What have I gotten into?
With 4-month old Simba in the household now, I realize this is the first time I've had a puppy in my 32 years in the United States.
This is definitely new to me. although we have had a family dog when I was young, in the Philippines, I feel like I have never experienced living with a personal, pet dog. That means I have a lot to learn.
Pet training is Greek to me. Simba, like other pets and their owners like me, needs training. He and I, and sometimes my wife Freny, go to the nearest PetSmart for a weekly class, under Sarah, the pet store's professional dog trainer.
There are about four or five couples in regular attendance, and our dogs are as diverse as we are. But we're there together for a common goal: to get trained.
It's always a challenge for both Simba and me, and other members of the household, to learn new things. Of course we want him to become a well-behaved family member and good citizen---the ideal goal of everyone. But he's still stubborn and playful. (That's understandable because he's still a baby dog!) Nevertheless, he's learning, slowly but surely.
His behaviors and skills are not yet up to par with the rest of his friends in class. He's not consistent yet with regard to potty training. Accidents still happen at home and at PetSmart, at times, even if we have him eliminate before going to his class.
In the pre-obedience lessons or training, reward and reinforcement are necessary to achieve positive results, just like when we deal with our children. But when our pets misbehave or don't listen to us, we impose punishment. By punishment, I don't mean anything that might constitute or be construed as abuse or cruelty. It may be withholding a privilege, but not treats or toys or food.
As with people, there are slow and fast learners. There are individual differences. That creates challenges and opportunities for (meaningful) learning experiences.
In due time, I hope, Simba and we will be "trained."
As many are getting ready for back-to-school, we feel like we're already on the bus. Except we're bringing along a puppy named Simba.
-Chris A. Quilpa, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.
*Appeared in the Opinion page of the award-winning Suffolk News-Herald, Friday, August 28, 2015. For more information, visit www.suffolknewsherald.com.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Time to study Ilokano lessons*
As summer is winding down and school is just around the corner, let's keep on learning and empowering ourselves.
Young and old, it's never too late to learn. amidst rapid changes in technology and perspectives, there's always that desire to catch up, learn new ideas and gain knowledge and skills.
If you're like me---always curious of anything under the sun---I have something to tell you.
I was born and raised in the Ilocos Region of the Philippines, on the island of Luzon, so I consider myself an Ilokano, a native of the northern Philippines. Ilokano is my first language.
My second language is Tagalog or Filipino; my third is English; fourth is Spanish. All these languages I learned in school, except Ilokano. Oddly, I never was taught the formal or proper way of using Ilokano, the lingua franca of the northern Philippines.
Filipino and English, both widely used in schools, academia, business, media and politics, are the two official languages in the country.
Like others, who came to the United States from other countries and eventually became naturalized U.S. citizens, I was never taught my mother tongue formally, and I never knew what's the correct or proper way to use it. I just figured it out, back then, learning from reading Ilokano magazines, like Bannawag.
Unlike Tagalog or Filipino, English and Spanish, which were taught in schools, Ilokano was never a part of the school curriculum.
Though widely spoken by millions in the Philippines, Hawaii, California and other parts of the world, the Ilokano language was left behind. It was only a couple of years ago that Ilokano and other mother languages in the Philippines found their place in elementary schools because of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiative in the Philippines.
For decades, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa has been teaching Ilokano to undergraduate students. In fact, it's the first and only university in the world to offer Bachelor of Arts in Ilokano.
This change comes thanks to Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, a prolific writer and lexicographer and currently associate professor and coordinator of UH at Manoa's Ilokano Language and Literature Program. Likewise, due to the efforts of Dr. Agcaoili and his colleagues at Nakem Conferences (a cultural advocacy group of academics, creative writers, philologists, linguists, and advocates of emancipatory education), Ilokano is now taught in first through third grade in the northern Philippines.
One summer day, when my young adult daughter (Tintin), now studying to be a school counselor, asked me something about Ilokano grammar, I felt so ashamed and ignorant. I couldn't answer her question. I thought I was fluent at Ilokano. Man, I was wrong!
I now want to learn---or relearn---my native language. Why? Because I want to be able to say I'm fluent in Ilokano someday.
Language defines who we are as a people. We can't deny our identity and language is part of our identity.
Octavio Paz (Lozano), a Mexican poet-diplomat and 1990 Nobel Prize winner in literature, once said that language is what makes us human, and "for every language that becomes extinct, an image of man disappears."
I think I'll do my part in keeping Ilokano alive by going back now to my new Ilokano grammar book (Gramatika ti Kontemporaneo nga Ilokano by Dr. Agcaoili).
-Chris A. Quilpa, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.
*Appeared in the Opinion page of the award-winning Suffolk News-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 2015. For more information, visit www.suffolknewsherald.com.
Young and old, it's never too late to learn. amidst rapid changes in technology and perspectives, there's always that desire to catch up, learn new ideas and gain knowledge and skills.
