The Queen of Heaven our Mother

There's just too much going on in our lives that we tend to forget the very meaning of our living. The world wide web made it possible for everyone to connect but it also opened the floodgates for immorality, pandora's box opened.

We have to have the skills needed to sift through the millions of information available on the web, what is reliably correct, what is relatively just and what is universally true.

Here is a very nice video I found on YouTube about The Queen of Heaven, Mother Mary, our mother. I'd like to tell you this: I share the same beliefs with the speaker in the video and if you don't I'm fine with it. I expect the same from you".

Vietnam HD 2012: Complete Games of FM Paulo Bersamina

Here is the complete games of FM Paulo Bersamina from his breakout tournament in Vietnam's HD Bank Cup Open Chess Tournament 2012. The next best thing from Philippine Chess after GM Wesley So!

"Outstanding young player’s award is given to the Philippines' FIDE Master Paulo Bersamina." - Vietnam Chess Federation 

Wesley Chess Cafe March 2012 Tournaments

About time I posted the activities over at the Wesley Chess Cafe. First, there is a Friday night long-game chess tournament which is for free. Everyone can join and it starts at five in the afternoon with a time control of 1 hour and ten minutes per player. Notation is required!

Here are some announcements:

• WCC Kiddies Under-16 Blitz Chess Challenge. Saturday March 24, 2012 @ 1 PM. Tournament Format: 5 Rounds Swiss System, 14 Minutes/player. Entry Fee is PhP 100.00.

• 1st D' Plaza-Wesley So Chess Challenge. 2050 & Below NCFP Rating. Saturday March 31, 2012 @ 10 in the Morning. Tournament Format:7 Rounds Swiss System, 20 Minutes/player. Entry Fee: PhP 150.00.

Please visit Wesley Chess Cafe for further details or call/text WCC: 0922-898-4337/Tournament Director ICE: 0928-410-7927/Ric Martin: 0919-629-8973/NM Ed Agagon 0922-381-7039. 

And here is a game I played with the black pieces. Black to move, I was able to draw this game with Re6+. My opponent replied with KxRe6. Black's King is trapped on h8. Is there a better continuation for white instead of the blunderous move?

The Next Frontier: Inclusion Workshop Final Day

The third day of The Next Frontier: An Inclusion Workshop "Building a Culture of Inclusion" is the last day of a well-designed, well-thought out workshop for learning support teachers from all over the world. Here's what we did:

• Structured Class Visits. We visited classrooms from 8:30 in the morning until 10. I joined the group that chose to visit middle school classrooms. It is always beneficial to see how other teachers and professionals do their jobs: teach in the classrooms. The ISM Learning Support Model has co-teaching models, clustered teaching loads for teachers, mainstreaming, push-ins and pull-outs and skills class like strategy instruction. as a given, differentiated instruction is a way of life for ISM classes. 

• Debriefing session. We had a thirty-minute discussion on the experience we had, insights gained, confirmation of revelations on learning support practices. In one of the carousel groups, one lady from Japan hushed "We all are believers here, what about the non-believers?" To which I replied "We always are confronted with the non-believers in our practice, we always handle them in creatively in a lot of ways".

• Poster Sessions. Another carousel activity but this time your on your own. Topics were: Managing Data; Student IEP's; Educational Assistants; School-based Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Pathology; Case Study Presentation from Beacon Hill School of Hong Kong. I joined in the interview/open forum for school-based OT's and SLP's.     

• Lunch. Great food again.  

• The Horse's Mouth. Another carousel discussion. Topics were: Practical and Logistical Issues: Finances, Admissions and Leadership; Host Country Resources; Service Delivery Model; Modifications and Accomodations; Record Keeping Software; The Next Frontier: Next Steps. 

• Plenary Panel Discussion: Building a Culture of Inclusion. ISM Stakeholders shared their thoughts on Inclusion in schools.

• Closing and Reflection. Here's a cognitive coaching statement to be filled: "I used to think __________________________but now I think _______________________________. The first thing that I will tell my colleagues when I comeback is ____________________________.   

We were given a thumb-drive/flash disk that contains all of the workshop materials and a hard copy of The Next Frontier: Inclusion A Practical Guide for School Leaders. 

Thanks to everyone who made the three-day workshop a successful endeavor. Thanks to Bill, Oshan and Kristen! Great job people! 

On to the next step. 

