Monday, March 30, 2009

The Miracle Run




I met new people to admire.
I got closer to my workmates.
I did what I never thought I could.
I ran for people who couldn't.
I memorized UP Ikot's route without studying in UP.
I ran for a cause.
I ran 10 kilometers.
I realized there's more to life than smoking.
I have been exposed to more challenges.
This is Exactly Why They Called It a Miracle Run.
I got a shirt that says:

I MADE A DIFFERENCE.

Next plan: Wall Climbing at EcoPark
Next Plan after EcoPark: Hiking to a mountain and
spending the whole day helping indigenous people.
I'M REALLY LOOKING WORWARD TO IT.

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Working Dilemma

I'm killing myself. Slowly killing myself. I work from 5 in the morning to 9, then go home and sleep and go back to Ortigas to work in another company from 6 to eleven. Now I don't know what has just gotten into me, I decided to have a full time shift for my first company. This is great.

Last night, before I went home, I went to my friend's house to give him something that he borrowed from Brix. When I got there, I realized how extraordinarily dull my life has become these days. He said he envied me because I have started working already and he's still a bum, waiting for an opportunity to come his way. The more he remarked about me being thin and sick-looking, the more I felt stupid for deciding to dig my own grave.

Because of all this stress, frustration and farce confidence, I am losing people around me. I am normally cynical and grumpy towards my mom, and now that I work, these traits have increased and sadly, they can't and don't want to tolerate it.

When I wake up in the morning, I don't talk to them anymore because I have to rush to the bathroom, take a bath, dress up and leave immediately for work. When I get home, I go up and just sleep without even looking at them. I once thought things would be way better off if I stay there without talking to them but you know, I still miss having a decent conversation with people I don't teach.

I have lost time for school. Last week I was supposed to process my clearance but because of work, I became so tired and lazy to even think of going to Intramuros for it.

I am so tired. I want to go back to being a student. If only I could.

I would have been okay, if only I could still have everything in my hands while doing these things. Pero hindi eh. Little by little, I manage to eat alone, smoke alone, do things alone. I have never felt this before.

Despite these challenges, I have things I can still be thankful for. I am confident that I still have friends who understand. I am confident that the ring I'm wearing around my finger still has a meaning. I want to keep it that way.

Today I have realized one thing: I tend to give more because I don't really need much for myself.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Symphony and Metal

You must be some kind of retard not to appreciate this performance. Long live Metallica.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

This is What I Get for Saying Yeobosaeyo (Hello) Everyday.

I'm not really into K-Pop but I find SNSD (Girls' Generation) and SuJu (Super Junior) interesting. They are cute and talented. They can sing and dance unlike most performers here in the Philippines. Dito lang kasi sa pinas nauuso yung "concert TV" na lip synch. Seldom do we find performers who can catch the audience not only thru their looks, but thru talents as well.

Let's start with aesthetics. Don't you think these people look attractive?

No, seriously.
You don't get to see pretty faces very often nowadays... 

..and I swear, it has never been my habit to drool over a face of a guy.
Let this however, be an exemption. 

Kim Ki Bum should be a specimen for the Human Genome Project.
Not all the guys in SuJu are attractive.

In fact, one fat guy impetuously squeezed himself in the group.

Now to music. I like SNSD's catchy tunes. They sound like spice girls only a little younger, funkier and better. They dance well and they don't have to try so hard to be cute on-screen because they ARE cute. What more can I say. Oh yeah, they make EB babes  and sexbomb look like performers who are always prepared to step on stage to give their last performance before they formally retire from what they call "singing" and "dancing". Sorry for the harsh similes. At any rate, they are still Filipino performers so yeah, love your own. Going back to SNSD, I find their songs "Gee"and "Kissing You" very sweet, even if I don't understand the lyrics (English adlibs like "baby" help a lot).

Now, SuJu's songs like "Sorry, Sorry" and "Miracle" are okay, but heck, maybe they should hire a telephone english instructor first before they use some English terms for their lyrics. They pronounce "Sorry" like "sorreh". It almost sounds like "soleh" or some filipino who thrives to ask for apologies in English. Still, I find this group okay. 