If you're like me---always curious of anything under the sun---I have something to tell you.
I was born and raised in the Ilocos Region of the Philippines, on the island of Luzon, so I consider myself an Ilokano, a native of the northern Philippines. Ilokano is my first language.
My second language is Tagalog or Filipino; my third is English; fourth is Spanish. All these languages I learned in school, except Ilokano. Oddly, I never was taught the formal or proper way of using Ilokano, the lingua franca of the northern Philippines.
Filipino and English, both widely used in schools, academia, business, media and politics, are the two official languages in the country.
Like others, who came to the United States from other countries and eventually became naturalized U.S. citizens, I was never taught my mother tongue formally, and I never knew what's the correct or proper way to use it. I just figured it out, back then, learning from reading Ilokano magazines, like Bannawag.
Unlike Tagalog or Filipino, English and Spanish, which were taught in schools, Ilokano was never a part of the school curriculum.
Though widely spoken by millions in the Philippines, Hawaii, California and other parts of the world, the Ilokano language was left behind. It was only a couple of years ago that Ilokano and other mother languages in the Philippines found their place in elementary schools because of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiative in the Philippines.
For decades, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa has been teaching Ilokano to undergraduate students. In fact, it's the first and only university in the world to offer Bachelor of Arts in Ilokano.
This change comes thanks to Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, a prolific writer and lexicographer and currently associate professor and coordinator of UH at Manoa's Ilokano Language and Literature Program. Likewise, due to the efforts of Dr. Agcaoili and his colleagues at Nakem Conferences (a cultural advocacy group of academics, creative writers, philologists, linguists, and advocates of emancipatory education), Ilokano is now taught in first through third grade in the northern Philippines.
One summer day, when my young adult daughter (Tintin), now studying to be a school counselor, asked me something about Ilokano grammar, I felt so ashamed and ignorant. I couldn't answer her question. I thought I was fluent at Ilokano. Man, I was wrong!
I now want to learn---or relearn---my native language. Why? Because I want to be able to say I'm fluent in Ilokano someday.
Language defines who we are as a people. We can't deny our identity and language is part of our identity.
Octavio Paz (Lozano), a Mexican poet-diplomat and 1990 Nobel Prize winner in literature, once said that language is what makes us human, and "for every language that becomes extinct, an image of man disappears."
I think I'll do my part in keeping Ilokano alive by going back now to my new Ilokano grammar book (Gramatika ti Kontemporaneo nga Ilokano by Dr. Agcaoili).
-Chris A. Quilpa, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.
*Appeared in the Opinion page of the award-winning Suffolk News-Herald, Tuesday, August 18, 2015. For more information, visit www.suffolknewsherald.com.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Patgek ken Nasudi nga Ilokano
Intro: This is an Ilokano poem, a short one, which I have just written today, Saturday afternoon, 15Aug2015, while reading Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili's book, "Gramatika ti Kontemporaneo nga Ilokano."
Ilokano is the major language, or lingua franca, of millions of people in the northern Philippines and other parts of the world where Ilokanos (the people of northern Philippines and elsewhere) abound. It is the 3rd most spoken language in the Philippines, besides Tagalog or Filipino and English.
The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA, in its Ilokano Language and Literature Program, is the first and only university in the world that has offered Bachelor of Arts in Ilokano for decades. Dr. Agcaoili is currently the coordinator of Ilokano Language and Literature Program there.
Until a few years ago, Philippines' Department of Education has implemented this Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiative in which schools in the northern Philippines are now teaching Ilokano to grades 1-6, due to the leadership of prolific author-lexicographer Dr. Agcaoili and his team at Nakem Conferences.
Patgek ken Nasudi nga Ilokano
(Daton ken Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, PhD)
Addaak iti minuyonganmi
iti likod ti balaymi
a mangbasbasa kenka
patgek nga Ilokano
ta adu pay ti adalek
takuatak ken ammuek
maipapan kenka
nasudi nga Ilokano
puli a naindaklan
pangnamnamaan ti pagilian
dinto pulos a malipatan
Timek-Utek iti Kailokuan.
Copyright 2015 by Chris A. Quilpa
Ilokano is the major language, or lingua franca, of millions of people in the northern Philippines and other parts of the world where Ilokanos (the people of northern Philippines and elsewhere) abound. It is the 3rd most spoken language in the Philippines, besides Tagalog or Filipino and English.
The University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA, in its Ilokano Language and Literature Program, is the first and only university in the world that has offered Bachelor of Arts in Ilokano for decades. Dr. Agcaoili is currently the coordinator of Ilokano Language and Literature Program there.
Until a few years ago, Philippines' Department of Education has implemented this Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiative in which schools in the northern Philippines are now teaching Ilokano to grades 1-6, due to the leadership of prolific author-lexicographer Dr. Agcaoili and his team at Nakem Conferences.
