Taylor Mali said:

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Read it all here. Watch the video here.

Thank you very much Myepinoy for sharing this video on Plurk.

Our youngest daughter is good with the arts.

She was able to learn how to play the recorder by just watching YouTube videos. She can also play the piano by ear. She can also draw well by following instructions from yes, YouTube videos. She has a hard time with mathematical problems though. Oh well..

Musician and/or graphic artist in the making? She says she wants to be a teacher. Ahem.

Our son on the other hand is great with numbers.

He is good with statistics and is quite interested in gathering data on things he find interesting like world population, areas of countries, top speed of exotic cars and even world records like tallest buildings.

This early I am thinking that he can do well in actuarial science, you know that discipline about statistics, economics and risk taking (read: life insurance policies among others).

Yes, I know I am getting ahead of time when I think about this since he always say he wants to be a chef. Ok then…

Our eldest daughter, on the other hand, wants to do something that is connected with designing.

Do you know what your children are good at? Do you know what they dream of becoming when they grow up?

The promise of earning dollars in the land of milk and honey otherwise known as the United States of America is a dream to professionals like me. Fact is, a lot of my friends are already there or in other countries, earning so much more than what I am earning here.

End of the story? Definitely not.

It is NOT an easy process to have in one’s hand a contract and an H1B visa. Having both does not necessarily mean the start of a new life.

Read about these Filipino teachers in new orleans louisiana who got recruited cheated by a Filipino-owned recruitment agency.

What could have been a wonderful opportunity to earn for the family back home and learn new things to better their craft turned into a nightmare. Nightmare does not even begin to describe what they have gone through.

Their very own kababayan,  doing this to them come not as a shock to me. Yes, people can do these things all for money.

Part of the article says:

The teachers allege that the firm’s leader, ________, charged recruits about $15,000 to obtain a job, and then required them to turn over 10 percent of their salary for two years.

That the teachers were excellent did not help them retain their jobs. They were fired after two years “because they weren’t able to handle the tough students/classes they were given”.

For more information on Teacher Migration or International Teacher Recruitment, this is a helpful material especially because it has a special section about the Philippines.

Children (and adults too) love to do jigsaw puzzles. My children are one of those who grew up doing these things. We had a lot of different jigsaw puzzles to keep them occupied, amused, puzzled, challenged and able to do problem solving by exploring, matching making mistakes and even prolong concentration and minding the minute details.

As a matter of fact, my son just asked me this question the other day: “How come jigsaw puzzle pieces are bigger for children and very small for adults? Is  it because the picture is more difficult for puzzles with 500 pieces that if big pieces are used it would be a huge, huge jigsaw puzzle?”

We laughed about it. I even joked, yes, a 500 or 1000 piece with big jigsaw pieces would be very big and would over the entire garage floor!

I have observed that there is a renewed interest in doing  jigsaw puzzles with a thousand pieces (or more) where the details are rather intricate and complicated. Families are doing these, as well as friends. The puzzle sits on a special table or a corner of the house, undisturbed except for time used to work on it.

I think, online activities took away the fun from doing these things. I may have a impose a weekday in this household where no one will turn on the computer and that includes me. Difficult to do but I may have to be firm about this.

Play is what counts most when we want children to be creative, imaginative and be able to learn.

Play does not just entail giving them high-end toys and gadgets. Play entails a lot of self-expression, using things that are there in  new and innovate ways, doing explorations and experimentation, allowing them to think openly on things that are “normal”

If you are the kind of parent who fear for your child’s safety, be there to guide them as they explore their surroundings.

• Let them play with dirt, you can wash it off later.
• Let them create with play-doh, you can wash their hands afterward.
• Let them help in the kitchen, they will learn about a lot of things there. The mess can be dealt with afterward with them helping out.
• Let them lie down on floor tiles and do floor time play with manipulatives like Lego bricks, blocks and toy cars. Let them build their own cities using materials that they made themselves.
• Let them do arts and crafts.
• Let them pick flowers, run after butterflies, catch bugs, dig soil and feel the leaves of the plants.
• Let them jump on rain puddles (not flood).

In other words, let them experience the joys of how it is to be a child. It will be a joy for you too to discover how it is to be a child again

For those who are looking for places where one can learn a lot about our culture through visual presentation, Zero In Periphery presents Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, the Lopez Memorial Museum, Bahay Tsinoy and Museo Pambata.

This is a celebration of different art niches in different locations aiming to instill not just the love for our culture but the appreciation of the past and its impact on how we are today as a people.

1. Ayala Museum: The Ring of Fire, the First Southeast Asian Ceramics Festival

This exhibit ran from September 21 to October 4, 2009. This featured ASEAN potters, 16 Filipino potters and 10 ASEAN potters. Ceramic artist Hadrian Mendoza convened and organized this event whose primary goal is “to foster a community among Southeast Asian peoples that celebrates both the diversity and unity of the region through the art and craft of pottery.”

Ayala Museum is located at De la Rosa Street, corner Makati Avenue,Greenbelt Park, Makati City.

2. Ateneo Art Gallery: Beyond Frame, Philippine Photo Media

On October 1 till December 15, 2009, this exhibit has 14 different artists spanning three decades of captured scenes through photographs.

Ateneo Art Gallery is located at Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

3. Lopez Memorial Museum : Deleted Scenes, exhibit is running from November 12, 2009 to January 9, 2010.

Deleted scenes include behind the scenes work: editorial sketches, paintings based on films from LVN Productions way back in the 1950s, old books, documentary films and Harper’s Weekly clippings about the Philippines done in the late 1800s.

Lopez Memorial Museum is located at the Ground Floor of Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

4. Bahay Tsinoy: Remembering exhibit running from November 12, 2009 till January 9, 2010.

This exhibit aims to project images of two cultures: Filipino and Chinese people who suffered during World War II in the Battle of Manila and Nanjing Massacre.

Bahay Tsinoy is located at Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, 32 Anda corner Cabildo Streets, Intramuros.

5. Museo Pambata: Invisible Children, exhibit running from November 26, 2009 to January 5, 2010.

Museo Pambata’s exhibit zeroed in in Invisible Children, discussing their rights and privileges as stated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). These rights are made known and taught to the children through various modes: letters, poetry, videos and other visual presentations.

Museo Pambata is located at Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive, City of Manila.

These are interesting places to visit with your children during the Christmas break. During difficult times likewe are experiencing, it is good to go back to our roots and learn about how we have evolved as a people.

All photos except Zero In and Deleted Scenes by: Arvin Ello