They have nice lyrics, as in the case of their song "Miracle". They sing, "Life can get better" then some guys would go shouting in the background "Hey!". Their songs are not really the kind you'd listen to if you want to get the LSS, but it can only get worse. Their steps are ridiculous. I believe they ought to fire their choreographer, or if they make their own steps, maybe they should just hire one to teach them some real human rhythm. Notwithstanding my humble opinion that their dance steps suck, I still find most of the SuJu guys worth screaming for. Oh Kim Ki Bum.

I'm not comparing SNSD and SuJu. These are two different groups and it's utterly pointless to see which group is better. I just want to talk about them, that's all. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Barn

I am a very smart person. I am not bragging. I know a lot of things about a bit of everything. Again, I am not bragging.

Even though I know I how smart I am, I know my limits. I don't like pretending to know something when in reality, I don't. Whenever I encounter something I have no idea about, I quickly ask the people around me about it to have a bit of knowledge about it.

I am NOT good in my native language, which is Tagalog. Screw me right? But at least I'm honest.

This past weekend, I was playing a game which was in Tagalog and it was eating me up because there were some words I don't understand. I admitted to my friends how dumb I am and even gave them some English words that I don't know in Tagalog. Suddenly, one of my bastard friends decided he wanted to crack a joke about one of my questions.

I asked everyone what was 'kamalig' in English. Everyone in the room said that the English word for it was 'barn'. Then my bastard friend entered the scene and this transpired:

Vlake: "Ang tanga mo naman, yun lang di mo alam. Barn yun." (You are so dumb, you should know that. It's barn.)
Brix: "Oo na. Sorry ha?" (Fine. I'm sorry.)
Vlake: "Barn! Alam mo na, nasusunog! Barning!" (Barn! You know, burning! Barning!)

Everyone in the room exploded with laughter then killed my friend for being such a smart-ass. ^0^v

Monday, March 16, 2009

Thanks Nix and R. Pausch

Nix made me realize a lot of things this morning.

She sent me a text message that goes:

"When you are screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, it means they have given up on you."
-R. Pausch

I have screwed up, big time.

I go to school for my clearance and only a few of my friends talk to me.
I go to WELS to rant and forget things and my friends there say nothing because they've gotten used to everything I tell them.
I have been keeping this up for almost a year now and no one leaves comments anymore.
Whenever I am with my family and I brag about an achievement, their reactions are almost the same as those they give when I fail.
I'm now a one-man band, in all aspects I can possibly think of.

Everyone is giving up on me. They just don't want to say it. I'm giving up on myself as well.
They're right, the problem is on me.
It has always been my fault..and I still don't stop. :(

Sunday, March 15, 2009

(Gasp) I Really Really Really Need to Watch This:

I have been waiting for this for so long. I hope AND PRAY I could have the chance to watch it on its first screening day. :(

OH. MY. GOD. (Part 2)

Twelve Rounds: Showing on March 27, 2009
Harry Potter 6: Showing on July 17, 2009

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen-Showing on June 24, 2009
Tim Burton's 9: 09.09.09 (Coool)
Toy Story in 3-D: Showing on October 2, 2009
Ice Age 3: Showing on July 1, 2009
Astroboy: October 23, 2009

Friday, March 13, 2009

Friday the 13th

From my understanding, this day is supposed to be an unlucky day. I think the trick to dodging the bad luck this day brings is by really waiting for it to come, then jump on it like how an athlete jumps on a hurdle on a marathon, then shout, 'Screw you~~'. I am not saying that this is how I get out of Friday the 13th untouched by bad luck, I just don't believe that concept. I'm too logical for that.

Let's see if this day is really unlucky or not.

On the minus side:

* I woke up with a very kind headache. This happened as soon as I woke up so let's give it 5 points.
* I wasn't able to use the shoes that I normally use because an army of ants invaded it. That's probably 4 points.
* I am having a hard time walking since I am wearing sandals which I don't even own. 2 points.
* The security personnel stopped me from going inside the building where my office is at since I am wearing sandals. 3 points.
* Out of nowhere, the lights went out and there was no electricity for around 5 minutes. Since this is somehow a good thing (no classes), this will just get 2 points.
* The person who delivered our food was uber late and I had to speed-eat everything I ordered because my classes will start in fifteen minutes. It cost me 220 pesos for the food that I didn't even appreciate so let's give this 5 points.
* This day is not yet over so who knows what else might happen. That's 2 more points.

Ok, enough sulking on the bad things.

