All in a Day's Work

My head's a little overflowing right now, but I just have to do this, before the ideas on
how to put it into writing fades away. Mind you though, this is a bit long. I hope you will
read up to the end of this story.

I just had my first presentation for the semester. It's not that a big presentation. And I
didn't have a big audience, just about 16 people who were senseis and students. It's part
of our requirement in one of my subjects, which happens to be what we refer to as a
Seminar. This is where we present findings of our research and other assigned topics, and
other things that might be of interest to everybody. Example last time, our seminar was
about security measures in exam halls, which was brought about on by the news of a
student using his handphone to access the internet and get answers while taking a
college entrance exam.

Before my presentation, I was thinking, now it's my time to muddle with their brains
somehow. Bad ne? I was not required to do the presentation in Nihongo so of course,
I used English, and my audience are mostly Japanese, with the exception of one Chinese
and one American. So why was I thinking bad thoughts? Because the presenters before
all did it in Nihongo and I think I got more wrinkles and terrible headaches from trying to
absorb and understand everything. Well you don't get to be a master of the language by
studying it for only less than a year! And the worrywart me wanted to somehow get the
gist of their presentations so that I would somehow be able to share in the discussion.

Anyway, since I haven't done much field work for my research, I was told to present my
past researches, projects and activities, especially those that have a relation to my
research plan. I went on, in the simplest English possible (Yabang no?), to present what I
have been doing before coming to Japan. During the first part I showed them pictures of
Baguio City, the Cordillera Region, and the Ilocos Region. Of course, I chose those that
showed how beautiful these places are. I showed them pictures of Panagbenga, Baguio's
festival, which got some oohhs and aahhs; the rice terraces which got a lot of "Suge!",
which can be translated to "wonderful"; and then to the caves, burial grounds and
hanging coffins, which got them asking if those are still being practised. After that, I
showed them the beaches of the Ilocos Region which prompted questions such as "What
is the most famous beach resort in the Philippines? Where in the map can they find them?
How long would it take to go there from Manila?", etc. And finally to the old churches and
houses.

After marvelling them with the wonders of my favorite places, I went on with the serious
stuff.
(So medyo nagpabilib tayo ng konti! Konti lang kasi inisip ko na pag masyado ako
maraming ilalagay sa presentation ko e malamang madami rin ang tatanungin.)
Okay. A little peek to my undergraduate research was made. And I also felt the need to
say some words about the “only University of the Philippines” (Thanks Oliver!). After that,
I talked about what I have been doing in Benguet State University. Highlighted in this part
are my involvement with the eSkwela, iSchools and TESOL programs.

The eSkwela and the iSchools totally caught their interest. Of course, I just had to
mention that the projects were given awards in the international arena. (Pa-good shot ng
konti para sabihin naman nila na hindi lang kunya-kunyaring projects ang
pinakisawsawan ko.) More so with the eSkwela, especially when I showed them screen
shots of the modules we did for the project. I showed them the paper-based module and
the electronic version. Thanks to Mandy and my reliable external drive for I still have
some of the files. I just couldn’t resist showing off what we were working on to address
the issue of digital divide and in providing basic education for the Philippine population.

After the presentation, my sensei initiated the Q&A with the request to show them in
Google maps where Ilocos, Baguio, Los Banos, and Manila are. And I had to be some sort
of a travel guide for a few minutes and fielded off questions like how long does it take
from this place to that place, via what type of transportation, is a province similar to a
ken/prefecture in Japan, etc. Which led to some questions about the political system in
the Philippines. To which I had to roughly answer that we have the President then the
Senators, the congressman…well you get the gist of it. What came next is the concern of
the government’s involvement with the eSkwela project. I mentioned in my presentation
that the funding for the project comes from the government and that it is actually a
special project of the Office of the President. They wanted to know more the direct
involvement of each political leader in the development and implementation of the
project. I was a little stumped at this point, since most of my involvement with the project
was only with the design of the modules. I just had to say that there is, of course,
participation from the local, provincial and regional officials in terms of community
mobilization and information dissemination, adding that I have to read more on the
available materials to detail their involvement. My sensei said that it would be nice if I
could make an organizational chart or some sort of a diagram to map out the flow of
command and to show the responsibilities of each stakeholder. Uh-oh additional
assignment! Tee-hee.

