I'm in NEED of referrals, could you help me?

It all started with a deep respect and support for my marces, Kaye and Pehpot, who jointly hold the biggest blogversary contest this year (a whooping $200 for the highest pointer) that I joined the contest. The result of the contest update yesterday, March 8, made me realized that I'm in for the amazing race of my entire blogging career! I'm the 2nd highest pointer as of March 8, 2010 12:00 pm PHT. There's no turning back. I need not quit this game amidst my very hectic schedules. I need to earn more points to bag the first prize-$200! and the good news is YOU could help me by joining the grandest contest of the year by following the very, very simple steps:

Step 1: Open your dashboard and create a new post, put in a title of your choice.
Step2: Copy the codes that can be found HERE.
Step 3: Publish your post and copy the URL or link location then comment with the URL of your post HERE.
Step 4: Create a new post in your blog and copy the codes that can be found HERE.
Step 5: Publish your post and copy the URL or link location and comment with the URL of your post HERE.

Easy peasy right? In just 5 simple steps you are already qualified to join Kaye and Pehpot's Blogversary Contest! Please don't forget to mention that I, Genejosh, referred you to join the contest. By simply mentioning my name, you're helping me earn additional 50 points and YOU just gain 200 entrecard credits from me and a linky love to my PR 2 blogs (Our Adventures with Hyzyd and Away from Home) . You will also have a chance to win $5 by just posting about the contest, too!

The contest will end on March 18 so I'm encouraging you all to JOIN NOW!!!

P.S. What would I do to the $200 if ever I WIN because of your help? I will tell you later but this I can assure you, I will use the money in a wise and benevolent purpose.

Thank you so much.

Meet the MAJOR Sponsors of Kaye and Pehpot's Blogversary Contest

Below are the four MAJOR sponsors of Kaye and Pehpot's Blogversary contest:

I Am Buraot
A blog about politics, the environment, religion, philanthropy, and everything else that is life. Author is known for his generosity in sponsoring contests. The home of the famous EntreDropper.

Anak Ni Kulapo
Yet another blog of Buraot. If you want to die laughing, then go visit Anak Ni Kulapo. His life in the US and hilarious stuff about his home country are only two of the must-sees in this blog.


Seiko's Diary
The blog title says it all. This is Seiko's journal about being a mom to her five gorgeous kiddos, her take on life in general, and random musings of a woman who loves life.

Mom Conversations
A new blog about everything concerning mothers: pregnancy, health and fitness and babies are the current categories, under which are detailed articles containing tips and valuable information for moms everywhere.

Please drop by these blogs if you have the time and see why they are worthy of a special mention. :)

Kindergarten Graduation Ideas

Last Friday our school celebrated the culmination of kindergarten-3 with a graduation ceremony. They look great with their black gown. I didn't see them wearing cap, some girls wear floral head wreath instead (not during the ceremony, but during pictorials). I wonder why the Grade-6 and Seniors here in Thailand don't have a graduation ceremony . They just have a special meeting to receive their report card (it's much more like a report book for me) instead of a diploma. That's just my opinion as what I've observed here in our school. I remember back in the Philippines that we wore cap and white gown and we received our diploma onstage as we graduated elementary and high school years and the celebration is grand that's worth remembering for a lifetime.


Anyway, back to the K-3 graduation ceremony. The school prepared special areas with backdrops for pictorials. It's not like in our school before in the Philippines that we'll have the pictorials onstage and it's hard to find the right spot because it's jampacked with other graduates who wanted to take photos too.

Here are samples of the graduation backdrop that our school prepared:

The parents and grandparents love to give gifts at these moments to commemorate such a wonderful job of their little scholars. They don't have a hard time finding the perfect gift because outside the school's gate are arrays of gifts that boys and girls will surely love like the following:

Who could resist the charm of a "Barbie bouquet"?

or the power of the Ultraman vinyl Japan dolls?

They could buy their children's fave stuffed toys like Doraemon, Winnie the Pooh, various colors of cuddly teddy bears or a bundle of roses and many more!

The favorite of the girls during the pictorials is the floral head wreath. They look like angels with it on their heads.

More gifts are waiting to be picked up at my back. The prices range from 50 baht-200 baht. If you have a kindergarten who will graduate this month, what would be your gift for him/her?

