Teaching Scrabble to Our Scholars

I have been playing and teaching Scrabble for more than a decade. I started playing at an early age, when my parents introduced the game to the family. I began teaching, on the other hand, just three years ago, mentoring a high school Scrabble club. I have also imparted my knowledge of Scrabble to friends, out-of-school kids and prisoners.

When Sambat Trust asked me to train scholars in playing Scrabble as part of its literacy program,  I immediately said yes.

Image: Berkley Bedell

The Two-Letter Strategy


On the day of our first Scrabble session, I found three eager scholars playing on a Scrabble board. From the look of it, they knew the mechanics of the game and the structure of the board.

I decided to introduce the basic armament of any Scrabble player: the two-letter word list, a list of frequently used words, interjections, informal words and exotic words.

I shared an important training tool: the dictionary. All two-letter words can be found in dictionaries. I stressed the need to browse a dictionary often, at least to check definitions and help them in their gameplay.

We then had drills to help them remember the two-letter words. First, I asked them to form pairs of letters from all 98 tiles to create acceptable two-letter words. Next, I asked them to classify the two-letter words into to two sets: those they know and those they don’t. It turned out that they already knew almost half of the list. To help them remember the words they don’t know, we looked up the definitions in the library.

Image: Berkley Bedell

Keeping Score

“Scrabble is not just a word and strategy game, but also an arithmetic and statistics game. You need to count and multiply scores and compute probabilities.” I explained.

The rules of Scrabble states that one must announce his or her score when completing a turn. This was new to the scholars. I asked them to tally each player's scores, even their opponents. It may be a game, but the simple act of scoring can help them improve their math skills.

We practices their scoring skills. I placed words on the board and asked them to tell me the score for that turn.The scholars found the activity quite easy; the only real difficulty occurred during instances when more than one word was formed during a turn.  After ten exercises, they got the hang of scoring. One scholar even found a shortcut!

Image: Berkley Bedell

Fun motivation

I was really impressed with the scholars. They learned most of the two-letter words and mastered scoring. I tried to test their skills by playing a Scrabble game that used only two-letter words. Remarkably, they got high scores. I even saw them position words on the board to optimize their values.

The scholars seemed genuinely interested in learning the proper way to play the game. They did not show signs of boredom or fatigue. Instead, they asked me a lot of questions, challenged some of my answers and even formulated shortcuts and mnemonics.

At the end of our session, I gave them a tip. To be a great Scrabble player, they need to read and read. In fact, when I asked them why they wanted to learn Scrabble, one scholar answered, “I want to improve my skills in English.”

Now, that’s the spirit of motivated learning.

By Michael Jude Tumamac. Michael Jude "MJ" Tumamac is a grade school teacher at the Raya School, a graduate of the UP College of Education, and a member of Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA) and Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting).

World Read Aloud Day: Reading Aloud Lizard's Song

George Shannon's Lizard's Song is one of my favorite read aloud pieces. I discovered the book during my preschool years as a librarian. I learned the tune of the song from a little boy, the son of a former colleague, who visited the library. When he saw the book on the table, I remembered him say, "Oh! Lizard's Rock!". He then opened the book, read the story aloud and sang the song as he went along! To see and hear a child read is a beautiful experience.

Happy World Read Aloud Day!

Sambat Trust + Giveacar: Are you exchanging or getting rid of your car this month?

March is a big month in the car donation calendar as new number plates come out

Do you own a banger that’s merely gathering dust in the garage? Then you can do your bit for charity!

Giveacar is a UK based fundraising organisation that specialises in donating unwanted and scrap cars to charitable causes throughout the world, including Giveacar:Sambat Trust.

They provide a FREE service which is available throughout the UK, and can work with you hand-in-hand in the following ways:

· They can arrange the collection of the vehicle;

· Depending on its age and condition, they can either send it for environmentally safe disposal and recycling at an Authorised Treatment Facility, or to a salvage auction;

This means that a large portion of the proceeds are donated to a nominated charity of the vehicle owner’s choice!

Since Giveacar was set up in 2010, the organisation has already raised over £450,000 for over 500 charities!

To arrange collection of a car, visit Giveacar.co.uk or call 020 0011 1664, quoting Sambat Trust as your preferred charity.



SlideShare: Sambat Trust + Adarna House

Partners: Sambat Trust + Adarna House

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Sambat Trust + PhotoPhilanthropy: A Chance to Hope by Cindy Bajema

Sambat Trust + easyfundraising.org.uk : Start making a difference...simply by shopping

Shop Online and Raise Money!
Have you heard about easyfundraising yet? It’s the easiest way to help raise money for Sambat Trust! If you already shop online with retailers such as Amazon, M&S, Argos, John Lewis, Comet, Vodafone, eBay, Boden and Play.com, then we need you to sign up for free to raise money while you shop!

