| Update as of September 18, 2023:
Free resources for high school or grade school students in the Philippines who are joining the photojournalism contest in the division, regional, or national press conference: A. 200-plus resources (JPG, PDF, MP4, etc.) on photography and photojournalism, with 600-plus megabytes total file size. B. 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc (with around 200 megabytes total file size). The exercises have time limit and automatic scoring, with an average of 10 items per exercise. Please inform your journalism teacher/schoolpaper adviser or your parents about these resources before downloading them. All that I ask is that these free resources that I’m offering must be used only on a personal and private basis; they must not be uploaded to a website or to an intranet. These resources are free of charge for everyone and must not be used commercially. A. 200-plus resources (JPG, PDF, MP4, etc.) on photography and photojournalism; download link at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l0r3bmriSw6qga18TKYle59W9iDU3aup?usp=sharing (you can download the files even if you don’t have a Google Drive account). B. 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc; download link at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SGSpj07Yl8Tlm2t8KXM7JXGPz6WZOsVj?usp=sharing (you can download the files even if you don’t have a Google Drive account). 1. Once you have downloaded the files from Dropbox and opened the home page (index file), you will see a link to the resource titled “Spoken English Learned Quickly” (SELQ). The SELQ files are also stored in Google Drive, with approximately 850 megabytes total file size; direct download link from Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-9jzpatTtnGYnuHISOOAJDtQzhGmaiU1?usp=sharing (you can download the files even if you don’t have a Google Drive account). The “Spoken English Learned Quickly” (SELQ) resource features lessons in PDF and MP3 formats, with choices of American accent or light British accent. The lessons are based on a modern English version of the Book of Acts (New Testament of the Bible). Instructions for students are in English and various other languages such as Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Filipino, etc. 2. The interactive exercises will work even if you’re offline. But with your smartphone or tablet, you cannot use the “HTML Viewer” app because the interactive exercises require Javascript; you need to use your browser, preferably Firefox, to open the files. Choose the website or desktop view rather than the mobile view. But the SELQ resource will not work on a smartphone or tablet. 3. The SELQ resource was developed by the late Dr. Lynn Lundquist. In the late 2000s, Dr. Lundquist gave me permission to use it in my websites and seminars. In contrast to traditional ESL programs, Dr. Lundquist developed the SELQ resource so as to enable people to speak fluent conversational English within a year. 4. I suggest that you download these free resources that I’m offering to you to your laptop or desktop computer. The interactive exercises are about 200 megabytes, while the SELQ files are about 850 megabytes. The photojournalism resources are about 600 megabytes. Except for the SELQ resource, you can later transfer these files to your smartphone or tablet via OTG USB cable. 5. With the SELQ files, you need to use either your laptop or desktop computer. You need to open the lesson (either as web page or PDF) in one tab/window. You also need to open the MP3 file in another tab/window. Resize the tabs/windows so that you can see them both side by side. (When clicking the MP3 file, you can choose American accent or British accent.) If you have any question about downloading or using these free resources, please email me (after informing your journalism teacher/schoolpaper adviser or your parents). I’ll be able to reply to you within two to three days; if you don’t see my reply in your Inbox, check your Spam folder. Or, you can text me. Atty. Gerry T. Galacio gtgalacio@yahoo.com 0927-798-3138 |
Free seminar-workshop on “English Proficiency” for schools and government offices in Metro Manila and Rizal Province
For more information or to schedule a free seminar, contact Atty. Gerry T. Galacio at gtgalacio@yahoo.com or 0927-798-3138. The training matrix for the seminar is posted below.
Previous “English Proficiency” seminars:
1. Division of City Schools, Pasig City, October 2013 (Plain English seminar for English teachers)
2. Santolan High School, Pasig City, June 2014 (whole-day seminar on English Proficiency)
3. Sta. Lucia High School, Pasig City, December 2014 (4-Saturday seminar on English Proficiency)
4. Maybunga Elementary School, Annex, Pasig City, May 24, 2018 (whole-day seminar on English Proficiency)
1st picture - Mr. Christopher Santos, principal, addresses the participants; 2nd and 3rd pictures - participants work on the 290-plus interactive exercises that have been downloaded to their laptops, tablets, or smartphones.
5. Spurgeon School Foundation, Makati City, August 10, 2018 (whole-day seminar on English Proficiency)
6. National Museum, Intramuros, Manila, June 27, 2019 (whole-day seminar on Plain English style of writing)
7. Dela Paz High School, Pasig City, Metro Manila, August 31, 2019 (whole-day seminar on English Proficiency); photos below by Glearsean Francisco Samudio
Training Matrix for “English Proficiency” seminar (prepared by Atty. Gerry T. Galacio):
What the seminar is all about:
A. For proficiency in spoken English, the seminar emphasizes what is known as the “Proprioceptive Language Learning Method” or simply “Feedback Training Method.” This method emphasizes the simultaneous training of the mind, ears, vocal cords, lips, tongue, jaw, and facial muscles in learning a language.
People do not learn to speak the English language by studying vocabulary and the rules of grammar. The best way in learning to speak English fluently and to learn grammar at the same time is by listening to and speaking grammatically-correct sentences.
The seminars emphasize three rules of learning how to speak English fluently:
1. You must speak English aloud.
2. You must think in English.
3. The more you speak English aloud, the more quickly you will learn to speak it fluently.
By using the “Spoken English Learned Quickly” materials, a person can learn to speak fluent conversational English in less than nine months. The materials, which can be downloaded free, include a 450-page Student Workbook (PDF) and 150-plus hours of MP3 lessons in British and American accents.
B. For proficiency in English reading and writing, the seminars provide the participants (1) an overview of the thousands of materials freely available on the Internet, (2) practice in reading some selected classic literature, and (3) hands-on activity with interactive exercises that have time limit and automatic scoring.
For seminars involving school teachers, I also teach them how to create their own interactive grammar exercises using a freeware from the University of Victoria in Canada.
C. Sequence of topics:
1. Profile of speaker (8 slides; 2.6 mb)
2. Improving your communications skills (62 slides; 20.96 MB)
Topics include: DepEd programs for English proficiency; expectations and goals; To learn English, you must have desire, self-discipline, and practice; assessment and diagnostics tests; DOST LEAP (Learning English Application for Pinoys); Spoken English Learned Quickly; Hope ESL; verb exercises; Daily Pronunciation videos; Learn English through CNN; VOA Learning English resources; The Chaos; Learning English through songs, movies, and pictures.
3. The wonders of reading (42 slides; 5.51 MB)
Topics include: The Power of Words video; How many English words do you need to know in order to communicate effectively?; free resources in reading and reading comprehension; download thousands of books from Bookboon; Read and listen to stories from young writers; Rewordify.com free program for increasing vocabulary and reading comprehension; The Rose; The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
4. Clear and concise English for effective writing (109 slides; 18.63 MB)
Topics include: Plain English style of writing; guidelines for writing and editing in Plain English; classic rules for good writing.
5. Exercises from ADB Handbook (22 slides; 225.5 KB)
6. OECD exercises (36 slides; 1.1 MB)
7. Interactive exercises using the school’s available computers (or the laptops, tablets, or smartphones of the participants)
8. Output test for seminar participants
9. Answers to output test (9 slides; 1.1 MB)