Whatever it is, make sure that your kindergarten graduation gift is appropriate, something that your children will surely have fun with it but not overwhelming. For me, a good gift for a boy is something he will be able to play with during the upcoming summer months like a bike or a glove and a ball. For girls the kindergarten graduation gift of choice would be a new doll or imaginary toy that she has wanted for a long time.

I will be happy if I'll you'll share with me any kindergarten graduation gift ideas.

The BIGGEST Blog Contest of the Year that's giving over $500 worth of cash and prizes!

You read it right, peepz.  Kaye of Random WAHM Thoughts and Pehpot's (Make or Break)Blogversary Contest are hosting the BIGGEST blog contest of the year that is giving away $500 in cash and prizes!!! These two are my two good friends in the blogging world, Marces for life and two of the best bloggers I've met in blogosphere. Do I need to mention here that these two are review extraordinaire? They are, that's why we need to follow the guidelines they set for the contest . Click on the contest banner and important guidelines will be laid before your eyes.

I should say this is one of the state-of-the-arts celebration of blogversary. The winners will not be picked up by luck, chance or by fate. Winners will emerge through the numbers of points earned through review, referral, and comments. Of course the highest pointer will win $200! It's enough to buy the Guess Watch for Ladies - Polished Silver-Tone and Diamante G Bracelet Band I've been eyeing for a decade..Yaaayyyy..Enough for my blahs. Instead of reviewing the major sponsors and blog about this contest in order to qualify. They made it easier for all of us. All you need to do is just blog about their contest and just copy and paste the codes they prepared for you to QUALIFY! Then you could start earning points as much as you want.   If you need to cram your activities on your overloaded schedule just to be with this contest , go on. You won't regret of what you'll reap (don't blame me with your acne/pimples..LOL!).

Hurry!!! this contest ends on February 28.  

Thanks to the following sponsors who made this contest so possible and so enticing:)

Level 1 Sponsors:

I Am Buraot : Anak Ni Kulapo : Seiko's Diary : Mom Conversations

Level 2 Sponsors:

Brisbane Australia : The Latest Buzz : 113Tidbits - Social Feeds And Daring Commentary : Thoughts And Obsessions : Just About Anything : Blog Appetite : Home Buddies
Level 3 Sponsors:

His Unfailing Love : My Memories and Crystals : Bacolod and Beyond Journey

Azumi : Fab Momma : Mara's Personal Bubble : Mara's Appetite : The Pinay Blogger @ Home : Diva Fabulosa : Best Vacation Places : Momma Wannabee : Advising Writers :United World Poets : A Mom's Life and Loves : The Blogger Hub : : Travelin' With Marie : Happy Thoughts, Happy Tot : Stalking Mind : Living Life To The Fullest : Online Mommy's Corner : Her And History : Careless Whispers : In My Psyche : My Quality Day : Just Throw Money : My Journey To Life : Cotton Candy Buzz : The Mommy Journey : Super Gulaman : Pen, Paper and Pan : Niko's Blog : Lover's Mushroom : Yena's World : Girls Rule! : Online Trends Now : Husband of A Blogger : Glitter Page : Here Comes The Bride : Heart Random : Novice On Blogging (Noob) : At Home Here : Sexy Blogging : My Camerasexy : Dishes By Pehpot : Wonder Wifey : Coffee, Anyone? : Clarisse After Dark : Jena Isle's Random Thoughts : Where The Moon Shines : Crossroads.. Where Ideas Meet : Simple Pero Rock : It's not always about me... : Pinay Mommy Online : A Woman Remembers :
Beng's Entertainment Spree : Yashiro : My Thoughts, My Heart, My Turf : Embrace Life : How I Earn Money Online

Pen, Paper, Pan

 Pen, Paper, Pan is a unique and catchy blog title for me. The author Yami used to work in a newspaper. In other words, she's a writer, thus, Pen, Paper and now that she's a stay-at-home mom for Naomi and Khalil, she used Pan to represent her being a SAHM that cooks. It's a brilliant idea, Marce Yami!

She just started blogging a year ago when her husband persuaded her to put up a website for her new clippings particularly stories about people living with HIV/AIDS. Her main website Mom writes for a cause was born out from that concept followed by Yam’s Files . Later on, as she learned her ways in blogging , meeting new friends and being introduced to joining sites that pays her to blog she decided to make another domain in wordpress platform to house anything about her experiences as a wife , a mommy, and anything that merits the authors attention. Thus, our stay-at-home mom just turns herself to a full time work-at-home mom.

