Friday, August 22, 2008 Peña: Teachable Moments By Rox Peña E-ssue
AT THE request of my little boy, we went out to watch the movie of Vic and Dolphy at SM City in Clark last Sunday. It was time to relax after their 3-day periodical exams and the energy-draining review that comes with it. It was good that Monday was a holiday so no need to sleep early. Thanks to holiday economics.
I was expecting a half-filled movie house. I observed that moviegoers are not that many nowadays, even when I watched the recent box-office hit Batman film "The Dark Knight". No thanks to the availability of cheap pirated DVDs, which are sold simultaneously with the screening of the films (attention, Chairman Edu).
Thus, I was surprised by the standing room only (SRO) crowd that greeted me as I entered SM's Cinema 6. That was beside the fact that "Dobol Trouble" was shown in another cinema.
I initially got tickets for orchestra but I had to get out and rejoin the long queue to the ticket booth to upgrade to balcony. We were lucky to get the last available seats at the top because even the balcony section was SRO a few minutes after we sat comfortably.
I enjoyed the movie in spite of annoying little kids beside me. When the movie ended and the lights went on, I saw empty mineral water bottles and popcorn boxes scattered all over the place. Then the usual taped reminder about proper disposal of garbage was played but nobody was listening. They were all busy making their way to the exit.
Nothing wrong with the reminder but the timing was bad. With a captive audience, a short catchy reminder about recycling and good housekeeping just before the movie could have been better.
The "teachable moment" was when the audience had their eyes glued to the widescreen while holding their newly-opened bottled drinks and munching their popcorn.
A message delivered during a "teachable moment" will have the best impact. By the way, a "teachable moment" is defined by experts as an educational opportunity at which a person, especially a child, is likely to be particularly disposed to learn something or particularly responsive to being taught or made aware of something.
As parents, teachers and advocates, these are the rare moments that we have to watch out for. Out there in the school of life, there are no boundaries to learning. When the opportunity and timing is right, get your message across. It will be better appreciated as the situation relates to real life.
In any advocacy, like proper waste management, there's always a structured IEC (Information Education Campaign). That's necessary to create awareness. Outside the classroom, the advocate can continue with his "personalized" campaign by looking for the right opportunity to drive his point.
I can't forget what a former OFW officemate told me about his experience in the Middle East when they went fishing.
They spent hours throwing their fishing lines but did not catch any. In contrast, a boy not far from them made a big catch. When they asked what his secret was, the boy simply said: "You catch fish for fun, I catch fish for food". That scene and those words -- and the lesson of course -- stuck to his memory.
Oh by the way, did you know that this newspaper was made from 100-percent recycled paper? So for us to continually provide you with this daily paper, please recycle it after reading.
