Christmas is the most awaited and celebrated time of the year, the period to acknowledge and thank God for giving us His Son Jesus Christ for the Salvation of those who would believe as in John 3:16 (The Bible).

As anticipated everyone are all set to showcase their talents in a party themed A Christmas Carol Karaoke night at President Jose P. Laurel Hall 4/F in PJF Bldg., on Friday 18^th December 2015 from 6PM onwards.

Every Candidate and NCF Staff displayed their inventiveness by presenting themselves wearing decorated and colourful Christmas attire in Red, White or Green.

The host, Mr. Josef Orillo encouraged everyone to participate in the games, singing, dancing, exchanging of gifts, to have a fantastic time and announced that dinner is served so everyone could enjoy sumptuous mixed of Oriental favourite meal and juices as a treat before we start the program.

Ms. Maria Lynn Canlas, Building Administrator opened the party with a thanksgiving prayer and Mr. Kenjiro Ogata, Head Lecturer welcomed everyone, and officially started the party.

The party began with 6 Christmas Carol Karaoke Presentations from each class, choices of music are: Kisyuugumi Videoke Carol (Class 1), 12 Days of Nihongo Benkyoushimasu (Class 2), Star ng Pasko (Class 3), I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Class 4), Thank you for the Love & Merry Christrmas Happy Holidays Medley (Class 5) and Merry Christmas Dance Carol (Class 6). Judges were Mr. Kenjiro Ogata, Head Lecturer; Ms. Glenda Toral-Ferma, Deputy Adminitrator and Ms. Betty Mojica, Lecturer, Japanese Culture and Society with the following criteria for judging: Mastery and Timing, Choreography & Unity, Costume & Props and Christmas Relevance, such had made every presenters excitingly challenged. Every candidate performed with their all, and as a result every audience and judges were astonished! They are indeed handpicked.

Games made the night filled with fun and happiness too, we relayed messages via facial expressions, painted real life portraits of Christmas stories and played the stone, paper, and scissor twenty to share match.

The highlight of the evening is the exchanging of Christmas gifts with a twist – laughter, shouting, dancing and rejoicing  filled the room as we pass along gifts to the left, right, across, behind as instructed to the beat of  Hillsong’s  We Have A Saviour Born Is The King ‘It’s Christmas’ this activity was amazingly crazy and F.U.N. as per Mr. Ogata!

There were prizes aplenty as sponsored by NCF Management and Mr. Ogata were given away for the game winners and Presentation’s top 3 winners, as announced by Deputy Administrator Ms. Glenda Toral-Ferma. Winners came forward as called, they were: Class 3-3^rd Placer, Class 4-2^nd Placer and Class 2-Grand Winners who really made their presentation unique, personalized and relevant.

A planner with a character pen was also distributed as NCF’s token of appreciation, for each Administrators, Lecturers, Workforce and Candidates who are part of this enormous and triumphant year.

The party concluded as each of us observed a moment of stillness with a prayer thanking the Lord Jesus Christ the reason for the season, undeniably.

Madame Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, donated to the Nihongo Center Foundation (NCF) numerous books on Japan and Nihongo education.  The donation was personally conveyed by Mrs. Abe, who was accompanying her husband – the Prime Minister – during the 27th APEC Summit held in Manila in mid-November 2015.  A simple but meaningful donation ceremony was held on November 19, 2015 at the Manila Diamond Hotel.

Mrs. Glenda Toral-Ferma, Deputy Administrator and Faculty member of the Nihongo Center received the donation during the Presentation Ceremony.  She was accompanied by selected Nurse and Careworker candidates undergoing Japanese Language Training under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).  Also present during the turnover rites were officials of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines and the Japan Foundation Manila.

The donation consisted of books on current approaches to teaching Japanese Language, as well as books on Japanese culture and history, publications on Sights of Japan, various magazines, and personal books written by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Madame Abe herself.