Let's go to the plus side:

* I had a very nice dream about Yoona (SNSD), Nica maknae, and Bespren Jo. I think the good things that happened in this dream is enough to cancel the headache I had as the day started so 5 points.
* Good thing that Throi left the sandals I borrowed last weekend at the house so I still have a decent footwear I can use even though the ants-attacking-my-shoes incident happened. That's a good 5 points.
* I am early today so I was able to goof around with the morning teachers. 2 points.
* Miss Mau and Liz visited the office and told me I look better with my new hairdo. 2 points.
* Because of the power interruption, the evening teachers were able to take a few pictures. 3 points.
* So Nyeo Shi Dae grabs a miracle win to be number 1 again this week on MuBank. This is their ninth week. Even though it was uber laggy, I still streamed it online and I really waited for it. This will be a whopping 7 points. (I am still high about this so expect a post about this in the upcoming days.)
* All the evening teachers are in a "Red Carpet" attire and it's really an eye candy, even me. 3 points.
* It's a weekend tomorrow, I deserve the rest, and I will be with my friends. 4 points.

Tally:
Minus side: 23 points.
Plus side: 31 points.

I really feel that this is a very long day. A lot of things happened and even though there are only 2 more hours left before it turns Saturday, bad luck can still strike so I ain't closing doors yet. But my aura is good in repelling bad luck, so whatever~~

Generalization: Screw Friday the 13th!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Triskaidekaphobia

Just a random thought:

Friday is a lovely day.
13 is a number which follows twelve.
Don't hate Friday for the number.
Hate the circumstances.

Q: Why are you afraid of Friday the 13th?
A: 13th is an unlucky number.

NO, YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION.

Why?

When you explain to answer a question, answer the explicit question, not its implication.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Pre-Bedtime Post

Rey, I hope you would have the chance to read this. I may not muster ample strength to personally talk to you. However, I sincerely want to end things. I am sorry. I have done a lot of stupid things and I believe you do not deserve to suffer the consequences of my mediocre decisions. I am fully aware of the depth of all this and I accept the plausibility of not having a complete reconciliation with you but I fervently hope that you would consider and perhaps, accept my apologies.

+++

I have two jobs, the morning and night. I'm singing it in my head and somewhat pleased with the sense of the song, but seriously, I work to rid myself of everything that is emotionally stressing me out. It's better to wear myself out physically and intellectually.

I want to work in the morning to get an evening sched in the same spot where my office friend works (apparently that's my professional relationship with brix, haha.)

I want to work in the evening to have more money and to get out of the house.

I work because I want to leave and in its very essence, live.

+++

Tomorrow is gonna be twelfth of the month.
Wow. I've always valued every twelfth of every month.
So, yeah, viva dose. :)

In my humble opinion, it wouldn't hurt to plug love here. Brix. As mushy as it probably may sound to you, thanks. Staying for 26 months with me may have caused you a lot of trouble, but what the heck, you survived. :) I just hope you can last a little more. Haha. I love you. :)

+++

Let us all be happy. However we define it, anyway. :)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Girls' Generation - [MV] 힘내/Way to Go

This is the newly released MV of Girls' Generation's 힘내/Way to Go.

I know that this song will top Korean charts for a couple of weeks. I'll be cheering for these girls again. Let's go Soshi let's go!

I would also like to congratulate Girls' Generation for winning #1 for 8 consecutive weeks on KBS Music Bank. 소녀시대's title song from their 1st mini album, 'Gee' was announced #1 on the K-Chart on Music Bank at 4:50pm on the 6th.

For 8 consecutive weeks since the 3rd week of January until the 1st week of March, the song had gotten #1 every week. This is the longest record since Musicbank's broadcast back in 1998. The last record holder was Jewelry, with their song, One More Time for 7 consecutive weeks.

