Friday, May 18, 2012

Follow your Passions and Love What you Do

Khate, Kenneth, Keith, Ivan after C3 Class
I had the pleasure of teaching three bright teenagers, Ivan, Kenneth, and Khate, and a recent college engineering graduate, Ivandrea, this morning.  Yes, they are all learning English proficiency, communication skills, conversation fluency, critical thinking, and confidence building.

Since three of them were just teenagers, I wanted to first discuss their future goals. Khate wants to become a statistician, Ken a basketball player, and Ivan, an actress.  Keith just graduated with a degree in engineering and is about to take the board exam.

I reminded them that being ambitious is really good.  It will help them go beyond what most people could achieve.  I also reminded them that being ambitious and waking up to reality are two different things.  Reality will tell them that they can't do it.  But if they really want to achieve their goals, they must fight for their dreams.

Most people do not reach their full potentials because they give up, they wake up to reality, or they do not follow their passions.  I encouraged them to do what they love doing.  As long as they love what they do, they will never go wrong.

We ended the class with public speaking.  They practiced their Five Elements.  We had done this many times, but they are still unable to fully complete the structure in their speeches.  Why?  Not enough practice.  I encouraged to be better than average.  And that requires practice, practice, and more practice.

Join me at The American Institute.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Surefire Ways to Building Confidence

How do we build confidence?  Why is confidence so important? 

Building confidence can be very difficult if we don't really know how to go about it.  Sometimes, we try to strengthen ourselves, but we only end up in frustration.  We try to find ways to become more assertive, but we end up going nowhere because we are doing the wrong things.

So what are some of the best ways to gain confidence?  Here are some surefire techniques to get you started and get you going on your way to being very confident:

  1. Soul Searching.  Seems deep, right?  In fact, it is.  Being confident starts from within.  So search from deep within.  What are your goals?  What are your innermost desires?  What makes you happy?  Know who you are and what you want.  Know where you want to be.
  2. Self-esteem.  Value who you are.  Everyone is different for a reason.  Not everyone can be a superstar celebrity or athlete.  You do not have to be a supermodel with God-like looks to value who you are.  Everyone is valuable in themselves.  The fact that you exist, you already are valuable.  If you do not value yourself and your uniqueness, you end up hating yourself.
  3. Act.  Only three letters, but a very powerful point.  It's fine to dream, but you must take action to fix your low self esteem and poor confidence.  One way you can act is by attending courses that will help you enhance your skills.  For example, developing great communication skills is a great skill to help you with your confidence.  Enroll at the American Institute for English Proficiency, the best training center for English and career development in the Philippines.
Confidence can take you to many places.  You don't have to be stuck where you are.  There is so much to enjoy. 

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Cool App called GifBoom

I have been playing on my Iphone, and I found this really cool application called GifBoom.  What it does is that it allows you to put rotating photos together with features to allow you to edit the frames and the photos.  If you have a smart phone and you are into picture editing, this is a nice app.

The photos you see on the left are photos of our students and staff.  You may be wondering why most of them look like Filipinos.  That's because a majority of our students are indeed Pinoys.  We only have international students from time to time.

We invite you to visit us and find out how we can help you develop your confidence.

Bringing Kale to the Beach with The American Institute

A relaxing day at the beach.  That is the perfect getaway for me.  And to have your dog as a pillow.  Haha.  On the 5th year anniversary of our school, the American Institute for English Proficiency, we brought Kale to Anawangin Cove with us.  He was popular to everyone.  After all, he's a Golden Retriever.

He was more than willing to be my pillow.  No animal cruelty here.  In fact, he loves to be pet.  He loves to play as well.  Yes, he wants you to throw the ball!  Throw a stick.  Yes, even a rock.  He wants to play, play and play.  He also loves to swim.  In fact, when he's at home, he loves to go into the bathroom to look for water, not to drink, but hoping that he would get a shower. 

So that's Kale!  The playful, lovable golden retriever.

Back to Blogging

It's been a while, a long while, since I've posted something here!  Ever since the school I co-founded with Vin Magbuhos, the American Institute for English Proficiency, has gotten into full swing, I have had very little time to focus on writing my thoughts down.  I usually pour my heart out in the classroom when I am teaching.

I hope to re-ignite that blogger fire in me.  I want to jot my thoughts down once again and share them with others.

If you are reading my old posts, chances are, you may see a very different me.  I had angst and wasn't quite sure where I was in my life.  However, I believe that I am now more experienced and have taken a different perspective on life.  It's true when they say that experience is the best teacher.  I have learned such a great deal from my travels and from meeting different people everyday.  My day is never the same.  I am thankful for all these diverse experiences.

So let this be the re-start of my writing.  Let this be a new chapter.