Help! DepEd National Standard for Public Elementary Students

As you know, I'm currently in the US pursuing my Masters in Museum Studies with a disciplinary concentration in Museum Education at the University of Florida. One of my current courses is Curriculum for Teaching Art and for our final project, we are required to design a curriculum for art educ.

So I would like to link my design to the Philippine National Standards rather than that of the US para baka eventually may makinabang - also because my thesis is to develop an online curriculum for grade 4 students based on collections of three museums in the Phils, and syempre tied to the national standards rin.

I have searched through the DepEd site for the National Standards (in all subjects) for elementary students but it's not posted there. I even wrote them a message 2 weeks ago but I have yet to receive a response from them.

Can someone please advise where I can get a copy soon? The project is due by 1st week of december so I will really need to get started working on the project now. Kahit grade 4 lang for the time being- saka na yung para sa thesis.  

Or if you know someone from DepEd I can directly contact via e-mail all the better. I would like to get started communicating with DepEd as early as now for my thesis because I would really like to get them on board for the project as I intend to implement this upon my return to the country after my masters.

I would be very grateful for any help!

Thanks!!!

Writing Great Resumes

A couple of years back, my Kuya (who is a voracious reader!) sent me an ebook entitled "Job Interviews That Get You Hired".The book was a good read, easy on the eyes and came with a lot of useful suggestions.

But what made me a fan of this book was its chapter on writing great resumes. According to the book, "The biggest mistake most people make in writing resumes is focusing on job responsibilities, instead of emphasizing accomplishments on the job." After reading the book, I gave my CV a complete make over!

I realized that when applying for a job or even a scholarship (yes I used some techniques from this book on my Fulbright application!), it makes a difference when we package or position ourselves in a certain way so our application stands out from the rest of the crowd. As the old adage says "always put your best foot forward" and this holds true even for your CV. 

Click here to download a copy of the book. But if you prefer reading a hard copy, you can order one from Amazon for about 12$.

Below is the link to Learning Express, which offers hundreds of other ebooks on a wide range of topics:

http://www.learnatest.com/LearningExpressEBooks/

I promise to write about my Fulbright, ACC and other scholarship application experience soon. For the meantime, enjoy exploring the site and what it has to offer!

St. Augustine Trip

Fellow Pinoy UF students

At about half past one in the afternoon yesterday, I got a call from one of my friends and the first thing he said was, "get dressed, we'll pick you up shortly and we'll drive to St. Augustine". I first thought he was kidding as we just lightly talked about it over dinner the previous evening and since not everyone was available, we did not set a definite schedule. So I jumped off my bed took a quick shower and grabbed my camera.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US and it's about an hour and a half drive from Gainesville. Sort of reminded me of Intramuros- but on a much smaller scale.

Click on this link to read the wikipedia entry on St. Augustine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida

baked italian chicken

I use to cook this dish for my sister a couple of years back. Last week, during lunch, I was discussing my meal plans for the week and my friend suggested I bake the Italian Chicken. And so I did. Turns out that it tastes better and was a big hit among my friends when I had them try it at last night's dinner.

Here's how to make it: 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Chicken Fillet 

2 cans crushed tomato (or Ragu spaghetti sauce)

1/4 cup minced onions

2 table spoons of vegetable oil

1 cup grated four cheese mix (Kraft has 5 cheese mix, I got mine from Publix)

salt, ground black pepper, sugar, italian herbs and chili pepper flakes

Procedures:

1. Fry chicken strips in a skillet until meat turns white. Before meat is cooked, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Do this on both sides

2. Set aside and place on a paper towel to drain oil

3. Saute onion in a sauce pan then add tomatoes

4. Stir occasionally then season with salt, pepper, sugar, and chili pepper flakes

5. Simmer until sauce thickens. Sprinkle Italian herbs a few minutes before turning off the heat

6. While waiting for sauce to be done, start lining the baking pan with the chicken strips. I usually do one layer of meat for easy serving

7. Once sauce is cooked, pour over chicken. Make sure you cover all the meat. It would be nice if you have more sauce because this will dry up a bit once you pop it in the oven

8. Sprinkle cheese on top making but leave half of the cheese for later

9. Bake for 15-20 minutes

10. Add remaining cheese 5 minutes before serving

I use to eat this with rice, but having bread or pasta, also sound delicious!