I am so happy for our girls for setting a new record on Music Bank. Let's keep this up 소녀시대! 화이팅!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

After the Hiatus

Yes!! The blogging hiatus is over and I'm back!! *insert wild keyboard slamming here*

Google decided to screw me and is now giving me problems whenever I log-in to my old blog
. *insert garbled cursing here* So, here's my new blog: http://mindmeltingletters.blogspot.com. Visit it. Now~~

After months of trying to pull myself together to get my head shaved, I finally took the plunge today. I never actually thought that I would really do it. At first, I was just joking whenever I tell people that I want to get my head shaved. I love my long hair. But what do you know right? Funny thing is, before I went to the barber shop, I ate pancit, rice, and calamares. So, I am blaming the calamares for this. There was something evil with the squid I ate that kinda hypnotized me into getting a haircut. Nonetheless, I really like my new look. *hohoho*

I so freaking hate Youtube right now. I have made a 2-minute video for almost 5 plus hours using my newly downloaded Sony Vegas Pro 8. It took me a long time since it was my first time to use the software. So there, after all the bullcrap, I decided to finally upload it to Youtube but they keep on muting the audio due to copyright thingies. Arrrg.

Anyway, I'm going to start playing Patapon 2 now in my PSP. Yes~~ I waited so long for this game to come out. Well, the US/EUR version at least. Sony and Japan Studio finally got tired of laughing at the very anxious fans and gamers who can't wait to get their hands on the English version of the game and decided to release it to the market. I have a copy of the EUR version now so expect a short review of the game from me in the upcoming weeks. Since I can't contain my excitement anymore to play Patapon 2, I am not going to waste another minute of your life - and my precious playing time - so I'll say, screw you guys, I'm outta here.

Friday, March 6, 2009

I Love You Katy.

Comparisons are easily done 
Once you've had a 
taste of perfection 
Like an apple 
hanging from a tree 
I picked the ripest one 
I still got the seed 

You said move on 
Where do I go? 
I guess second best 
Is all I will know 

Cause when I'm with him 
I am thinking of you 
Thinking of you 
What you would do if 
You were the one 
Who was spending the night 
Oh I wish that I 
Was looking into your eyes 

You're like an Indian summer 
In the middle of winter 
Like a hard candy 
With a surprise center 
How do I get better 
Once I've had the best 
You said there's 
Tons of fish in the water 
So the waters I will test 

He kissed my lips 
I taste your mouth 
He pulled me in 
I was disgusted with myself 

Cause when I'm with him 
I am thinking of you 
Thinking of you 
What you would do if 
You were the one 
Who was spending the night 
Oh I wish that I 
Was looking into... 

You're the best 
And yes I do regret 
How I could let myself 
Let you go 
Now the lesson's learned 
I touched it I was burned 
Oh I think you should know 

Cause when I'm with him 
I am thinking of you 
Thinking of you 
What you would do if 
You were the one 
Who was spending the night 
Oh I wish that I 
Was looking into your eyes 
Looking into your eyes 
Looking into your eyes 
Oh won't you walk through 
And bust in the door 
And take me away 
Oh no more mistakes 
Cause in your eyes I'd 
like to stay...

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Looking Back: The AMIS Experience (Part 1)


The AMIS Environment


Antonio Maceda Integrated School is like, let me quote Mariz Solano for this, "Banawe Rice Terraces". The school has elevated areas where you can stay just in case flood gets into the campus. It has 3 buildings. The first is the grade school building where you can find a tall wall that separates the school from the outside world. This wall however isn't tall enough to keep the students from cutting classes. Apparently, every ten to eleven in the afternoon you would see high school students in the elementary building trying to defy gravity in the struggle of getting outside the school through that "tall" wall.

Next is the science building. Amazingly, I haven’t seen the interiors of that place. I plan not to. What I do know is, most of the laboratory classes are held inside that building. They also have their old building and that is where you can find most of the offices for different departments. At the ground floor, we have the first year students and the two wash rooms that stink all the way up to second floor. At the second floor, you have the classes for second year and third years. To your left you have the Social Studies department, to your right is the Filipino department. At the top floor, we have math and English and the fourth and third years.

First Week Jitters

After months of waiting, my practice teaching started 7th of November. I had my first time to be introduced as a student teacher at Antonio Maceda Integrated School. I used to fear the students thinking that they don't give due respect to teachers. Until now, I have the same fear. In the morning there are 4 student teachers, namely: Mariz, Jem, Janerey and of course, me. We all have to start our duty at 7 and stay in the campus until 1 in the afternoon. It was Tuesday when we were given the opportunity to have our own cooperating teachers. Jem was given to Mrs. Tangal, a first year English Teacher. Janerey was given to Mrs. Maranan, who teaches in the second year level. Mariz was given to Mrs. Valerio, who teaches third year. I was so happy to be supervised by Mrs. Dasco, a fourth year English Teacher.

