Canva for Education announces an exclusive Care Bears™ collection to empower teachers with resources to nurture students through social emotional learning

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Manila, Philippines - Global online design platform Canva, in partnership with The Care Bears brand owner Cloudco Entertainment, announces the immediate release of a collection of Care Bears™ templates exclusively for its Canva for Education community; a collection which further encourages and inspires creativity and connection in the classroom - in both a virtual and physical environment.

Online classes will be the major learning delivery method for the majority of academic institutions across the Philippines. With the traditional face-to-face setup pinned to the side, Filipino educators are adapting to new ways of teaching, rethinking how to provide students with meaningful social-emotional learning tools, as well as ways to keep students engaged.

The Care Bears collection, exclusive to the Canva for Education community, includes:

● Educational worksheets to enhance engagement in the classroom and reach key learning goals;

● Creative and fun ice-breaker activities;

● Wellness activities focusing on social-emotional development; plus

● Care Bears Classroom kits, providing teachers with a touch of magic to bring any classroom to life.

Carly Daff, Canva for Education’s Director of Product, said collaborating with such a global and nostalgic brand was a coup for the organization’s core education audience, because the Care Bear characters and what they stand for perfectly aligns with Canva’s values.

“So far, 2020 is fast becoming one of the most unsettling years for humanity. Now more than ever, we need to take a proactive stance to ensure our kids are being taught how to recognize and express their emotions, manage stress, as well as learn how to care for themselves and have compassion for others,” explained Daff.

“The loveable Care Bears characters empower teachers to help students address their social and emotional development with characters we all know and love. This all-new collection contains vital resources that can be used in a physical or virtual setting, perfect for encouraging connection and creativity in the classroom,” she further stated.

Dr. Vanessa Lapointe, a registered psychologist with a focus in working with children and families, as well as an ambassador for the Care Bears and Canva for Education partnership, explains the importance of social-emotional learning in schools today.

“Social-emotional learning provides educators with an “open portal” to the heart and mind of a child,” said Dr. Lapointe. “This in turn, gives us the ability to shape the growing brain from within in a more meaningful and effective way; it’s an approach that goes a long way towards helping kids become more available to learning. The Care Bears templates are a fun and engaging way to kick off a meaningful conversation with students - it helps break the ice and can be used again and again to check in with them and gain a better understanding of their current state of mind,” furthered Dr. Lapointe.

“As we continue to prepare for this year’s balik eskwela, we at Canva are excited to share the Care Bear collection to Filipino educators who use Canva for Education in their classes. We hope to spread positivity to young learners, and instill the importance of being in-touch with their emotions and feelings, while also understanding the value of caring for others through a fun learning experience,” said Yani Hornilla-Donato, Canva Philippines Country Head.

Kristeen Tibbits, Care Bears’ Head of Marketing, added, “Our desire for positivity fuels today’s focus on personal growth and evolution. We’re craving sunshine and rainbows - even when we’re feeling blue. That’s what the The Care Bears offer. We couldn’t be more excited to bring these messages to children and their education just when they need it most,” concluded Tibbits.

All of these are available for free for the Canva for Education community - https://canva.me/carebear. Register for your free account at: www.canva.com/education. 

About Canva

Valued at $6B USD, Canva is an online graphic design platform used by more than 30 million people every month across 190 countries. Canva for Education is the creativity tool for every classroom. Featuring Canva’s intuitive drag-and-drop design tools, Canva for Education offers a rich and authentic learning experience that empowers teachers and students to create and collaborate. It also includes add-ons such as education-specific content and classroom-friendly templates, an all-new collaboration space, a review workflow, version history plus so much more.

About Cloudco Entertainment

Cloudco Entertainment, formerly American Greetings Entertainment, is the owner for iconic entertainment brands such as Care Bears™, Holly Hobbie™, Madballs™, Packages from Planet X™, Twisted Whiskers™, Buddy Thunderstruck™, Tinpo™ and its newest IP, Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese™. Cloudco Entertainment develops multi-platform entertainment franchises across all media channels and extensive consumer merchandising programs that immerse children and adults in brands they love.