So how does it work?
You shop directly with the retailer as you would normally, but if you sign up to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sambattrust for free and use the links on the easyfundraising site to take you to the retailer, then a percentage of whatever you spend comes directly to us at no extra cost to yourself.

How much can you raise?
Spend £100 with M&S online or Amazon and you raise £2.50 for us. £100 with WH Smith puts £2.00 in our pocket and so on. There's over 2,000 retailers on their site, and some of the donations can be as much as 15% of your purchase.

Save money too!
easyfundraising is FREE to use plus you'll get access to hundreds of exclusive discounts and voucher codes, so not only will you be helping us, you’ll be saving money yourself.

Sign up at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sambattrust and start making a difference...simply by shopping.

Thanks!
Anthony

VIDEO: Honolulu Marathon 2011: Thank You for Your Support

Honolulu Marathon 2011:Running for Children's Books

Featured Scholar: Joan Miano

For ten-year-old Joan Miano, the world is an interesting place to study and discover. At the school library, she seeks to quench her thirst for this knowledge -- one special privilege that comes by being a scholar.


Joan Miano likes reading. She visits the new school library at least once a week. Most of the time, she is reading about other countries. Joan is fascinated about the world -- the different cultures, famous places and festivals.



Cultural Learnings

Joan thoroughly enjoys the colorful pictures she finds in library books, a contrast to the dull pages of textbooks. As she reads up on other cultures, she fills up her notebook in HEKASI (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika), the school's Social Studies class, with the things she's learned.

A fourth grade student of Sambat Elementary School, Joan's explorations of culture around the world has encouraged her to become a HEKASI teacher someday. She wants kids to appreciate learning about other groups of people in this world. She also dreams of traveling throughout the Philippines and around the world. “I want to visit Banaue Rice Terraces and Chocolate Hills,” she adds.

For now, Joan happily travels the world by reading as many books as she can. Finally having a functional library (a project realized through Sambat Trust) is a dream of hers come true.


Hope in Hard Times

The library may be the breeding ground for Joan's dreams, but it is her schooling that is her gateway to a better life. Ten-year-old Joan is a beneficiary of an educational scholarship of Sambat Trust, a program that covers her tuition and expenses for school materials.

Life has not been easy for Joan and her family. She is one of seven siblings and she knows that her scholarship helps ease the family's financial burdens.

Being part of a big family with meager means is certainly difficult, and it's tougher with complicated circumstances. Joan's two older brothers have been held back in third grade due to serious illness and Joan's mom is expecting baby number 8. Her dad's main source of income is by selling bread, hardly enough to meet the family's individual needs.

Joan's family is originally from Samar, an island in the eastern part of the Philippines. Life may be hard these days, but Joan's memories of Samar are something even less pleasant. Living in the town of Sambat feels a bit better, but the best part for Joan is the education she is able to receive at Sambat Elementary School.


The Journey to Bigger Dreams

Sambat Trust’s scholarship program has helped Joan and her family tremendously. Joan believes that without the foundation’s help, she won't be able to explore other countries through books nor would she be able to attend school at all. She thinks herself blessed and returns her good fortune by being a good daughter to her parents, a loving sister to her siblings and an obedient student to her teachers.

To help her parents, Joan makes sure that she maintains her scholarship by focusing on her studies. She prudently spends her daily allowance of ten pesos by buying only food or materials needed for school. If she has any leftover amount from her allowance, she saves it.

Sometimes, Joan thinks of ways to make her own income. She thinks she can do so by becoming a masseur. “I would charge my clients ten pesos per massage,” she says, giggling.



By Michael Jude Tumamac. Michael Jude "MJ" Tumamac is a grade school teacher at the Raya School, a graduate of the UP College of Education, and a member of Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA) and Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting).

VIDEO: Honolulu Marathon...Only 4 Days to Go!

You can sponsor my run- click here!

Sambat Trust + JustGiving: Why I'm Running a Marathon

Honolulu Marathon: Running for Children's Books

Target: ￡1250.00

Raised so far: ￡996.00

Dear Family & Friends,

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.



Why am I running a marathon?

As you may know, Sambat Trust started after I treated my Mum, for Christmas 2006, to a trip home to the Philippines.

 One story Mum told me from her holiday was of Johaini, a young girl in Mum's village who was not in school and learning because her family couldn't afford the school fees.

Johaini in school

 I decided to do something.

 I asked family and friends for their support.

 That first year, 36 children were able to go to school. Johaini was one of them.