I thought everything would be alright. I was wrong. It was a Wednesday when my cooperating teacher decided to let me take over three classes in the fourth year level. It was pretty simple, since I just had to give a spelling test and to facilitate a silent reading activity. I felt so pleased because I can feel the students' warmth and acceptance.

Later in the afternoon, I asked Ma'am Dasco if I needed to do something for the students, like class records and school register records whatnot. She said, I would have to wait until December to teach. Why on earth do I have to wait until December? I just want to teach and learn. I just want to experience being loved by the students. I know that there's always a time for everything, but I won't compromise the rest of the time that I have with sleeping, staring at people and doing nothing. When I talked to Ma’am Lazarte about it, she consulted Ma’am Larce. To cut the long story short, I was scolded. No. I was hated by my cooperating teacher. It lasted for two weeks.

The Students of Four-Four

I used to handle 4th year students and as an initial thought it's supposed to be an easy task because at this year level, they should have been over the grade school phase in terms of attitude and way of dealing with people. I was wrong. I stepped inside the classroom of fourth year section four and I realized that it's really hard to control temper when you have students as unruly and as unbelievably energetic as them.

Students sit on the teacher's table, they shout at their classmates, they do a catch-me-if-you-can routine in the classroom and they play songs from their phones at a very high volume. If this classroom wasn't next to the faculty room I bet this scenario would be a lot much worse.

Once, I noticed that my students were really quiet. It wasn't my turn to teach just yet so I was just waiting inside the faculty room. I was amazed because they were really quiet, until I found out why. Half of the class was absent.

Everyday, I used to observe Ma'am Bustinera's class. Ma'am Bustinera is a Math teacher and she handles 4-4's first class. I really admire her way of imposing discipline. When she comes in, everyone is quiet and is really afraid of her.

However, they are afraid of her the wrong way. During those days when I was waiting for my turn to teach 4-4, I heard her say these things to my students:

"Kayo, kung ang mga utak ninyo ay tulad ng panty at brief na pwedeng hubarin at isoot, sa sobrang pagiging ulyanin niyo, pwede niyo ring maiwan sa bahay mga utak niyo."

Simple words like "engot", "walang alam" and "tamad" demoralize the students and as much as possible I struggle not to say these things, not because I don't want to hurt them, but because I don't want to be like teachers who say those things--I hate being like them.

There was another time when one student of mine said something in a Math class like: "One plus blah blah is equals to blah blah."

The same math teacher flamed for hearing "is equals to". Now instead of moving on with the real lesson, she gave an ENGLISH 101 on subject-verb agreement. Then, she said: "Sinu ba ang English teacher niyo? Bakit di niyo alam to?"

I was inside the department office and after hearing that, I felt humiliated as if I were one of her students. I was scolded for something which I failed to do. To add insult to the injury, Ma'am Larce, the department head for English retorted "Oo nga naman. Sinu ba English Teacher nun? Diba ikaw? Joke lang." Have you ever heard a joke that instead of making you laugh, it would make you cry so bad, you wish it hadn't been cracked?

I would never forget that day. It's through that incident that I realized how rotten the system can get and how stale the teachers can be. A simple lesson on subject verb agreement should have been taught and re-enforced in 4 years to high school students.

I don't want the blame to bounce back on the teachers that should have taught all these things from the start. What I'm trying to say is, these students would know better and would not have made these mistakes had you given emphasis on this, since the time they started in the first year secondary education. It's unimpressive of teachers to pass the shame to us who would only teach these kids for only four months.

Anyway, that didn't stop me from changing everything.

That same day, in my class, I posted 10 examples showing grammatical errors. The highest score that they got was 8. Not bad, I said. I told them "and they are telling me you do not know anything about grammar?"

You see, when I did that to my students, they already had the idea that I was trying to cheer them up, to convince them that they were good and that they deserved more than being humiliated for something which wasn't their fault in the first place. When I gave the last example with the phrase "is equals to", they already knew what was wrong. They all laughed.

I was teaching a class about bibliographical entries and the noise was beyond control. Everyday, it’s like going through the same vicious cycle that you can no longer put up with. You remind them to give respect and they give back noise.

They were just too noisy it’s like they were the teachers and I was their student. I had to listen to them and wait for them to stop discussing their own lessons before I do mine. It wasn’t supposed to be a good method as it consumes time, but what could I do? I didn’t want to lose my voice.