Patgek ken Nasudi nga Ilokano
(Daton ken Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, PhD)
Addaak iti minuyonganmi
iti likod ti balaymi
a mangbasbasa kenka
patgek nga Ilokano
ta adu pay ti adalek
takuatak ken ammuek
maipapan kenka
nasudi nga Ilokano
puli a naindaklan
pangnamnamaan ti pagilian
dinto pulos a malipatan
Timek-Utek iti Kailokuan.
Copyright 2015 by Chris A. Quilpa
Friday, August 7, 2015
Take advantage of workplace training*
How do professionals, career men and women, government and civilian employees, military personnel, hotel-restaurant-retail store workers keep up with their profession and careers? How do they keep abreast with the latest information and technology pertinent to their job?
One of the important ways they do so is through in-service training.
When I was active duty in the U.S, Navy, we had frequent in-service training programs, especially if we had a new equipment for our clinic or hospital, or a new directive or policy from the chain of command for immediate implementation to and by all hands. We had different sessions to attend, and both Sailors and civilian personnel had the opportunity to participate.
Mandatory in-service training is the norm in the military. That's because there are rules and regulations requiring strict adherence to military standards, protocols, practices and traditions.
Competence and confidence in what we do and what we are assigned to do is of utmost importance. This is achieved by constant in-service training in our workplace.
In the Navy, in-service training helps Sailors and civilians work efficiently and effectively; deal with the public; and understand issues that can affect (and improve) performance, morale and teamwork, which are essential for a successful mission accomplishment.
Imagine a newcomer in a workplace that provides customer service to the public. How can he or she function well if he or she has a limited knowledge about the organization? How can he or she handle the responsibilities assigned to him or her? That's where the orientation and in-service trainings come in.
If you have participated in in-service training, you have probably left feeling more comfortable, confident and competitive at work because of the knowledge and skills you acquired.
You can't wait to put that knowledge or skills to use. You might even leave the training (hall) ready to face any task assigned to you with confidence. You now have that "can do" and spirit in the workplace.
Furthermore, participants can interact with facilitators, presenters and fellow participants, taking advantage of opportunity to share ideas, thoughts and feedback about topics discussed. They can have role-playing, too, creating scenarios that mimic realism in the workplace.
Everyone knows that practice makes perfect, and many in-service training sessions give participants the opportunity to practice and demonstrate what they have learned. They can actualize what they've learned from the training session.
In-service training is not a waste of time, as some claim. On the contrary, it is a benefit to those who value learning new skills. It's beneficial to those who desire to excel, to be productive and proactive to society.
Therefore, let's avail ourselves of in-service training opportunities provided by our employers. We learn something new each time we participate in them.
-Chris A. Quilpa, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.
*Appeared in the Opinion page of the award-winning Suffolk News-Herald, Friday, August 7, 2015. For more information, visit www.suffolknewsherald.com.
One of the important ways they do so is through in-service training.
When I was active duty in the U.S, Navy, we had frequent in-service training programs, especially if we had a new equipment for our clinic or hospital, or a new directive or policy from the chain of command for immediate implementation to and by all hands. We had different sessions to attend, and both Sailors and civilian personnel had the opportunity to participate.
Mandatory in-service training is the norm in the military. That's because there are rules and regulations requiring strict adherence to military standards, protocols, practices and traditions.
Competence and confidence in what we do and what we are assigned to do is of utmost importance. This is achieved by constant in-service training in our workplace.
In the Navy, in-service training helps Sailors and civilians work efficiently and effectively; deal with the public; and understand issues that can affect (and improve) performance, morale and teamwork, which are essential for a successful mission accomplishment.
Imagine a newcomer in a workplace that provides customer service to the public. How can he or she function well if he or she has a limited knowledge about the organization? How can he or she handle the responsibilities assigned to him or her? That's where the orientation and in-service trainings come in.
If you have participated in in-service training, you have probably left feeling more comfortable, confident and competitive at work because of the knowledge and skills you acquired.
You can't wait to put that knowledge or skills to use. You might even leave the training (hall) ready to face any task assigned to you with confidence. You now have that "can do" and spirit in the workplace.
Furthermore, participants can interact with facilitators, presenters and fellow participants, taking advantage of opportunity to share ideas, thoughts and feedback about topics discussed. They can have role-playing, too, creating scenarios that mimic realism in the workplace.
Everyone knows that practice makes perfect, and many in-service training sessions give participants the opportunity to practice and demonstrate what they have learned. They can actualize what they've learned from the training session.
In-service training is not a waste of time, as some claim. On the contrary, it is a benefit to those who value learning new skills. It's beneficial to those who desire to excel, to be productive and proactive to society.
Therefore, let's avail ourselves of in-service training opportunities provided by our employers. We learn something new each time we participate in them.
-Chris A. Quilpa, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, lives in Suffolk. Email him at chris.a.quilpa@gmail.com.
*Appeared in the Opinion page of the award-winning Suffolk News-Herald, Friday, August 7, 2015. For more information, visit www.suffolknewsherald.com.
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