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Goducate Academy starts STAR Sundays

APIIS (Asia Pacific Institute of International Studies)- Goducate Academy held its first ever STAR Sunday Celebration on October 31, 2021. The aims of the celebration are to:

• Show video presentations of what children have learned in one month; 

• give Thanks for what the program has given to the children and their families;

• Appreciate parents’ efforts through awarding them certificates, rosettes, and appreciation videos made by the teachers.

• Recharge parents so that they can continue helping to educate their children.

The theme was based on Philippines’ Department of Education’s emphasis on the United Nations, so our teachers asked learners from Kindergarten and Rev Up classes to dress up in the national dress of a country of their choice. Parents were asked to take videos of the children saying something in the native language of the country they chose to represent. We compiled and edited the videos received, to produce four videos, one from the Kindergarten class and three from the Rev Up classes.

The 1 hour and 30 minute virtual celebration was packed full with an overview of the United Nations, video presentations, giving of awards, and a message from the Founder of APIIS and Goducate. In his message, the Founder, Dr. Paul Choo, recounted his own experience of home-schooling his children decades ago. He pointed out that a child’s academic excellence, performance, and even character are directly related to the relationship the child has with his or her parents. Building of such relationships is what Goducate Academy’s home-centric education hopes to achieve.

One of the highlights of the celebration was the prize-giving. Traditionally, teachers or instructors are the ones who hand out the awards to the learners, but during this celebration both the children and the parents were the stars. The school gave awards to children who did well, but it was the parents who picked the awards from what had been shown to them. In addition, parent-and-child pairs received appreciation in the form of rosettes and certificates presented electronically.  

Finally, several parents were asked to talk about their experiences and expectations at the closing of the virtual celebration. One mother said, “My child has been through a lot, she experienced discrimination in school back then, she never had a good school but we’re really happy because my child changed a lot entering Goducate. She’s always excited in the class now, unlike before. She changed drastically.”

This Star Sunday Celebration will be held every last Sunday of the month, the aim being to bring out the best in every child and to empower the parents in every family.

*Our guest writer is Pamela Kaye Dingal, APIIS-Goducate Academy, Instructional Technology Support.

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Goducate creates communication center for meetings with Philippines police

The Covid-19 pandemic meant that Goducate resorts could not open for large physical events, so one of the container vans that used to provide dormitory-type accommodation has been transformed into a  Technical Assistance Center (or Communications Center) for the Philippines National Police (PNP) Squad Weekly Interactive Zoom meetings. Such meetings are held for police in 17 regions, 81 provinces, and 1,488 municipalities of the Philippines. The program ministers to 3,734 PNP personnel every week.

Squad Weekly Interactive Meetings (SWIM) is a PNP program that aims to help uniformed PNP personnel to experience transformation in their personal lives, in their family lives, and in their careers, and these changes are part of the PNP Chief’s internal-cleansing policy.

During SWIM’s one hour-and-a-half Zoom program, PNP personnel can share their thanksgiving, their reflections about the topic under discussion, and their hearts’ desires after listening to the topic for the week. They then split up to go into breakout rooms, where life coaches facilitate further discussion.

Helping in this weekly “squadding” are Goducate staff, Goducate scholars, 795 Life Coaches from all over the Philippines and other volunteers.

NOW: a Technical Assistance Center for PNP

*Jucel Ronie Arceo is the person in charge of the SWIM program.

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Go Bikes Team in Luzon feed children and mentor young adults

With the restrictions on sports facilities and sports activities in the Philippines during the Covid-19 pandemic, biking/cycling has increased in popularity. It has led Goducate volunteers to set up GoBikes programs, one of which operates in the Province of Negros (see blog of 2021_08-28).

Another Go Bikes program was set up in May in Luzon. During the first three rides, volunteers distributed facemasks to street vendors. Subsequently, the Luzon Go Bikes team started to distribute food to children on Saturdays.

On one of the weekdays, individual team members cycle to meet members of the community whom they are mentoring on life skills. Our team is still small. We have eight active members, and 4 members of community are being mentored.  

Biking is not only an effective way of reaching out to young professionals, but it has also helped members of our team to bond with each other.

A problem is that many of the young people do not possess bicycles, so members of our team lend them their bicycles to enable them to join the Saturday bike rides.

*Our guest writer, Stephen Luceno, is a Goducate staff in-charge of Sports.