So I said, "Hindi na ba talaga kayo marunong rumespeto? Respeto naman o. Hindi tayo naglolokohan dito."

That was the first time that I spoke in pure Filipino in front of my students in an English Class. All the ideals within me, all the expectations, the enthusiasm, the hopes and goals--all went down the drain. Everything faded because of one loss. In a system that depreciates highly in value, in a system that needs to uplift its status, we need force to apply gradual progress.

This force must be strong enough to reach, even tap the inner desire of its elements to move and change. In this system, we have elements that have been used to becoming immobile, much to the chagrin of the force. I am a part of this force, and I have realized that I slowly lose my faith in the strength that I have. I need their part in making this work.

It's easy to say you love a class, para mong sinabing nagmamahal ka ng grupo ng mga batang mga inampon mo. Pero mas mahirap panindigan. Madami kang ibibigay pero di ka siguradong may babalik sa yo. Siguro ganun nga talaga yun.

Things are certainly learned the hard way.

If you look at the system that the school has, you'd say it's not enough. Students are dying to get out of the campus. Guards tolerate the students' bad habit of cutting classes. Teachers shout at students so they would shut up. Implementation of rules is not strict enough. Life there just gets so pretty boring sometimes.

Sometimes, I smile when I’m reminded of how I looked like when I was in high school and what my students look like now that they’re in high school. There is a big difference. The students in my school never point dirty fingers at their classmates. They never curse at the corridors and they always act on their own will when they want to clean the rooms. Why did I say all these things?

The students in Maceda fight even in front of the teachers. They curse, shout, throw things, even pillboxes at classrooms and at students. They curse the guards and they don’t give value to cleanliness.

Once, a student shouted at me, “Ma’am Betty”, like the one in a soap opera in Channel Two. I just laughed and asked myself: “Do I really look like Betty?”

Curriculum

The curriculum for the fourth year students is not something I would really like to use once I formally get into the field. The curriculum shows series of repeated lessons, irrelevant discussions and uninteresting topics which are not even read by the students even if they have their own books. Ideally, a curriculum is good if it is interdisciplinary. It integrates various fields into the study of a specific topic. My only point is, why do they only have to focus on science for the whole fourth quarter? I mean, if the scope is technology, they should just select the topics which are interesting so the students would be able to read it. Other science topics should also be inserted. These topics should be selected so that technology in relation to other subjects would be inserted. The sentences are about science. Nothing wrong with that, but how are you going to make sentences about science if you can’t even make basic sentences about yourself?

In my opinion, they should start with focusing on the mastery of the lessons before targeting the ability of the students to relate English from one subject to another. They could only do that if the school provides good educational materials.

The problem with the textbooks that they are using is that the lessons have inconsistency in rules and grammatical and typographical errors.

There was a time when I asked my students why they didn’t want to bring their textbooks at school. I laughed at what they said: “Ma’am, wala namang kuwenta yun eh. Mas matututo pa kami sa inyo kesa dun.”

Tutorials

I handled 2 second year students for the tutorials. This was done to prevent the repetition of the totally humiliating drop of rating in the National Achievement Test for this school year. They were both nice. I would always remember Red for his charming finger nail designs and Marvic for his focus on what he’s doing. Both of them have different personalities. Both of them are bright in some ways. Add the fact that they’re both from section two, it definitely makes one think that these kids did not deserve to be given tutorials. Apparently, at the start of the service, I found out why it was important.

When I gave them an activity for phonics, they had very low scores. I was surprised because the lesson should have been mastered by these students since they’re already in the second year level. From that point, I started teaching, using the book entitled “Enhancing Reading Skills 4”, which means it is a book used to enhance the reading skills of grade 4 students. To think that they’re already in the second year high school level.

As for other topics, they were able to move up from simple topics to more complex ones. They are good in using locational skills and they are also good in identifying the main ideas of the texts. They kind of remembered me for the activities they had in the entire period rendered for tutorials. That’s why every time they’d see me along the halls of second floor, they’d wave their hands at me and shout so they’d be sure I heard them.