About Care Bears™

Introduced in 1982 through consumer products, greeting cards, and later a series of animated television shows and feature films, Care Bears is one of the most popular and endearing children’s properties in the world. Fans of all ages love these huggable bears from Care-a-Lot who inspire all to have fun, share and care. The Care Bears first appeared in their own television specials in 1983 and 1984, followed up with a long-running animated TV series and then made the leap to the big screen in 1985-87 with The Care Bears Movie trilogy. More recently the Care Bears could be seen in Care Bears & Cousins, a Netflix original CGI-animated series launched in fall 2015 and the brand-new Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, a 2D animated series featuring an all-new look and mission for the bears, launched in 2019 on Tiny Pop in the UK and Boomerang and Cartoon Network in the US. www.carebears.com 

ALI GATIE TEAMS WITH ALESSIA CARA FOR HEARTFELT SINGLE “WELCOME BACK"

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September, 2020 (Los Angeles, CA) – Toronto talent Ali Gatie has unveiled the breezy, yet heartfelt “Welcome Back,” his latest song and first-ever collaboration, featuring alt-pop dynamo Alessia Cara. Following up the lovelorn R&B hits “Running on My Mind” and “If I Fall in Love,” this instantly memorable new single proves Ali Gatie is on track for global pop domination.   “Welcome Back” arrives as an optimistic sign of things returning to normalcy as we navigate through a global pandemic and highlights one of the singer/songwriter’s most charming qualities: He finds hope even in heartache. “I’ve been keeping doors unlocked just hoping you would walk back in,” he croons over a brightly reverbed guitar. Cara effortlessly slips right in with her soulful voice repeating his words before their vocals melt together: “Feels like you were never gone; I’m glad you’re back / If it doesn’t last, at least we had that time that we had.” Not only is it a song written to a lover, but Ali wrote it as a song to his former self.   The new song also finds Ali Gatie further refining his blend of intimate pop and heart-on-sleeve R&B — a sound his fans,the LISNERS, have championed from the start. Over the last 18 months, the artist has seen his numbers soar. He’s surpassed 3 billion global streams and even with a sold-out world tour and Coachella slot put on hold, he’s continued to grow a huge following online. All thanks to unassuming, but undeniable smashes like “What If I Told You That I Love You,” which has garnered nearly half a billion streams all on its own since January.   “Welcome Back” is a next step that again shows the R&B-pop singer’s strength as a solo star while proving his potential as a collaborator. It’s also a hint of what’s to come as Gatie begins putting the pieces together for his first full-length album.

 
 

ABOUT ALI GATIE: Raised in Mississauga, Canada, just outside of Toronto, and of Iraqi descent, 23-year-old phenom Ali Gatie has quietly ascended as a singular voice in the culture. Within two years since his first independent release, he’s surpassed 3 billion streams with earworms like “What If I Told You That I Love You,” “Say To You," “It’s You” and “Moonlight.” He’s quickly proving to be one of the year’s most compelling new artists, straddling the line between pop and R&B. In 2019, he released his debut EP, YOU, achieved RIAA platinum status for his breakout smash “It’s You” (which spent 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100) and sold out his first six shows in less than 10 minutes. Cultivating a massive international following and global media attention, Gatie has been covered by the likes of Complex, HYPEBEAST, Billboard, Forbes, Genius, NYLON and more. He goes deep on the big subjects that have always consumed great artists: Vulnerability, love, and devotion are concepts that he confronts head-on. The openness in his music is palpable, and his fans, affectionately dubbed the LISNERS, continue to multiply, hanging on to the edge of every one of his words.

