in schools. English programs dominated prime time TV and the movies.
My school’s “Speak English” campaign fined violators five-centavos for every spoken Tagalog word. Student “sheriffs” were assigned to enforce the campaign and “arrest” violators.
Don’t laugh but five centavos was a really big deal back then. Jeepney fare was ten centavos, pupils rode free if they stood inside the jeepney or if they made kandong (sat on another person’s lap). A bottle of Cosmos (now Sarsi) cost five centavos; Coke seven centavos.
Being comfortable with English, I had no problems with the campaign until one day.
I was playing tag with one of my classmates. After vainly trying to catch him, I gave up exasperated and screamed “Mansanas!” His family name was Meneses and I jokingly called him “Mansanas.”
Unfortunately one of the student sheriffs heard me as I screamed “Mansanas” which is the Tagalog word for apple.
He “arrested” me and took me to the principal. I told the principal that “Mansanas” was my nickname for Meneses, my classmate.
The principal said “Mansanas” was still a Tagalog word and I could hand over five centavos. I did so with a heavy heart. On the way home, I sat on my best friend’s lap to make up for my lost five centavos.
This mishap didn’t make me dislike Filipino, I love our language. It did, however, force me to ask a difficult question: Is English more important than Filipino?
My father, then an editor for The Weekly graphic Magazine, said English is an advantage. I’d understand this when I grew up.
He reminded me that he spoke English, Filipino, Spanish and Ibanag, as did his father. I spoke only English and Filipino.
He urged me to consider learning Chinese because he believed that China would become capitalist one day. And this was in 1965!
“English is an advantage.”
That made sense to me. But I never did get around to learning Chinese.
For English to resurrect today, however, it will have to thrive in supportive school and home environments. That environment was present in the 1960s when knowledge of English was a skill to be respected.
The pervasiveness of English in the 1960s was acceptable to Philippine society, dominated as it was by the generations that were schooled during the American occupation.
The generation of the 1940s and 1950s now hold sway over Philippine society and these people were English schooled. It shouldn’t be difficult to resurrect English given this fact.
Schools can always hold “Speak English” campaigns or set aside “Speak English” days. They can also do one better by resurrecting the “Spelling Bees” so popular in the 1960s.
What is more important now, however, is to remove the stigma attached to English as a language of middle class homes.
It is a very remote hope that English will ever take root among the poor. To the poor, English is a language of the rich and the mayabang (arrogant). “Spokening dollar” will remain an epithet.
The future of English as a thriving language rests with today’s middle class. Its mothers and fathers, schooled in the 1960s and 70s when English was still respectable, must find the courage to push English at home.
It isn’t necessary to speak English everyday. Parents can encourage their children to read English stories or watch English channels on either free to air TV or cable. Programs that educate and inform should be at the top of the list.
Not all our children will take English seriously. Only a few will, but it is these few who stand to profit from the rewards proffered by a command of spoken and written English.
Our children’s workplace will be dominated by information technology (IT) and IT enabled services. English is the word language of IT.
Their workplace will be dominated by the health and wellness industries and by medical tourism. All these industries will demand Filipinos competent in spoken and written English.
And, of course, the Overseas Filipino Workers will remain a giant in their workplace. More and more of these workers are professionals and managers. English is the world language of management and the professions.
For our children, a command of English is more than an advantage. It’s a matter of survival. We should prepare them for this fight.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
test mic...mic test
i love publishing stories and my other literary works in the net and i do have my personal blog. Professor Rome Jorge from my Feature Writing class have required us to do another, [good thing because i have lots of non-academic or more to say non-sense posts on my other blog...thanks for that sir !]
and i just wanted to post this as an introduction:
Hello i am a writer, my name's aileen.
i love to write and i love to play.
come and see my world,
read and understand my scattered thoughts.
go0dluck.
and i just wanted to post this as an introduction:
Hello i am a writer, my name's aileen.
i love to write and i love to play.
come and see my world,
read and understand my scattered thoughts.
go0dluck.
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