Looking Back: The AMIS Experience (Part 2)

Interaction between and among Students

The students probably think that because we’re student teachers they can get away with being noisy. Apparently they can’t. In one of my classes, I noticed a student was imitating me and my enunciation of words. Would you be happy that you are being imitated the wrong and insulting way? I wouldn’t be. So I walked and stood in front of the kid and said:

“Look, you can stand here in front, and I will sit right at your very chair and you can be my teacher and I will respect you. You think you can do all this? Go ahead, be my guest.”

Most of the teachers speak in Tagalog if they get really mad at their students. I usually do that. In special occasions however, I prefer to speak in English to impose authority in my class.

Once I observed Ma’am Dasco’s class, and I realized, just by watching her that I didn’t have to exert a lot of effort just to make them behave. She confiscated things, she stared at those who made noise, and she was more to being a gentle authority than being a violent tyrant. I wish I could also be like that.

Interaction among Teachers

The teachers showed positive attitudes to all the student teachers. In fact they were really funny when they get together during lunch breaks and they laugh about everything and anything including Bubble Gang, TV series, students, even themselves. They have high respect for their department head and they follow her instructions. They always hold weekly or monthly meetings depending on the need for it. You would not see them sleeping inside the faculty office and we didn’t gear anything about selling things to students. That, is something extraordinarily special about them.

Lessons Taught

Because I taught fourth year students, they had to be prepared for research and thesis making. Out of passion for making theses and research papers, and out of pure concern for them, I asked them to submit papers which at the end of the class would be returned with corrections and green marks. They were not so happy about it. I told them: “This is nothing compared to the thesis that you would make in college. You are complaining about these things but you have never really experienced the real deal.”

One of my students cried because one of her group mates refused to pay for the contribution on their research paper. I told them, they would be having a grade on that of they didn’t pay. The next day, my student said everything was okay and that she already paid.

Another memorable lesson was on the past participle tense of the verb. I gave them two tables which I asked them to fill with the correct past and past participle forms. For ‘put’ they said ‘putted’, for ‘cut’ they said ‘cutted’ and for ‘hit’ they said ‘hitted’.

Another memorable lesson was when I asked them to complete the phrases “If only” and “I wish I could” to form sentences. They had a lot of regrets and one of those was cheating. Others said that they regretted smoking. Others said they hated being bad children to the parents.

Their answers were really funny but if you could only look beyond those answers you’d realize that they really wanted to achieve something. It may not be something tangible, but they want something to change their lives. I want to believe that if only I were given more time to be with them, I could have seen them more. In that, I would have loved them more with every lesson I teach and with every part of speech.

Four-Four

I will always remember Rodolfo for believing that “smartass” means the same as “jackass”; Alexis for being a responsible president; Nielzen for being Xavier’s and Jan Sed’s partner in crime; Ryan Nel for always being absent; Carl for being good in making websites; Xavier for being a little noisy in class; Benedict for being eager in answering the activities; Hadji for imitating me everytime I speak; Allan for sleeping in class; Greg for taking his polo off in class; Reynald for being a good student in my class; Paul John for being uncool sometimes; Marvin for asking me a lot of nonsense questions; Kier for being an SK Chairman; Meirick for always sitting next to Rodolfo and Mar for laughing really hard.

I will miss Laura’s sweet smile; Lorievel’s amusement everytime she finds out I know a song she likes; Ericka for having 90 as a grade in my class, and for being absent for a lot of times; Jessa and Apple for their greatness in volleyball; Lovely and her sentences that everybody copies for assignment; Romallie and her habit of fixing herself even when I’m still in front; Roselle and Myleen for the attendance sheets they give everyday; Jannikka for the uniform she lent me; Nice for being a sport during thesis making (I returned her research paper 4 times); Sharmaine for being really gentle but smart in my class; Joyce Anne for being really sweet and responsible in lceaning the classroom after I leave; Anne for being smart and sometimes late; Reylyn for being one of the students that I knew in my first days of teaching; Denlyn for our common ground in music; Annielyn for crying while laughing; Gezelle for being diligent; Dianne for participating in discussions; Daisy for being sweet and funny; Sandy for being emo; Crisel for laughing with Jessa and Apple and Justine for always being present in class.

I may have a lot to talk about when it comes to their characteristics and attitudes. Still one thing remains, no matter how long or short my descriptions are, I only have one simple thing to say about them:

I’m going to miss them—a lot.

