A Celebration of Skills

A Celebration of Skills (Day 29)

by Rey Laguda

(This is the  29th day of 50-day journey of DepEd Undersecretary Rey Laguda as being serialized here with his permission, culled from his Facebook account - Blogger/owner)

As an institution, we envision nurturing Filipinos in forming values and competencies that will contribute meaningfully to building the nation. One of the ways we are making this a reality is by recognizing that the varied abilities and skills of the Filipino learners stretch beyond the confines of the classroom. As stewards in ensuring an enabling and supportive environment for effective learning to happen, we provide opportunities for the development and manifestation of such abilities and skills.

One such activity is the National Festival of Talents (NFOT), an annual event held since 2012 where participants showcase their talents in the fields of technical-vocation and the arts. These technical-vocational and artistic skills are presented through the products and performances resulting from what the students have learned from the respective subject areas. This year’s Festival was held last February 22-25 at General Santos City, with the theme "Artistry at its Best by Harmonizing Talents: Maximizing Skills."

There were several skills exhibitions: Technolympics, Sining Tanghalan, National Population Quiz, On-the Spot Skills Exhibition on PopDev, Pambansang Tagisan ng Talino, and Foreign Language Skills Showcase.

Tagisan ng Talino showcases the participants’ essay writing skills in the Filipino language. Sining ng Tanghalan, participated by bonafide students of our Special Program for the Arts, promotes: the modern/contemporary dance skills of the delegates (through the Bale sa Kalye dance parade), songwriting (Likhawitan), on -the-spot painting (Pintahusay), script writing, theater and shadow puppetry (Manik-Aninong Dulaan).

The National Population Quiz and the On-the Spot Skills Exhibition on PopDev tests the knowledge of participants in the fields of family life and responsible parenthood, gender and development, population and reproductive health, etc.

Technolympics is a huge exhibit/contest further separated into different contests: Industrial Arts where skills and knowledge on automotive and electronics servicing and electrical installation (based on curriculum guide for Grades 9-10) are put to the test; Home Economics exhibit where participants are judged on their skills in dressmaking, nail care, hairdressing, etc; Agri-Fishery Arts which includes landscaping among others; ICT exhibit which includes tarpaulin designing and web page designing; and the Bazaar exhibit where products from different regions are marketed to the judges for a chance to be dubbed as the ‘most enterprising product’ of the whole exhibit.

The Foreign Language Skills Showcase holds various events as well: Characters on Parade/ Cosplay where participants get to wear the costume of famous characters from French, Spanish, Japanese, German or Chinese film or literature; Exhibition of Nations; Quiz Whiz, which covers topics on language and culture of the said nationalities; FL Singing Idol, where participants perform songs in the foreign language they are representing; and the SPFL Challenge where representatives from each language will complete various tasks for a chance to win.

It is our hope that the time and efforts we take in recognizing and celebrating the different skills and talents of our learners will boost confidence and encourage more active participation. More importantly, it helps learners in discovering their full potential and honing it further

Watch out for next year’s Festival.
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#‎DepEd50days‬

source: https://www.facebook.com/reylags/posts/10153494532972307