The layout is fine with me with it's yellow background. It's presentable and no clutters of widget around. It's a 2-column layout , by the way. The header is appropriate to her blog title showing a lady in her kitchen with a pen and paper and a ...pot...instead of a pan. It's not a problem anyway coz the totality of the layout's presentation is excellent! She gave credit to Marce Pehpot for designing the header while Marce Kaye coded it.I just wish the author added archives on her sidebar for easy navigation of past entries.

As a writer herself, she knows what to write that responds to the interests and needs of our readers like her post about the benefit of using organic products and breaking the AIDS barrier just to mention a few. Visit her site for more informative issues.

Super Gulaman : an outlet of a funny teacher

Teachers come in different types. There are friendly teachers, funny, lenient, strict, and ideal. I could say I'm a combination of a friendly and ideal teacher. A friendly teacher, as the very term suggests, acts like a friend for his/her students. A teacher-friend, in fact, combines both the guidance of a teacher and the understanding of a friend. We all, at some point of time, aspire for an understanding teacher. Such a teacher acts like our friend, philosopher and guide. An ideal teacher is the one we respect from our heart. He/she acts as a guide to the students, while not pushing them too much. Such a perfect motivates them and boosts their morale. He/she tries to encourage the students and refrains from criticizing them.

A funny teacher is like a God-sent to the students. Such a teacher always wants to see his/her students smile ands make learning a pleasurable experience. They are not clumsy, as most people think them to be. Rather, they are witty and bring in humor in the most subtle form even on blogs like the author of Super Gulaman.

Why do I perceived that he's a teacher? As I read on the history of Super Gulaman- a humorous blog in Filipino dialect, it's his Filipino-Chinese student who gave him the idea of using Super Gulaman as a fictional superhero like batman, superman, spiderman who help spread laughter in a gloomy world.

His blog features stories of the author's expedition of life where readers will join him in laughter until teardrops fall...LOL! Stories can be found on the author's sidebar so you'll just choose titles that fancies you. It's another blog that will brighten my day when I'm bored.

Cotton Candy Buzz

It's a nice thing to meet other ESL teachers sharing about themselves through blogging. Cotton Candy Buzz is one of them. The author Riza is an ESL teacher and a computer teacher at the same time . We shared the same belief that being a teacher is a noble and worthy endeavor. Her first love is teaching English and writing too, I presumed.

Cotton Candy Buzz was brainchild out from the concept that there are sweet and colorful things in life that are beneficial and there's a need for it to be shared. The author shared her personal experiences in this blog and it is open too for product reviews due to her interest in wrting meningful entries. You would know more about her site through the "About the Site" page. She clearly lays out to new readers what would they expect from this blog. I appreciate her for doing that. It's necessary to have such page to orient visitors and new readers to give them background of what the blog is all about instead of just wandering around.

There's no question about her pink layout. I find it so feminine, neat, presentable and page elements are in order. There's no distraction when you're reading her posts. Navigation of the site is just a snap.

The author has a knack of an effective writer. She writes in simple, direct and smooth-flowing language as if she's really conversing in front of me while reading her posts. She writes simply but concise. Sentences have no unnecessary words and no unnecessary sentences on paragraphs. It's a blog with quality.

Just glad he participates:)

Sawadee Pee Mai, Kha! (Thai language for Happy New Year!)

It's been a week since new year and I haven't got a chance to visit this blog of mine. It's just that I'm busy blogging in my other sites (think of 5) , teaching, cooking, household chores and handling tot on a loose...LOL!

About my class, I'm doing great and my students didn't fail to impress me of their improvement and enthusiasm to learn more in English. They love our songs so much that they would beg to repeat it a thousand times...LOL!

I'm just glad that those who won't particulate before had already overcome their fear and start joining the class and the action songs. Some of them even stand out!

I'm especially glad for "Nawng Chit" (the photo I shown below) who won't sing with us nor stand when I called him amidst the teacher's persuasion for the past months but now he actively sing and participate. Oh what a joy it bring to my heart!

I just hope we have all a prosperous new year. For all the teachers: Continue to do your best for your students. Pray for them and enjoy them. Declare blessings for them instead of curse. We have great influence for our students' life. Teaching is a noble ministry.

Happy New year 2010!

We hope that this NEW YEAR will bring you:

Merry greetings to all!

