Mary Selene Margareth D. Mizal
Last May 9, 2011, the International Language Academy Manila or ILAM held the graduation of 23 young participants who joined the school’s Summer Workshop for English Advancement of Teens or SWEAT. This was ILAM’s summer program which was catered to teenagers whose ages range from 12 to 16.
SWEAT’s culminating activity was hosted by one of ILAM’s students, the witty and adorable eleven-year-old Weenter Eberhardt. This special event started with an opening prayer by Alexandrea Dee, a BS Journalism student from the University of Sto. Tomas, who also happens to be one of the assistants in the said workshop. The school’s head teacher, Ms. Faye Liong, expressed her thanks and appreciation of the audience’s presence despite the unpredictable weather as she welcomed the parents and the guests in her opening remarks.
As soon as the participants stepped onstage for their opening act, they already showed their renewed confidence and improved speaking skills as they inspiringly recited excerpts from the declamation piece I Will Persist Until I Succeed which was led by Keisha Denolo.
The parents and the guests were updated as regards the details of the SWEAT program as the SWEAT facilitator, Miss Selene Mizal, shared some of the activities that the students did during the duration of the program. Persistence was surely seen in the students’ efforts to come up with their skits that would be presented that afternoon. In the name of friendly competition, Miss Sel introduced the criteria for judging the performance of each group. She also presented the judge, Miss Abigail Balon, who was a member of the Repertory League of International Christian Academy and is also a current teacher at ILAM.
Success was the word to describe the students’ performance of their “intertext” (a text or story written based from another story) of a fairy-tale of their choice. Four groups presented their intertext with the following stories: The first group did an intertext of Sleeping Beauty wherein the prince was not able to wake Aurora up because he wasn’t able to kiss her because she was mean when was still awake. The second group came up with a different version of Alladin, wherein Aladdin was a prince who originally fell in love with the servant Jasmine but fell in love instead with the servant Jafara – the female version of Jafar. The third group acted out a comic version of Cinderella, where Cinderella’s father became her fairy gaymother who bestowed her the ability to hypnotize the prince. The last group did an intertext of Beauty and the Beast, wherein the mean Isabelle ( the modern version of Beauty) turned ugly because she was cursed by Miguel’s mother who also happened to be a witch. Miguel was a geek who was head over heels in love with Isabelle.
There were tragedy and comedy. The said intertext was only one of the many activities that the teenagers did in the graduation. A group of students did an acoustic version of Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” namely: Gabby Dee and Kryztal Nuñez (vocals), Camille Bautista (guitar), and Claire Manlapas
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Summer Workshop for Teens!
By: Darryl Marie Zayco
Have you ever wondered how we all came to speak our native languages? I doubt if our parents put us through language lessons when we were less than a year old. We speak our respective mother tongues because, as unsophisticated as it seems, we were exposed to them at a young age. The best time to learn a new language is while one is still young. As a matter of fact the younger you start the better. A child's most receptive mental state starts as early as birth until he/she is 5 years old. At this stage of development a child's brain is like a sponge, it is able to absorb copious amounts of information. This is why, going back to the original question, we are able to communicate in our native tongues at a young age without having to undergo formal training or education.
It is, of course, highly possible to learn a new language past the age of optimum mental development. Perhaps not as easily or quickly as one would at the age of five, but it is indeed still possible. In the case of German-born American political scientist Henry Kissinger, he was able to speak both German and English perfectly. But since he learned the latter in his mid-teens, he spoke it with a German accent. This is, of course not to say that an adolescent's accent cannot be “repaired” or “corrected” later on in life. It is believed that a person can learn up to three other languages aside from his/her own native tongue.
Taking this into consideration, the International Language Academy Manila decided to hold its second summer workshop for teens - SWEAT: Summer Workshop for English Advancement of Teens from April 25 until May 9, 2011. Its aim was to make the students feel more comfortable with the English language in terms of both speaking and writing, and enhance their public speaking skills as well as their confidence. As the workshop's name implies, it catered primarily to young adolescents whose ages ranged from 12 to 16. Though SWEAT was essentially an English summer workshop, it strayed away from the typical classroom-type lectures and made sure that all its tasks were activity-based and would never be boring.
They did activities that tapped into their abilities to become successful English speakers and writers. The program taught the teens how to be better conversationalists, how to use writing as a creative outlet and how to engage in non-verbal communication. In fact, their culminating activity “Intertext”, helped them apply all three of these skills by making the students talk about their ideals, re-write their favourite fairytales and act them out as well. The said culminating activity took place in the ILAM conference room on May 9, 2011, where the students were able to showcase their newfound skills and confidence. The SWEAT workshop proved to be a success and plans for the 2012 summer workshop are already being made.
Have you ever wondered how we all came to speak our native languages? I doubt if our parents put us through language lessons when we were less than a year old. We speak our respective mother tongues because, as unsophisticated as it seems, we were exposed to them at a young age. The best time to learn a new language is while one is still young. As a matter of fact the younger you start the better. A child's most receptive mental state starts as early as birth until he/she is 5 years old. At this stage of development a child's brain is like a sponge, it is able to absorb copious amounts of information. This is why, going back to the original question, we are able to communicate in our native tongues at a young age without having to undergo formal training or education.
It is, of course, highly possible to learn a new language past the age of optimum mental development. Perhaps not as easily or quickly as one would at the age of five, but it is indeed still possible. In the case of German-born American political scientist Henry Kissinger, he was able to speak both German and English perfectly. But since he learned the latter in his mid-teens, he spoke it with a German accent. This is, of course not to say that an adolescent's accent cannot be “repaired” or “corrected” later on in life. It is believed that a person can learn up to three other languages aside from his/her own native tongue.
Taking this into consideration, the International Language Academy Manila decided to hold its second summer workshop for teens - SWEAT: Summer Workshop for English Advancement of Teens from April 25 until May 9, 2011. Its aim was to make the students feel more comfortable with the English language in terms of both speaking and writing, and enhance their public speaking skills as well as their confidence. As the workshop's name implies, it catered primarily to young adolescents whose ages ranged from 12 to 16. Though SWEAT was essentially an English summer workshop, it strayed away from the typical classroom-type lectures and made sure that all its tasks were activity-based and would never be boring.
They did activities that tapped into their abilities to become successful English speakers and writers. The program taught the teens how to be better conversationalists, how to use writing as a creative outlet and how to engage in non-verbal communication. In fact, their culminating activity “Intertext”, helped them apply all three of these skills by making the students talk about their ideals, re-write their favourite fairytales and act them out as well. The said culminating activity took place in the ILAM conference room on May 9, 2011, where the students were able to showcase their newfound skills and confidence. The SWEAT workshop proved to be a success and plans for the 2012 summer workshop are already being made.
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