Enjoy and let me know how it turns out once you have tried it!

Dushanti's Birthday

To celebrate Dushanti's birthday, we went clubbing. This was my first clubbing night :) and we actually went to 2 clubs that night and went home after 2 am - clubs here in Gainesville have to close at 2 am. We went to Durty Nelly's, which is an Irish pub that sometimes have live bands. It was interesting to hear pop american music played with an Irish flavor!

YouTube - Charice with Celine Dion (good quality video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUeiLji_bSo
This is absolutely amazing! watch the other related videos including the seven-minute intro Celine did for her. Go Charise - you make Pinoys very proud!

Relationships

I was just exchanging messages via Facebook with a friend of mine based in Germany. I never met him since he has already moved to the DHL Global Office when I arrived at the DHL Asia PAcific Regional Office in Singapore. But nevertheless, we have kept in touch even now that I have moved on from the big red and yellow company.

He just commented on how amazing the power of Facebook is because he found a classmate from college probably from my friends list . And I agree, I think the internet, networking sites and chat programs have revolutionized how we create and cultivate relationships with other people now. 

When I woke up this morning, I suddenly thought of these Dutch (twins) friends of mine who have been my online buddies since 1999. In the nine years that we've been "friends", we've exchanged e-mails, letters, cards, spoken online and kept very well updated on what's happening with each of our lives (well, they live together  so that's easy for them). But we have never ever had the chance to meet in person... not yet at least. 

They are planning to visit Manila this December to meet up with their other Filipino friends. Sadly, I won't be there to see them. If I continue with my plan to go to Europe (keeping my fingers crossed) next summer, they won't be there either because they plan to spend a year traveling in Asia. But no worries, I'm sure we'll still be in touch, that's what the internet is for right? And eventually we will get to see each other and fulfill my dream of running across fields of tulips in the Netherlands hahaha - they will serve as my look-outs for angry farmers with pitchforks!

YouTube - 2008 UAAP Cheerdance Competition - UP Pep Squad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z48HgtqNgX4
2008 UAAP Cheerdance Competition - UP Pep Squad. GO UP!!!

Five Tips on How to get a Fulbright Scholarship

http://josephlaban.multiply.com/journal/item/5/Five_Tips_on_How_to_get_a_Fulbright_Scholarship
Here's a blog from my fellow fulbrighter on how to get a Fulbright Scholarship.

California for Christmas

It's final - I'm going to California for Christmas!!!

After hours of hunting for the best price online (and with lots of help from Keso and Mynen), I finally purchased my ticket this morning.Since I cannot fly to Manila this Christmas, this is the closest to "home for Christmas" I could get - spending it with very dear friends.

Bed Scene

I finally found the bed sheet set I wanted and I was sooo proud of myself too- I got it at almost just 30% its original price!!!

After being scolded for buying expensive sheets and comforter by my friends (who for, anonymity, we'll just call H and Mynen hihihi), I returned the sheets but kept the comforter -I felt that I am entitled to least one thing nice in my bedroom.

After spending a week hunting at different stores waiting for them to re-stock their merchandise as stores here were almost empty after students started arriving for the fall term, I finally found what I was looking for. And with 450 thread count, this is way better than the freakingly expensive one (and even the second one- yes, the USA is a haven for impulse buyers!) I returned to the store.

How did I get it so cheap? Well, it was on sale already to start with, then I found online a 25% discount coupon for the store. That brought down my purchase to just over $19.00. Yep, coupons are great - thanks Mynen!