The Next Frontier: Inclusion Workshop Day 2

The second day of The Next Frontier: An Inclusion Workshop "Building a Culture of Inclusion" is was another great day for everyone. We covered everything that was published on our daily bulletin which included:

• Establishing a common language. A review of the first day's sessions and a road map for the day ahead. We were asked to write keywords relating to what an inclusive school is and share them to our group for a minute. And after this we had to write our personal belief about it too for two minutes. 

Here is my output:

Inclusion is...

To include.

Not to exclude.

To enjoy everyone's triumph.

To celebrate someone's victory.

To be part of.

To be in.

And then to close the session on establishing a common language, here are two statements worth remembering when you want inclusion to be part of your school culture:

"Use person first language"

"Not about us without us"

• De-Mystifying Special Education.  We were asked to choose 3x 30 minute sessions in carousel to join out of four and I chose the following: Dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and Cognitive and Developmental Delays. I dared not join the Autism Spectrum  for the simple reason that I've lived my life with my brother who has autism and I feel like I'm drowning with all the info's on autism.

• Deciding to Teach Them All. This session had a homework part. e were asked to read up on the article called Deciding to Teach them All. The classroom part was really interesting. We were asked to highlight one sentence that we strongly feel about, whether its positive or not. And then We take turns in saying anything and everything we want about the highlighted sentence laid on the table by one of the group members. The simple rule was: NO CROSS TALK! This means when one is talking, everyone listens. As member of this kind of learning group, one has to think about the topic on hand, listen to your group members and allow the universe to talk to you. This is a great take-away for teachers. 

• Reflection and Preparation. The final two sessions before lunch. We were asked to reflect upon the morning activities and write questions for parents and students receiving learning support in ISM.

• Inquiry Lunch. This one is really nice. We got to enjoy nice tasting food plus we shared job-alike tables and this meant popcorned stories of job practices from different perspectives. Nice one!

• Student panel. Six ISM students on Learning Support Program were invited for a question and answer. Fantastic insights from the students!

• ISM Learning Support Resource Team Model. A video presentation of how the learning support team at ISM does their team meetings. The audio was buzzy and this led me to zzzzzzzland.

• Parent panel. Another question and answer this time with the parents of students in the Learning Support Program.      

• Closing and Reflection. Final session for the day. We were tired and yet satisfied. We were asked for plusses and wishes. The day that was and for the 3rd and final day.

That's it pansit!

The Next Frontier: Inclusion Workshop Day 1

Today is the first day of the 3-day workshop The Next Frontier: Inclusion Workshop "Building a Culture of Inclusion" which is hosted by International School Manila. There were more than 65 participants from 20 school, representing 17 countries from around the world.

We arrived in the venue early, around 330 in the afternoon. there were four of us who were sent by our school, one administrator, one learning support coordinator and two teachers. This gave us the chance to have a mini-meeting prior to the conference. We were given the seminar kit which included a publication of The Next Frontier Movement and this was The Next Frontier: Inclusion, A Practical Guide for School Leaders.

The first day of the workshop started around 4 in the afternoon with registration rituals and your usuals. Introductions including outcomes and settings conditions for our learning together. Opening remarks given by ISM's superintendent David Toze which was characterized by his witty takes on inclusion program practices of his institution.

After Mr. Toze we had an interactive introduction to the topic of inclusion, an admission's committee simulation. We were grouped according to our answer to the question "How many islands are there in the Philippines?" We were introduced to The Next Frontier Movement, a network of international schools that share the belief that international education should be inclusive and must cater to anyone who wishes to enroll or study in their school.

For the activity, we had a simulation on admissions process involving learning support students. We were given cards containing background and information on three students. For our group,we accepted two students out of three with one of them on conditions. This was a good one as every one had to consider our practices in our own schools. Some got into very passionate debate about which policy is really helpful for the student and which are not. At the end of the processing of the activity, I think everyone in the room was more than ready for the next two days.

For the closing part of the first day, burning questions were asked and were written by Ochan Kusuma-Powell on the board. Interestingly, the questions raised by most participants were the same questions that came up during the pre-conference meeting that our team had earlier in the afternoon.

That's it for the first day and I'll be back tomorrow night to give you more insights and updates on this. The Next Frontier Network is now officially a movement towards the education for all in international schools.

2nd Language Learning Guide

Here is a guide book on language learning and second language acquisition by Stephen D Krashen from the University of Southern California.For those new in language teaching like me, this book will be a big help I hope.


SL Acquisition and Learning

Weekend Chess Review

Before I start checking the journal entries of my students and prepare for full week ahead, let me review this game I played on Chesscube two weeks ago. I was losing in the middlegame but my opponent blundered and allowed me to promote a pawn into a Queen.