Now, up to this point, people are raising their questions in Nihongo but I was answering
them in English. Thanks to Spencer (the American), and Keiko san (a Japanese) who came
to my rescue now and then, especially whenever I imploringly look at them for
translations on some of the questions that I could not understand. And if they also see
that the others could not understand what I was trying to say, they would summarize it in
Nihongo.
Other questions that came out pertains to the composition of the teams that made the
modules, how much they were paid, how long did it take to finish one module, how much
did it cost, what programs were used to make the modules, copyright issues, can these
modules be accessed anytime and anywhere, are the modules available online, etc.
etc.etc. They were amazed that the modules were developed with the help of students. I
got a few appreciative nods as well when I told them that the people involved in the
project are not full time workers of the project itself but also have other responsibilities in
their own offices, and that it took a while to finish the modules. When I told them that
there are learning centers in various areas in the Philippines where these modules are
used, another barrage of questions came in. If they visit the Philippines, will they be able
to easily locate these centers? Will they be given permission to try the modules also?
Who can use the modules? Do they pay whenever they use the module? What if a learner
does not know how to use a computer? And so on…One question that stuck to mind was
from one of the students who asked if the modules are only for the poor. An utterance of
“Sou desu ne…” from my end to stall a little and try to frame the answer in my mind. I
actually went back to the objectives of the project and explained it again, adding that
whoever is interested and whoever would like to learn more can use the modules. And
from a discussion/chat with Ms. Mel a few minutes later confirmed that I was somehow
right with my answer.

Suffice it to say, that they were very much interested with the program. They actually
said that it is truly a commendable program and that it is good that there is such
endeavor that is being done in the Philippines. I was glad to note that in this part of the
world, even if there were only a few of them, there are people who were able to
appreciate the aims of the project and the enormous amount of work being given for it.

As for the iSchools, the project merited questions mostly about the Camp Blog, the
selection of computer laboratory beneficiaries, the cost of computers, the softwares
installed in the computers, and the conduct of the trainings.

The presentation and the Q&A took almost two hours. And even after the presentation
was over, my sensei still had a few questions, and again with the help of Spencer, a little
discussion ensued before I could go back to my desk. And when I was at my desk, still
high with adrenaline, I just had to post a “thank you” to eSkwela’s FB page, sent a little
note to Ma’am Flor who in turn told Ma’am Mel about it, which prompted Ma’am Mel to
chat with me and gave me other links to check and read. Now if only I could find a way,
an activity or something, so that the CICT people could come here and explain more
about the project. Note to self: another assignment.;-)

While I was chatting with Ma’am Mel, Frevz buzzed and after the kumustahan blues, had
some intellectual discussion about e-learning, blended learning, etc. Thanks for the offer
of help, Frevz! I’ll definitely give you a call.
I was starting to cool down a bit when my Chinese senpai (Nihongo term for Senior), Ing
san, came near my work station. He still had some questions regarding the project! He's
better in Nihongo than in English so most of it, again, were asked in Nihongo. (Dumugo
ulit ilong ko.) He asked about the coding of each module to which I answered that each
module's code are unique because each developer had their own system. He also asked
some other technical details. Some of which I was able to answer, some were a bit too
technical for me to understand. He again asked me how a learner would be able to access
the modules. And I tried to explain, in broken Nihongo (adding in some English now and
then), how everything goes. He had some interesting questions which I aim to find out
and some of these are: the possibility of making available the modules online, the
number of hours a learner can finish one module, issues of cost and sustainability. Every
now and then he would shake his head in amazement and wonder that we were able to
come up with an interesting way for people to learn. And he said that it takes one year to
develop one good video game, and the developers work on it everyday, it's the only thing
that they are working on every day. Kaya sabi nya nakakabilib daw na nakagawa ng mga
modules na tulad ng mga ipinakita ko in the span of time that they were made, na hindi
pa full time ang mga taong gumawa nito.(To all developers out there working on the
project, kudos! Mabuhay kayo! Ipagpatuloy ang magandang gawain.) He also said that in
China, most learning materials are a bit boring - a book full of text. He added that he does
not know much about the existence of such types of materials being made available or
being developed in his country.

Okay, my being a chatterbox has become more apparent in this post. I still have much to
tell. Some other nits and bits of information that came up today. But this is getting way
too long already. With that I say - The end.