We wish you a Merry Christmas & we pray this Christmas bring plentiful of joy & contentment in your life!

New template!

I'm forever changing templates here. I hope it will be the last. It's actually named as the Little United Nations. It's artistic Blogger template, with different skin colors, black, white and yellow. I love the kids on my header. It suits my blog theme-about my life with the kids as a preschool teacher.

About last week, we had 2 holidays. Last Monday is a substitute day for the Father's day celebration and last Thursday is the Constitution day of Thailand. Where did I go? Where else but at home bonding with my family and blogging...he..he...

Ta-ta for now!

How our school celebrated Father's day?

Father's Day is celebrated here in Thailand every 5th of December. It falls on the birthday of the King. The schools consider this as one of the most special events of the year. To show respect to the King, they put up shrines of the King  in every visible corner of the school, birthday messages and pictures of the king's "past and present".

an image of the King made from crumpled papers and  birthday greetings

a tree of birthday messages

The celebration of the school lasted for 2 days. Last Thursday, the preschoolers hold a program and I didn't know about this. I thought they'll have the program on Friday...too bad I wasn't able to bring my digicam:( I just captured some photos using the cam from my mobile phone.

I didn't have class for only 1 period and I wasn't able to finish the program. The K1 have their interpretative dances. Some carried it well , some just cry out there...he..he..(sayang pa naman mga uniforms nila mukhang mamahalin ) and some became amnesiac...LOL! They just stood still there wandering around and don't know what would they do. What can you expect from 3-4 years old anyway? They're just bunch of kids but at least majority of them did well. Bravo for the first timer! Even we adults have stage fright, right? Congrats kids for the job well done:)

Last Friday, I thought no more programs for the preschoolers but I was wrong. When I came in for the first period, some of the students were well-dressed. While waiting for the program to start at 9:00, they attended first my class at 8:20 am. I skipped the workbook exercises coz they need to go to the auditorium while I have to continue with my class with other sections. Too bad, I couldn't take photos with them with my digicam:( Anyway, I have some shots of my well-dressed students before their "show time"!

Aren't they adorable?

Full of Awards

It's nice to receive awards for your blogs from your fellow bloggers. It just means that you're remembered and valued:). I wanna thank Red of Simple Pero Rock for sharing to me her awards. Here they are: 

 

 

 

 

Thanks also for sharing these fabulous awards to my other blogs namely:

• Adventures with Hyzyd
• Her and History 
  
• Tasty Exploration
• Teaching Moments
• The Fashion Explorer

I will have to pass these awards sooner or later as long as I can finalize my blog list:)

Ta-ta for now.

Workbooks for little learners

School year 2009-2010 is the first trial year for my school to include teaching English for Anuban 1 (toddlers ages 3-4). The administration pulled me out from the Grade level to teach pre-schoolers (a special request from our manager). I know that it would be challenging. Though I taught preschool in the Philippines, I am not yet so confident if I could handle this class. The only assurance they gave me is that classroom management is not a problem to me coz the Anuban advisers will be there to help me. My only concern is to teach English once a week per class and prepare a worksheet for them. You should know how hard is it to prepare worksheets for little learners who just encountered English for the first time. I pass a draft worksheet every other week, number the worksheet painstakingly and checked them. The same thing I did for Anuban 2 (I’m handling Anuban 1 and 2 , by the way) I’m glad that on the second semester, the administration decided to book bind the worksheets –a workbook finally! Now, I’m more relaxed coz it doesn’t take time anymore to number each worksheets everyday over and over again. By the way, we use numbers to identify the students’ coz I couldn’t read Thai script and it’s the advisers who will help me in distributing the workbooks coz it’s impossible to memorize each students number in 25 classes! I’ll pass the pencils while the teacher is distributing and stamping dates. Now that’s teamwork!

the teacher passing on worksheets

Problem arise when the teacher is absent coz the substitute doesn’t know the name of the students and the student numbers so I’ll either choose to have a game or oral recitation. For Anuban 2, I could let them do the exercises if they know their student number. I’ll just spread it on the floor and they’ll have to find their number (just get the idea from one of the advisers . . .pretty smart huh…) This second semester, there’s one class in anuban 2 that the adviser maximize the assistance of students- one will distribute the pencils, one for erasers and 2 or more students for the workbooks (they’ve memorized the numbers of their classmates already).

 one way of distributing worksheets if teacher-adviser isn't around and if students (Anuban 2) already knew their Student No.

