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GoMusic has the potential to reach out to the whole of the Philippines

On April 17, Goducate held a recital in Camp Goducate Laguna, a year after the previous one on Feb 27, 2021. It had been preceded by a 3-month workshop. The recital was attended by 67 performers, as well as their guardians andorphans/musicians from the Rose of Sharon House of Friendship as the observers. The recital was open to everyone, but the youth and beneficiaries of the feeding program were prioritized.

Music was one of the earliest programs that Goducate introduced in the Philippines because it was a good way of reaching out to out-of-school youth.

When I took charge of the music program in 2018, I planned to expand it to the community. The aim was not only to teach music, but also to improve the lives of students and teachers through character building and home visits.

In 2019, the program, called GoMusic, was brought to Masaya Elementary School, then also to Masaya Junior High School, where we were given a room for our program, but the pandemic stopped the program in March 2020. The music program at the two schools has not resumed because the school facilities are opened only for temporary limited face-to-face classes.

GoMusic did resume in February 2021 but only for a 2-week workshop and then a recital. The intention was to divert the youths’ anxiety due to the pandemic into an interest in music, and thus to help them unwind. However, the program was held inconsistently throughout the year because of changing community quarantine levels.

67 music students took part in this year’s workshop and recital.  48 of them were new music students; meaning, they were beginners, unlike those who took part in the previous workshop who were students with some basic knowledge of music. Of the new students, 14 came from Janiuay, Iloilo, 16 came from Goducate’s feeding program, 6 were children of Goducate staff, and 12 were youth from the community (specifically from different Barangays of Bay, Los Baños, and Calauan, Laguna, which are the outreach areas of the Pastors, and where feeding programs are being conducted). The students from Janiuay were already learning to play the guitar, but did not know how to play the recorder. So we started them on recorder lessons in February. They are taught via Zoom. While the online tutorial is being held, local facilitators oversee and guide the students.

For the rest of this year, GoMusic aims to take on the challenge of bringing the hybrid program (i.e., providing music workshops and recitals both face-to-face and online via Zoom) to the rest of the country.

In the GoMusic classes being held online in a church in Iloilo, the students focus mainly on the guitar and recorder, whereas the students in Laguna focus on the recorder and violin. The difference in focus is due merely to availabilities of instruments and teachers in the two areas. In addition, the recorder is easier to teach online.

The next music workshop and recital, to be held on August 27, is expected to have 110 participants (80 recorder players and 30 choir members). Sixty of the expected recorder players are beneficiaries of the feeding program in Laguna. The 20 from Iloilo will be tutored online. Of the singers, 15 will come from the Rose of Sharon House of Friendship, and 15 are beneficiaries of the feeding program. 

*Our guest writer is Jonathan Luceno - Director of GoMusic

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Families enjoy Goducate Academy’s Virtual Family Fun Day

Is it possible to do a family challenge without competitors seeing each other physically? Certainly, going by APIIS (Asia Pacific Institute of International Studies) Goducate Academy’s Family Fun Day held virtually on March 27.

Families were grouped into the following teams—Yellow Bees (Nursery Class), Blue Dolphins (Kindergarten Class), and the Red Tigers (Elementary Class).  Ten exciting challenges were given to each team, and distributed to the families within the team. Challenges included Egg Eating, Cookie Eating, Ball Catch, Tissue Relay, Tomato Relay, Coin Relay, Bottle Flipping, Longest I Love You, Paper Folding, and Cup Pyramid. If a team had fewer than 10 families, some of the families would take on more than one challenge.

Every family did the challenge according to the rules given. Families had been given sample videos of the challenge, so that they clearly understood what to do. Then each family recorded the video and submitted it, without cuts or any editing, to Goducate Academy. The team at Goducate Academy compiled the family challenge videos and edited them to see which family finished first.

A virtual cheering was also recorded by every family, and the videos of their cheers were compiled and made into one exciting cheering video.

On Family Fun Day everybody sat down, relaxed, and enjoyed watching the compilation of the creative videos they had submitted, and in which they were celebrities.

A virtual Family Fun Day is thus no different from a face-to-face one in that families can enjoy themselves and bond together whether they are taking part in an actual or a virtual Family Fun Day.

Our guest writer is Rebecca Depalubos, one of our Goducate staff.

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How APIIS Goducate Academy videos teach mothers and children

Filipino mothers in the 21st century are not the same as those in the 1800’s, who only stayed at home and took care of their children. Present-day mothers pursue a career as well as manage their household. Thus APIIS (Asia Pacific Institute of International Studies) Goducate Academy designed an education system for children that busy mothers can apply. For the Goducate Academy team, the system involves the production of quality and interesting videos that the mother can play any time of the day and let her child watch it while she is busy working.

Moreover, the videos stimulate of love of learning in the child. Student M, for example, who is in the Rev Up class (a nursery-level class) likes playing games on iPad and did not want to go to school. His mother has reported that since being enrolled in APIIS Goducate Academy, her son is showing some changes. The once unmotivated child now loves watching educational videos, enjoys tracing lines, and is always excited to join the online class.

Student S, whose family lives in Thailand, has also improved with the Rev Up class. Her mother reported that at the age of two, S could only utter two words: “mama” and “papa”. The doctor told them that if their daughter could not talk at the age of three, they must bring her to a speech pathologist. After S joined the Rev Up class at age 4, her mother noticed that she became excited and interested in her lessons. She even reminds her mother “I have class mom”. Rev Up lesson videos, such as mountain-climbing adventures, give S the opportunity to learn new songs and words. She can sing almost all the songs that she has been taught. When her mother wanted to enroll her in a school in Thailand, S refused to go because she likes her current Goducate Academy online class.

Another kind of video that the Goducate Academy produces is the Parent Guide Video, which directs parents on how to teach their children. It includes instructions on some specific tasks that the child has to accomplish for the week – for example, household chores such as sweeping the floor, washing plates, tidying the bed, and folding clothes. The video also teaches a mother how to train her child to be independent and responsible by doing things all by himself or herself, such as brushing teeth, combing hair, and changing clothes. The children enjoy learning these tasks from their mothers, so the learning sessions become a good bonding time for mother and child.

P’s mother tells us that the videos are easy to access and the Parent Guide Video reminds her what to do next for her son’s lesson whenever she becomes busy at work and forgets what tasks her son has to finish for the week. The Parent Guide Video shows the tasks that the parent has to accomplish in a week. The video explains in English every task that the parent needs do to from Day 1-Day 5 or Monday to Friday.

Another parent has testified that the learning materials are great, they are not stressful, and her child is happily watching the videos.

The APIIS Goducate Academy team is thus creating more interactive and engaging videos that would help millions of Filipino children whose mothers can help to give them the best education and life that they deserve.

*Our Guest writer is Rebecca Depalubos, a Goducate staff.