I was playing with the black pieces here. This was a rare 5-minute game for me over at Chesscube:

 

European Chess: Sexy No More

Of course you all remember the movie Austin Powers, The Spy who Shagged Me and in it was a chess scene in it was a chess scene:

 

From time to time, we stumble into online news and images that shows female chess players wearing short shorts and shirts that gives you a sneak preview of what you can or can't have just in case both of get drunk in one of the wild parties that only happens in your head.

Today we celebrate the International Women's Day with news from the European Women's Chess Championship. The ECU Dress Code Regulations were specified courtesy of WGM Anastisiya Karlovich and it's interesting to hear from her all about décolletés or in plain English, cleavages:

"Décolletés are partly covered in our regulations, which state that in respect to shirts the second from the top button may also be opened, in addition to the very top button. But, nothing is written in our rules about the length of skirts or dresses.

There are several special rules in some companies which put restrictions on the length of skirts and dresses – no shorter than 5-10 cm above the knees for example. I can see that there are many players here who wear very short skirts. It's nice to see chess players with short skirts – they are very pretty girls. But I believe there should still be some limit."

European chess, sexy no more!

GM Eugene Torre on Chess Development

I found a YouTube video of Asia's very first chess grandmaster, Eugene Torre. In the video he gave us a glimpse of what it was like growing up in a chess family living in a basically non-chess country, the Philippines of the 60's.

He reiterated and explained a couple of times the role of his family, especially of his father and older brothers, in training him in the game of chess.

With all the accomplishments he has made and the pride and glory he has given to Philippine chess, he never forgets. Truly, a role-model for every Filipino chess player to look up to.

Kudos to the people behind the production, Entrebuff.com:

Free Download: Chess Evolution Weekly Newsletter Maiden Issue

Here's the First Edition of the Chess Evolution Weekly Newsletter from the guys who gave us Chess Evolution Series.

The newsletter comes with a PGN File that features the best games of the week.
CEWN - English - Issue 11

FM Paulo Bersamina's Games in Vietnam 2012

RP's youngest National Juniors Chess Champion FIDE Master Paulo Bersamina is playing in the 2012 HD International Open Chess Tournament in Vietnam right now. We have a copy of his games for the first three rounds and according to his father/chess coach, Paulo is playing well.

The Official Website of the Tournament has a regular update on the results of each game. FM Paulo Bersamina game results are  here. He shared the points with Chinese players Yu Chaojie and Mao Zhonghan in the fourth and fifth rounds respectively.

He will be playing Vietnamese FM Le Tuan Minh in the sixth round with the black pieces.

The first three games:

   FM Bersamina playing white with a win against GM Vinh Bui of Vietnam in 1st round:

 

 FM Bersamina playing black with a loss against IM The Anh Duong of Vietnam second round:

 

 FM Bersamina playing white with a win against IM Khoa Bao of Vietnam in the third round:

 

Live Coverage: NBS First Move Chess

March 2012 NBS-First move Chess Grand Prix

The live coverage of March 2012 National Bookstore First Move Chess Grand Prix will begin in awhile.

 

Presentations and Humanities Online Links and Resources

Here are websites for teachers and students in need of presentation ideas:

• www.slideshare.net (share and download presentations and videos)
• www.prezi.com (video slideshow)
• www.pixton.com (comics as presentation)

And for those teaching studying Humanities:

• www.newseum.org (Today's Front Pages, 800 newspapers worldwide)
• www.activehistory.co.uk (sample lesson plans for history)
• www.geosense.net (online world geography game)

Hope these links help you!

Chessbase Error

One of the best online chess news website, Chessbase, published Magnus Carlsen's March 2012 FIDE rating as 2535. We all know this is wrong and that from time to time, the gods of online chess publication can err.

This is an oversight and I hope this is corrected ASAP. 

Here is the Screencast:

NFI presents Building a Culture of Inclusion

The Next Frontier presents "Building a Culture of Inclusion" at the International School Manila from March 14-16, 2012.

There will be four presenters are the following:

• Kevin  Bartlett, International School of Brussels Director
• Kristien Pelletier, Learning Support Consultant
• William Powell, International Educator
• Ochan Kasuma-Powell, Education Across Frontiers Director 

For online registration, visit The Next Frontier: "Building a Culture of Inclusion". Read the Scribd document below for all the registration details:

NFI Workshop at ISM

Alternative to Traditional Education

It is Year 2012 and I really hope your teachers, your your school administrators, your policy-making body, your parents and the people that creates your world, is aware of what this dude is talking about.

The world is changing, it continually changes and if we do not adapt, we'll perish.