 

FOLLOW ALI GATIE: Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube

Globe partners with DLSU for world-class STEM education

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Globe has partnered with De La Salle University (DLSU) to enhance the delivery of world class Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)  education to its students. 

The collaboration between the company and one of the country’s premier universities aims to develop modules and specialized courses that will promote more interest to the educational institution’s STEM academic programs. 

“De La Salle University has been working with different industries and academic institutions to foster collaborations and in various fields. The DLSU Intellectual Property Office and the Innovation and Technology Office work to connect DLSU researchers to industry and this is one example of such a role. We believe that STEM education is relevant not only in this time of the pandemic but also in light of the 5th Industrial Revolution. We welcome Globe as a partner in developing STEM education in hopes of serving more people in enriching their skills and advancing their careers. With Globe’s expertise in digital technology, reach, and commitment to innovation, we are confident that this partnership will contribute to the Lasallian mission of being a catalyst for meaningful social transformation,” said Atty. Christopher Cruz, Director of the DLSU Intellectual Property Office.

Globe, on the other hand, believes that strengthening  students' knowledge and skills in STEM will help them nurture innovation that will eventually equip the nation with the workforce of the future, and targets to inspire other schools and colleges to upgrade and prioritize similar courses and programs in the coming years.

“We aim to  develop, modernize  and extend  new courses and class offerings for adoption in the tertiary level, not just for the partner university, but for adoption by other campuses, most especially state universities that are looking to deepen their offerings around STEM. This includes nurturing a mindset that embraces the digital age and values the need to make full use of technology and innovation to drive long term and lasting progress,” Yoly Crisanto, Globe SVP for Corporate Communications and Chief Sustainability Officer said.

Demand for STEM-related occupations is among the highest and best-paid jobs in the 21st century. Unfortunately, students from low-income families are substantially underrepresented in STEM, which in reality, holds so many employment opportunities as an industry. Globally, participation of low-income students in STEM programs are at a much lower rate than their high-income counterparts. One main problem is lack of access of families to resources that help enable STEM education. Many low-income families cannot afford high quality gadgets or stable internet connection which has considerable impact on a child’s exposure and early proficiency in technology, as well as limits their ability to pursue their interests and undertake independent learning, putting them at a disadvantage. 

In addition, children from low-income families are usually enrolled in schools with limited STEM educational resources. This in turn, lowers the quality of STEM education often resulting in the rote memory approach, which is a memorization technique for students without really knowing what they are trying to learn, and with very little time allotted for enriching hands-on experiences. All these have consequences on widening the STEM gap in terms of interest, aptitude, and mastery of fundamental concepts that serve as a prerequisite for higher level studies in the field. 

“With our partnership with DLSU, we hope to be able to deliver new and innovative learning modules catering to more students especially those who are underprivileged. We hope that this partnership will spark stronger collaboration with the academe to improve the quality of education as well as make it more accessible to all,” Crisanto added.

The scope of the partnership between Globe and DLSU includes joint development of educational programs, which can extend to various strands such as articulated degree programs, non-degree programs, certification programs, and or training programs, particularly STEM; sharing and creation of materials and resources; joint conduct of technical and business development activities, such as field testing, prototype development, proof-of-concept testing, customer discovery, and market studies for DLSU Innovations; joint conduct of research projects in particular fields of study, and other related subject matters.

Globe is a strong advocate of quality education and is committed to 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals in order to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.  

To learn more about Globe’s sustainability efforts, visit https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/sustainability.html  

GCash, Ministop partner to increase cash-in locations nationwide

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Committed to making fintech more accessible for all, GCash, the undisputed leader and preferred mobile wallet of the Philippines, has partnered with leading convenience store chain Ministop to enable Filipinos across the country to add money to their mobile wallets with ease.

Through the strategic partnership, all Ministop stores across the Philippines will be able to offer GCash cash in services to its customers. There are over 500 Ministop stores nationwide, spread in key areas of Metro Manila, South Luzon, Cebu, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Roxas, and Boracay. By the end of the month, more than 400 branches will be available for cash in while the activation of remaining stores will be completed by the end of September 2020.