 Thanks to you, Sambat Trust is growing: we are establishing school libraries, granting scholarships and training teachers.

Over 2,000 children now have the opportunity to read children's books in school!

But we are just beginning. Every child has the right to a quality education.

Wawa Primary School Library

With your help, Sambat Trust can continue to provide the resources required for children to thrive in school.

• ￡10 puts 10 local children's books in a library

• ￡20 buys a year of school supplies for 5 children

• ￡100 places 70 Scholastic books on a library shelf

So why have I sponsored myself?

I can only ask you to do something if I'm also willing to do it :)

Sambat Trust scholars ready for the new school year

Love, thanks and salamat po!

Anthony

You can sponsor my marathon run here

.

Featured Scholar: Vivienne Claire Opulencia

It's like life imitating art. Eleven-year-old Vivienne Claire Opulencia likes to give old items new life. As a scholar, her old life burdened by financial worries has been given new hope.

Flower vases made out of tin cans, wrapped with paper and painted in colorful designs is one of the products of the imagination of Vivienne Claire Opulencia. Obviously possessing a penchant for creative endeavors. Vivienne displays a fondness of lines, shapes and colors in her work.


Art and Work

Vivienne inherited her artistic talent from her father, a painter and charcoal portraitist. She enjoys watching her father paint and draw the faces of his clients using various media. She loves how colors or the lack of it can create magic in an artwork.

Through the help of her father, Vivienne has learned a few tricks of her own. She has also learned that work as an artist can be quiet unstable. Her father's income relies heavily on the number of commissions he receives.

“If there are many clients, there’s a lot of money,” she explains. “If there is few or no client at all, we have to tighten for days.”

Vivienne’s mother, on the other hand, works at the quality control department of a clothing factory. Though her mother’s income is regular, it is not enough to cover all the costs of their needs. Their main financial problems oscillate between school expenses and different sorts of bills.


A Redesigned Life

Last year, Vivienne acquired a scholarship from Sambat Trust Foundation last year.

When their principal at Sambat Elementary School announced that scholarships to less fortunate children were available, Vivienne got to work. She immediately applied -- and got accepted.

As a scholar, her school fees, uniforms and school materials are subsidized. As such, her family's expenditures have been considerably trimmed down.

“Masaya maging iskolar, nakakatulong ka sa magulang. (I feel happy to be a scholar because I am helping my parents.)” She adds, “I will be forever grateful to the sponsors of Sambat Trust Foundation. They make many things possible for me.”


A Canvas for Possibilities

When Sambat Trust established a library at the school, Vivienne was ecstatic. She loves reading books in the library. She is particularly captivated by the beautiful illustrations that she finds in picture books. This has cultivated a dream to become a book illustrator someday.

While art will always be part of Vivienne's sphere of interest, she is also thinking of other possible options. For one, she has discovered a love for numbers and mathematical operations. Perhaps, she thinks, she can become an elementary math teacher.

Vivienne also imagines she can put up a restaurant. Or maybe a clothing store; she can employ her mother this way.

Right now, Vivienne has a blank slate to draw her plans on. As a Sambat Trust scholar, she has her studies to help her realize anything she can imagine herself doing.


By Michael Jude Tumamac. Michael Jude "MJ" Tumamac is a grade school teacher at the Raya School, a graduate of the UP College of Education, and a member of Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA) and Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting).

Meeting the Scholars

Photographer Berkley Bedell is a Sambat Trust volunteer who has come all the way from Colorado, USA. He has come to the Philippines to explore and document the life of the schools, the students and the town that have been benefitting from Sambat Trust's programs these past years.

Here, Berkley relates his first meeting with some of the program's scholars.

I arrived in the Philippines several days ago on my mission to tell the story, photographically, of the Sambat Trust and the people it helps. Since my arrival I have used my time to adjust and learn about the culture from my host. Today though, I had the pleasure of meeting a few of the kids I will be working with during my time here, the scholars.

They came to my host’s house today, as they do every Saturday, to work on their School Fund profiles and to respond to emails and comments from sponsors. 

Mark Anthony, Jonna Pecho, Jazmin Vivas, and Mary Joy Gualvez appear bright, hard working, and determined upon our first meeting. They were on this occasion though, very shy of me and my camera, often giggling and hiding their faces when I tried to take their picture. 

I’m looking forward to learning more about each of them, and getting to see more of their personalities as they get more comfortable with my presence.

Scholars Mark Anthony and Jonna Pecho at work on their School Fund profiles.

Scholars Jazmin Vivas and Mary Joy Gualvez at work on their School Fund profiles.

Scholars (pictured from left to right) Mark Anthony, Jonna Pecho, Jazmin Vivas, & Mary Joy Gualvez.