Looking Back: The AMIS Experience (Part 3)

Conclusion

The educational system that we are a part of is a challenge to face and a problem to solve. We keep on complaining about something we don't like, and complaining is the only thing that we like to do. What's worse is, we complain but in times of action, we hide and spare ourselves from all the trouble. As a conclusion, as teachers, we should never let ourselves be eaten by the spoilage of the system. If ideals are the only things we can hold on to while avoiding educational prejudices, then we must protect these ideals by all means. As teachers, that's what we must do. That's what we should have been doing all this time.

I left Antonio Maceda with a whole new perspective towards teaching. Every classroom scenario is not a melodramatic cut. Every life and story behind a student’s face is real, and everyday encounter with students is meaningful. We do not need testimonies from other teachers to know what is going on. We don’t need the media to know what the state of Philippine Education is. We only have to look through each student, realize their needs, uncap their potentials and make them grasp their aspirations and through that, we would have a lucid vision of what Education should be.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Thank You for the Kind Words :)

Pardon the grammatical errors on this entry. This is purely copied from another source.
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I learned today (sic) that I was banned by the fucking moderator of this groups (sic) who goes by the name maria josefa oris. It was dated 1st (sic) October 2008...almost 4 months now.Well, there can be miracles when you believe...and i believe that children are our future. (sic)

I read this blog of hers that i find very interesting...here goes:

"I don't care."

and so am I. (sic)

People say it sometimes because they're too preoccupied with everything else that they refuse to care about other things of less importance.

We often say that to show that we're too strong to even worry about anything. We say it most of the time to show we're cool.

Aside from all these lousy reasons, during special occasions, we say it because we're way too happy to even bother.

You're actually bothered my dear.You even wrote something about it. Logic??? (sic) --> 2.75

I have been dropped officially/unofficially (I'm not sure of mystatus) from one of my subjects and honestly, I'm worried. I am aware that my professor is mad at me, but right about that matter, I don'tcare. What's important now is that I pass this subject (even with a tres for the love of Christ) and graduate.

Lies.Too good to be true.You didn't mention why you were given another fucking chance. Look at what miracles of Recto Medical University can do.You were saved by a false document.You're such an actress... You're good at faking.

I am still literally at war with a friend. I have no idea if I still consider him a friend. He nudges, he says things, he smirks and rolls his eyeballs at me, and in that regard, I don't care. I'm happy with the remaining friends that I have and nothing, even the thought of him bashing me round and about can even make me feel depressed. People who mock you and throw stones at you are perfect examples of people who should just be ignored. Love of attention can be found in more ways than one and if they find happiness in feeling superior, you just let them be. After all, they perfectly know what makes them happy andyou're not in the right position to deprive them of their happiness. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

this is me, this rei real. can you please (sic) be more specific?if i were to throw something on (sic) you, it's simply the hurtful truth that you have been ignoring for years. For the record, I don't have superiority complex. It is you who have (sic) it, in case you don't know. And (sic) if I am ignorant then what are you??? (sic) Well, there is no adjective to describe you.

I get sick all the time and I don't care. I'm still alive and the thought of living another day despite sickness is enough to keep me going. I give up matters of consequence for my personal joys and I don't care what happens next.

I cry, laugh, cry again, laugh again. People say I'm hard headed and all that, because I don't listen, but I don't care. I thank them for listening and for being there, but I'm gonna be even more grateful forletting me feel and experience how it feels to live a great, recessive-nonetheless-radical, booming life. Yeah.

I would still go through a lot and would still learn a lot. It's the difficulty of things that I wouldn't even care about. Oh, life. As for now, I only care about how I feel for people I love the most, and for those who can stand right behind me when I feel like falling backwards. I only care about today.

Har-har.Oh puh-leez! Open your freaking eyes...Are you sure he/she loves you?
Beggar of love.

Love, love, love. I love loving --> spare her (sic)

Piece of advice:Love your enemy.The people around you are your enemies, and i mean THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. As in literally, your co-ST (sic) in Maceda.They are sick and tired of you and your attitude. I pity you so much because nobody in BSE cares about you especially the people you consider your friends even the person you think cares for you and I know who that person is. (Clue: the name starts with...secret mamatay ka sa kakahula)They are just tolerating your childish behavior.Haha.Poor Thing!
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Like I said, thank you for the kind words.
You will never hear anything from me about this.
Thank you.