Last week, we downloaded and started working with Scratch, a computer program language for young kids.
Here is her first program in Scratch about learning Bisaya. Use the space bar to start.
Category Archives: Bisaya
Bisaya lesson at the palengke
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I met my friend Bob Martin in Davao this past Tuesday. I went there to visit him and also to have my Bisaya lesson with our teacher, Bebe. We decided to have a joint lesson among all three of us and to practice our conversational skills. The lesson went well and Bebe said our homework was to go to the market (palengke) and buy something and converse with the vendors there.
So off we went in a pedicab to the largest market in Davao, about 15 minutes away from Bob’s house. At the market, we walked around a bit and practiced our Bisaya . At first, I was nervous about speaking, but I did manage to talk a little. Bob, on the other hand, was very conversant and seemed to have a good grasp of the basics while speaking to many of the people there.
I wound up buying a kilo of fresh salmon for 150 pesos, a little over 3 dollars. We cooked it that night-lami kaayo. See the video above of us at the palengke. Thanks Bob, for a fun day–lets do it again.
Learning Bisaya long distance
My wife and I continue to wait for the birth of our son any day now. Meanwhile, It’s summer vacation and I continue to take language lessons in the Philippine language of Bisaya. My Bisaya lesson went well on Tuesday night. We usually start around 8:30 pm EST, which is 8:30 am Philippine time. Usually by this time I’m a little tired, but I look forward to my lesson as this is my time to learn. Bebe, my teacher, uses Skype and this works reasonable well. We turn off the video and this seems to help with the audio. A few time we will get disconnected, but we make the connection again and continue.
Our past lesson was about using Ig-unsa, and there are four cases that need to be considered. Ig-unsa describes how one person is related to another. There are also 22 new vocabulary words to learn and some of them are challenging to remember. Word like kamagulangan, oldest child, and ginikanan, parents, and kinamanghuran, youngest child, are difficult for me to remember. I hope to get these words in my head in a few days now that I’m home during the day with some time to study.
To help me learn from my teacher, I downloaded and tested a new feature for Skype called Call Recorder. I paid $14.95 and I think it will be worth it. I tried it out on a few other Skype calls and it works very well. This add-on to Skype will record both audio and video. I’ll use it for the first time with my next lesson with Bebe and then I will be able to review the lesson the next day with a cup of coffee (kape).
I am also thinking on just what is the best way to learn a foreign language over the internet. As you can see from the picture above, I have over 350 index cards with vocabulary words. I separate the verbs from all the others. I also separate out the newest words and I keep a stack of words to review that I have a hard time remembering. My goal is to keep reviewing all the past lessons and vocabulary words on a daily basis so I don’t forget them.
Something that has helped me greatly is rewriting my notes from the last lesson. Usually I do this the next day. I print out the Skype conservation and circle any grammar rules and write them down. Then I write out each example Bebe gave me and write them under the rule. I keep separate the different grammar rules on separate pieces of paper. I think this and using the audio recorder will help me with this language.
I’m at the point now that I need to set aside time each day to review or I’ll start to fall behind. The biggest obstacle so far is to find and listen to someone speaking the language. With the Recorder, I hope it helps.
Check July ’08, Dec ’08, and May ’09 for my other posts on learning Bisaya.
Bisaya lesson 21
My Bisaya lesson last week went well. My teacher is Bebe and she lives in Davao, Philippines. I learned in this lesson that Bisaya has a way to verbalize a noun. Mag computer ako, which translates to I will use the computer. Another example is: Kevin will cook adobo–Mag-adobe si Kevin. The main part of the lesson was to show that nag, mag, and pag are used to show action over a longer period of time. They use the same structure as the Mo-factor which makes it easier to do. While this lesson was not so difficult, the vocabulary was a bit of a challenge as there were many new words. I’ve got most of them down, but it’s getting harder to keep reviewing all the older words.
Bisaya Lessons
I have started taking my Bisaya lessons again with my teacher, Bebe, who lives in the Philippines. We are using Wiziq, an online teaching platform. I have scanned in the first ten lessons as we will need to review these so I can get back up to speed. Our first lesson online was difficult as I was at my sister’s house in New Jersey and the wireless network was a little slow as I was upstairs and the base was downstairs. My next lessn will be here at home and things should be better.
When I was in Mindanao, Philippines this past summer, I took ten lessons with Bebe. We usually met at the coffee shop or at Bob Martin’s house. That’s the best way to learn: one on one. Since we are very far away now, I think the best way to learn is to use the online classroom at Wiziq. My goal is still to become fluent in the Bisaya language. I’ll scan in the next few lessons so we’re ready to go. Time now to review my vocabulary.
I’m learning to speak Bisaya
I took my first Bisaya lesson on Thursday in Davao. My teacher is Bebe, and she is helping me to learn to speak the native language here in Mindanao. I have been trying to learn on my own, but it’s difficult as there are few resources available for self study. Bisaya, aka Cebuano, is mostly an oral language. Everyone speaks it here, but few understand it’s grammar and structure.
Bob over at LiP is also learning Bisaya and he recommended Bebe. I’m glad he did as she is a very good teacher. My goal is to learn the first nine lessons in the first book that I was given. I’ve completed lesson one and two and I have five pages of homework for this week. I will continue to take one or two lessons every week, depending on the difficulty.
I don’t want to just get through each lesson, I want to make sure that I have plenty of practice with each new concept before I move on. It’s also important to me that I spend time to internalize the new vocabulary and to get the correct pronunciation. Luckily, I have everyone here to help me every day. Ako si Kevin. Maestro ko.