“We are increasing our cash-in touchpoints to afford our customers a means to adapt into the new normal. Because of the great number of Ministop branches nationwide, we think that tapping into that resource is a good way of achieving our goal of promoting finance for all,”  GCash President Martha Sazon said.

Sazon also explained that it is strategic and highly important to partner with convenience stores such as Ministop, because they provide 24/7 access to customers and are classified as essential businesses which means that they stay open despite the level of quarantine imposed in a particular area.

At present, GCash has bumped up the number of cash-in locations in the Philippines to more than 33,000 and has partnered with over 40 banks for seamless conversion of hard cash into GCash.

More than just an e-wallet, GCash provides a variety of financial services which have significantly made Filipinos’ lives easier and safer amid the pandemic by enabling them to practice contactless transactions both digitally and physically. GCash users may use their e-wallets to transact with over 75,000 merchants, pay bills to more than 400 billers, and transfer money to over 40 banks in the Philippines.

GCash has also made insurance accessible to customers through GCash Insurance; empowers them to start saving through the Save Money Feature in the app, offering the highest interest rates in the industry; and even provides users the option to avail a reasonably-priced credit line through GCredit.

These services complement the on-going campaign of the government to integrate cashless transactions into the new normal, as health protocols on physical distancing and limited human interaction continue to be in place despite the gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions in most areas of the Philippines.

“GCash has a unique way of innovating conventional financial services and condensing it all in one app. And this feat wouldn’t mean anything if the greater number of Filipinos have no access to it. This is what drives us to continue on expanding and making groundbreaking partnerships with key business partners such as Ministop,” Sazon added.

Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), which operates GCash, is part of the portfolio companies of 917Ventures, the largest corporate incubator in the Philippines wholly-owned by Globe Telecom Inc.

GCash is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. For more information, kindly visit https://www.gcash.com/.

#itstartsonTikTok continues to celebrate creators and culture trends with “Creators’ Talk” online event

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The celebration continues for TikTok with stories featuring creators, trends, and meaningful campaigns that all began on the world’s leading short-form video platform. Since the local launch of the campaign #itstartsonTikTok last September 11, 2020,

it was followed by an online event on September 17, 2020 titled Creators’ Talk: TikTok’s Impact on Filipino Culture and the Creative Economy with TikTok content creators Zendee, Lyqa Maravilla and Yanyan de Jesus sharing their experiences about how they started on TikTok. A trending TikTok content creator himself, Mark Averilla, aka Macoy Dubs and Auntie Julie, hosted the online event.

TikTok Phillipines’ User Content Content and Operations Manager John Castro officially opened the event with a message that truly explained the essence of the campaign.

“With ‘it starts on TikTok,’ we want to celebrate the community. We want to make sure that we thank our community for making TikTok an integral part of our lives and providing an endless amount of entertainment, joy, and positive vibes. The impact of the trends that TikTok and the community made, now just transcends content - it goes from art to beauty and everything else in between,” said Castro.

John attributed TikTok’s impact on culture to the creators, users, and fans who are continuously inspired to create more content and explore their individuality. TikTok enables people from all walks of life to express themselves one way or another. From a Gen Z dominant app in its early years, the platform now appeals towards the professionals and senior citizens which has helped create a solid diverse culture. With tons of local content within the platform, every user can have a lot of different perspectives.

TikTok as an empowering platform for creation

Prior to Zendee’s popularity, she already participated in numerous singing competitions and was once featured in the Ellen De Generes show. But for her, success became sweeter when she found the empowering culture and community that is on TikTok.

“I initially created comedy on TikTok. Users are already familiar with my chipmunk’s voice delivering “patama’ lines. At that time, I was worried that my followers would only want me to create comedy. Posting a cover, I was shocked with the community’s supportive reactions. Requests started to come in from the comments and that’s how my following grew,” shared Zendee.

