Education – ellen tordesillas

Do you want to learn Mandarin in Taiwan?

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2017

The best way to learn a foreign language is to be in place where it is spoken. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines has announced various scholarship programs open to qualified Filipino students.

One of them is Huayu (Mandarin) Enrichment Scholarship which allows applicants to choose to pursue either 2 months or 3 months intensive Mandarin courses subject. A monthly stipend of 25, 000 NTD will be provided to cover all the expenses. Application is from February 1-March 31, 2017.

For more of this scholarship, please visit: https://taiwanscholarship.moe.gov.tw

Scholarship opportunities

Published by Ellen on January 9, 2016

I’d like to share here fellowship opportunities – two for journalists and two for students.

Please take note of the deadlines for the submission of applications.

The Jefferson Fellowships offer print and broadcast journalists from the United States, Asia and the Pacific Islands the unique opportunity to gain on-the-ground perspectives and build international networks to enhance their reporting through an intensive one-week education and dialogue seminar at the East-West Center in Honolulu followed by two weeks of study tour travel in the Asia Pacific-U.S. region.

The theme of this year’s Jefferson Fellowships Program is “The Future of Growth in Asia Pacific” and fellows will be travelling to Honolulu, Hawaii; Beijing & Guiyang, China; Tokyo & Fukuoka-Kitakyushu, Japan.

Fellowship Dates: April 30-May 22, 2016

New UNICEF Rep is a Balikbayan

Published by Ellen on June 24, 2014

UNICEF PG Rep Lotta Sylwander — UNICEF PH Rep Lotta Sylwander

For Lotta Sylwander, her assignment to the Philippines as UNICEF Representative, is actually a homecoming.
Sylwander, from Sweden, was a backpack tourist way back in the 70’s and 80’s. She met and married (they are now divorced) someone from the Rojas family of Cavite. They have two children.

Sylwander arrived in Manila last April and has since immersed herself in UNICEF’s various projects with major focus on typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)–ravaged areas.

An anthropologist, Sylwander was previously assigned in Vietnam and Zambia.

She is with Bangladeshi Zafrin Chowdhury, chief of Communication and Private Fundraising and Partnership, UNICEF Philippines, who arrived here more than eight months ago, just before the super typhoon struck the Philippines claimed the lives of some 10,000 people, and displaced tens of thousands more.

Making sure calamity-resilient classrooms will be built as designed

Published by Ellen on June 3, 2014

Every time there’s a place in the country hit by a typhoon, a landslide, or an earthquake, a common post-calamity sight is school children having classes under a tree exposed to elements.

That situation would be minimized, if not completely eliminated, if the Department of Education’s new school building design would be built according to specifications.

VERA Files trustee and writer Yvonne Chua reported that DepEd will be building this year 30,000 calamity-resilient classrooms costing 60 per cent more than the ordinary classroom. Example: a complete one-story one-classroom building with basic features that is not calamity-resilient would cost P685, 000. The new, stronger design costs P1.1 million.

Chua said “To make each building more resilient to earthquakes, the DepEd is banking on a bigger footing or base and thicker beams and columns. It now requires a tie beam even for a single-story school. The horizontal beam connects several columns to make the structure stable.”

Kristel’s death is a wake-up call

Published by Ellen on March 17, 2013

Vigil for Kristel. Thanks to Philippine Star for photo.

Even as there are some people who want to fan the outrage over the death of 16-year old Kristel Tejada, a freshman student at The University of the Philippines, Manila, the UP leadership promises to “take the necessary steps to address the policy and administrative issues that are related to this unfortunate tragedy. “

Tejada was found dead in her residence in Sampaloc after taking cyanide nitrate.

The mother said her daughter was depressed because she could not continue her studies at UP where she was taking up Behavioral Science for their failure to pay the needed tuition fee.

Principal says Pagadian City school is a tragedy- in- waiting

Published by Ellen on September 4, 2012

Cracked walls of Otto Lingue National High School

I got this letter from Tess Tarranza, principal of Otto Lingue National High School in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.

With the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck in Eastern Samar last Friday; 5.9 in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao last Monday, 5.6 in Bukidnon and PAGASA’s statement that they are expecting about 10 more typhoons before the end of the year, their concern has become urgent.

10 things UPCAT takers should know

Published by Ellen on August 2, 2012

By Amer R. Amor,VERA Files You are aware that the University of the Philippines is the country’s national university. And according to the international research…

Students used as human stand for electric fan

Published by Ellen on July 19, 2012

Boy holding an electric fan as Joseph Wee speaks — Wee, the master of ceremonies, said it was not he that the electric fan being held by a student was trying to make comfortable.

Julie Alipala of the Philippine Daily Inquirer posted last Sunday in her Facebook page a photo that was appalling and disturbing.

The picture was the inauguration of a three-storey, 27-classroom building of the Zamboanga City High School. The guest of honor was Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro. The host was Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat.

Julie said officials of the Department of Education-Western Mindanao were present. So were the city councilors and barangay officials.

The picture showed the Master of Ceremonies, who was later identified as Joseph Wee, standing behind the podium. Behind him was a student holding a desk electric fan. He was made a stand of the electric fan!

Two OFW kids shine in int’l moot court tilt

Published by Ellen on April 4, 2012

By Mylah Reyes,VERA Files

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Two children of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) helped propel the University of the Philippines College of Law into the circle of the world’s top four law schools, after taking part in the most prestigious moot court competition in the U.S.

Christopher Louie Ocampo, whose father works as a pumpman for an oil tanker, and Neil B. Nucup, son of a housekeeper in Rome, were part of the team which made it to the semifinals of the 2012 Jessup International Law Moot Court Championship in Washington D.C.

U.P. was the only team from Asia and the Third World that made it to the semis, finishing as one of the top four schools after competing with 137 teams from 80 countries, culled from an original field of over 600 law schools.

DepEd questioned on P1.32B textbook contracts

Published by Ellen on December 5, 2011

By Yvonne T. Chua VERA Files If things go as planned, the Department of Education will start delivering this month 61.4 million copies of textbooks…

Category: Education