Mrs. Abe had a fruitful exchange of opinions and insights with the NCF representatives on how Japan views Filipinos in the service industry and how Filipinos view Japan as a country and people. She expressed her appreciation of the warmth and hospitality of Filipinos and their innate nature for caring of the sick and the elderly.  The Filipino nurses and care workers  in turn expressed their gratitude to the Government of Japan for opening the doors for Filipinos health workers.

Photo Credits:  Japan Embassy and Japan Foundation Manila

The Nihongo Center Foundation/Philippine Institute of Japanese Language & Culture (NCF/PIJLC) co-sponsored with Kake Educational Institute 加計学園 of Okayama, Japan the Manila Competition for the 5^thKakeGakuen International Nihongo Speech Contest 第５回加計学園杯日本語弁論国際大会マニラ予選 . The speech contest, the second to include the Philippines, was held on September 19, 2015 at the Jose P. Laurel Hall, 4^th floor Philippines-Japan Friendship Center-Manila in Sampaloc, Manila.

 There were nine contestants who prepared their own speeches in Nihongo on the theme: “My Message to the Future”未来へ伝えたいこと. Ms. Camille Valerie Torre of the NCF/PIJLC N1 Review Class who has been a student of NCF since 2006 won first place, entitling her to represent the country in the Final Competition in Okayama, Japan to be held on November 25-29, 2015. She was also granted 2-year scholarship at any of the three universities under the Kake Educational Institution System.

The second place was awarded to Ms. Jacqueline Okaya of the NCF/PIJLC Teacher Training Course, while Ms. Carmel Acuzar of the Intermediate 1 Class won third place.

The panel of judges consisted of Director Tatsuo Kitagawa of the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, Dr. Takuji Hoshino of the Okayama University of Science, and Prof. Kenjiro Ogata, Academic Advisor of NCF-PIJLC.

Mr. Philip B. Sanvictores, NCF-PIJLC President delivered an extemporaneous speech on the merits of participating in and preparing for a speech contestat the start of the Program. He was followed by Dir. Kitagawa who praised Kake Gakuen for hosting the international speech contest and thanked NCF-PIJLC for partnering with Kake Gakuen on this worthwhile project that promotes Nihongo education in the Philippines. At the end of the contest, Dir. Hoshino thanked all the participants and encouraged all the contestants to strive hard in learning Nihongo. He added that with the high quality of speeches presented during the contest, all the participants were actually winners.

After the Speech Contest, PIJLC hosted dinner for the guests from Japan at the Barbara’s Cultural Restaurant in Intramuros.

The Faculty Development Program (FDP) of the PIJLC-NCF was launched in August 2015, with the objective of developing a stronger faculty to serve the needs of a growing demand for Japanese language courses. The PIJLC-NCF FDP aims to equip the faculty with updated teaching tools, and in the long term, gain know-how on designing customized courses to suite specific industry needs.

Among the activities of the PIJLC-NCF FDP are regular Faculty Meetings which customarily start with a study session. Here, faculty members take turns in giving presentations, sharing their teaching techniques and methods acquired from various trainings. Faculty Meetings are also the venue where KAIZEN discussions on course offerings, teaching materials, and other school-related matters are held, with all members contributing ideas to find ways to improve the quality of service that the school can offer.

Besides the Faculty Meetings, the PIJLC-NCF FDP strives to maintain the school’s teaching standard through its Internal and External Training Programs. Part of Internal Training is done by the more experienced faculty members through periodic class observations, followed by advice and feedback sessions with the observed instructors. In the External Training Program, qualified faculty members are given a chance to participate in trainings and seminars related to Japanese Language Education conducted by both local organizations and overseas institutions.

Apart from the activities involving the current faculty members, the PIJLC-NCF FDP aspires to increase the number of Japanese-language instructors by developing ties with local educational institutions and providing qualified candidates with training in Japanese-language and pedagogy.