This talented creator was able to gain 5.7 million followers in just 7 months. One video that she attributed to her TikTok success is her parody of then viral Sarah Geronimo’s Tala, titled Gala. It was a funny yet hopeful song about how Filipinos look forward to being able to travel again once the community quarantine is over.

During her portion, Zendee enumerated her favorite trends which include the musical challenge  #popcornduet. She also liked how #BinibiningMarikit delivers an empowering theme for  Filipinas to feel confidently beautiful about themselves.

Before ending the interview,  Zendee imparted an message to her fellow content creators:

“TikTok is a big family who’ll support your craft. You can showcase your talent on TikTok. Collaborate with different creators so that we grow together. Let’s support each other, especially to the starting content creators!” 

TikTok as an enabler for learning

“It made me a better educator outside of TikTok,” shared educational content creator Lyqa Maravilla looking back through her 4 months of experience in the platform. Aiming to democratize education in the Philippines, Lyqa started mid-May of 2020 when discussion of virtual learning for students started.

“My concern at that time was student’s fear and anxiety from learning online. Joining TikTok was me being compelled to convince the young ones that learning is possible even from short-form content. I am so happy that the learning audience took to it. This time we get to convince them that: yes, kaya nilang matuto, sa loob ng isang minuto,” shared Coach Lyqa. Her account @teamlyqa actually grew to a million subscribers in six weeks since she started -- a testament that the Filipino youth really love to learn. For a fact, the education-focused local campaign #TikTokU became a top content with 1.8 billion views as of writing. 

Given the young generation’s short attention span, educators are challenged to be creative in their content. Lyqa shared how simple and easy it is to create a video and edit in the app. Ending her interview, she encouraged teachers and co-educators to utilize TikTok as a learning platform, “if you think you have something you know that can help others, share it on TikTok. It is really a good place to start.”

TikTok embraces the unique, creative and weird you

Yanyan de Jesus is now one of the country’s most followed TikTok content creators at 9.7 million. He is the Grand Champion for Talent in the region-wide competition TikTok All-Star Southeast Asia  2019.

“What if one day I become one of them?,” was Yanyan’s question 3 years ago. He shared that gaining 10 followers back then was already a happy moment. He shared that he was a victim of bullying and did not have many friends because he was weird. Little did he know at that time that there’s a huge community out there waiting for this star to realize his greatness.

Yanyan shared that he started on TikTok by creating videos for his own entertainment. One positive video at a time, he continuously explored his individuality and expressed his creative self. Yanyan’s feed today is diversity itself. He can wow you with his moves, make you laugh, and give you all the feels. Asie from doing these things for expression, he also wants to infect his audience with joy, “in my videos, even if I can’t interact personally, I want to make you happy.”

When asked what’s the secret formula for creating viral videos, Yanyan revealed that what matters on TikTok is expressing one’s truth and individuality. Originality is what people will love about you. 

Yanyan invites everyone to start creating their content today, “TikTok has a support system among content creators. We support each other. Be in your comfort zone, then explore. Try new things. Diversify your content.”

 

it starts on TikTok - bringing infectious joy and viral content

For all these reasons, #itstartsonTikTok campaign is a love letter to these local creators and a proper acknowledgement of the campaigns and trends that brought joy to the community.

For every content creator that starts on TikTok, a new story unfolds. One positive content on TikTok is a message of hope and inspiration to multitude of users from many parts of the globe. For every video upload, culture and experiences are shared, amplified, and celebrated in a tic of a sec. These small acts of positivity and goodness collectively shaped the culture trends that we have today.

TikTok welcomes you for who you are. Now’s the best time to start your creative journey. Download TikTok today on your iOS and Android devices and start your TikTok moment with #itstartsonTikTok and #TikTokPhilippines.