The sun is out, at last

I thought we’ll not be having our class today because of the heavy rain and some part of Hatyai is flooded. I’ve heard from my co-teachers that that only our school and Thidanukhro have pursue to have classes. In fact, only half of my class is present. Thanks be to God that the sun comes out already in the afternoon. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a fine day and most of my little learners will be present.

No internet connection yet

All my remaining energy were exhausted after I gave the announcement of winners yesterday. I just wanted to keep my promise to you that I will announce the winners on the 10th of November. Now that my contest concluded, all my energy to blog was temporarily drained. It's hard to blog in school you know. After lunch break, I have to go to the other building , climb the 5th storey building where the school's internet room is found, surf the internet for an hour- the most time I could spare, get downstairs and be back to the teacher's office to prepare for the afternoon's class.

I called TOT yesterday to follow-up our telephone and internet connection. They asked us to wait for another 3 days! Okay, what can I do? I just have to wait....Anyway, I'm enjoying my life being temporarily disconnected to the blogosphere though I miss my friends in here and joining interesting memes- Girls Talk, Couples Corner, Mommy Moments and more! I simply enjoy the life I used to be without the internet. I hope to back here in blogosphere as soon as possible.

We've moved and blogging is impossible these days...

We moved to a new apartment last Saturday. I haven't yet settled in our new place and maybe it will take me a month to unpack and arrange everything. We already started our class today and it seems that I'm cramming with my lessons..Waaahhhhh....but thanks be to God that I'm doing fine this morning in my class - workbooks were already distributed in each class and during the review my learners remembered the past vocabularies they've learned and the songs that I've taught them.

It may take a week before I'll be connected to internet again. So just please bear with me this time. This is the reason why I can't visit you back nor reply to your comments. I couldn't join memes too. I appreciate your visit here, your sweet messages and comments. Thank you so much.

About the contest, it will difinitely end on the 5th of November and I hope we'll have internet connection again ASAP so that I could announce the winnners on the 10th. Thank you for supporting my first contest.

Update

Our break is almost finished. Next week we'll go back to school but my hubby already started their classes today. Tomorrow, I need to go to school for a general check-up. I supposed to post here some photos taken during our English camp but I'm still too busy. I had to do it the next time I have time. Stay tuned:)

Teaching with Impact

If you want your teaching to have impact, you must do these three things:

1. Know your students. And that takes commitment and time. This is where we lose a lot of teachers. There's no magic formula. Good teaching has a price tag: you've got to be willing to pour out your life for others. If your students have to trip you up on your way out of class in order to have a moment with you, you're not going to reach them. People don't care how much you know, until they first know how much you care (Watch the Freedom Writers).

2. Earn the right to be heard. Walk out on the street and tell the first guy you meet that you know what his problem is-and he'll probably give you a piece of his mind. Even you know what his problem is , you won't get through to him . Credibility must precede communication. And our celebrity society has never figured that out. You must earn a hearing!

3. Be willing to become vulnerable. It's the broken who become masters at mending. Don't be afraid to let people know what you're struggling with, and what you've struggled with through the years. People tend to see us in terms of where we are now, rather than in light of where we've come from and what we've been through. They didn't see the process. So tell them about the God you know personally, and what He's brought you through. That'll impact them every time!

Want to be a teacher who "gets through?" Practice these principles.

English Camp starts tomorrow!

Our English camp will start tomorrow until the 16th from 9-12 noon. It's termed "English camp" but don't expect that we're going somewhere else and have the real camping. We'll just stay in our classroom and do the regular class but I wanna make it different. I want my learners to enjoy our class through games and songs. I wanna let them explore their speaking skill. By the way, I'll be teaching Anuban 2- the same students I handled on the first semester so it's not so hard for me to adjust and teach them coz I already had background on their learning capacity. I was not formally informed as always but I've heard that I'll be handling about 25 Anuban 2 students so for me it's just a piece of cake with my God as my strength and guide.

Though my class stops at 12 noon. I planned to stay the whole afternoon at school coz I'm not yet done with my worksheets for K2 for the second semester. I've done the worksheets for K1 already last Thursday. Last Friday, I supposed to finish the K2 worksheets but I wasn't able to go to school due to bad weather, laziness and health condition. I'm also planning to devote my afternoons for 2 weeks to accomplish the visual aids that I'll be using for the 2nd semester.

I need your prayers.