18 - Farewell to 2nd Term (Part III): Ignite Speech Competition

During the same day, December 22, 2015, the ERC faculty also held the Inter-Class Public Speaking Competition. The speakers delivered their speeches after every performance of the speech choir.

This competition is done in every term, but it was the first time it was held during the speech choir competition at the same time. The each participant of this event represents their block. The student that will be chosen by their professor after they delivered all their ignite speeches in their room will compete in the competition. Accordingly, our professor in EPUBSP1, Sir Nomer, picked Nicole Timbol to represent our block. Her speech was about unconditional love of a mother, so basically, she discussed about all the sacrifices and the hard works of a mother for their children.

During the competition, the first speaker was Jeleen Llarenas from MA151. Her speech was about her life as a soldier’s daughter. I like her speech because I can see myself to her, from being a son of a soldier, I understand that being in her situation is not that easy. I remembered the time when all I have is my mom during the whole recognition day since my dad didn’t able to attend the event because of this duties. At those times, all I think is that my dad would be so proud of me, which is why I’d rather understand our situation than to feel bad about it.

The second speaker was Charella Gonzales from TM151. Her speech was about how Disney animated shows and films mold her life.

The next speaker was Nicole Timbol from our block, AC151. Like I’ve mention earlier, her speech was about the unconditional love a mother can give through their children. Before the actual competition and during her practices for this event, I sensed that she will be able to captive the audience’s heart if she will continue having this particular characteristic that she had. Fortunately, during her actual speech, I can tell that the way she delivered it was touching and moving since her topic is personal to most of us.

The fourth speaker was Loise Lane Antonio from AC152 and her topic was about understanding women’s behavior.

The last but not least, the fifth speaker was Benjamin Bajet from BM151. His speech was about different types of students in a classroom. Most of people in the auditorium, especially his blockmates, were screaming throughout his speech since his slides contains pictures of his them. His transitions were good, and he explained thoroughly the different types of students that a lot of us can relate to.

After all of the speakers delivered their speeches, the judges announced the winners for the contest. The 2^nd runner-up was Nicole Timbol, 1^st runner-up was Jeleen Llarenas and the champion was Benjamin Bajet. I’m happy for all of them, and I know that after all they have been through, their efforts were paid off the moment they were given this recognition.

17 - Farewell to 2nd Term (Part II): Speech Choir Competition

December 22, 2015 – Tuesday

This day was the second day of the culminating event for this year’s 2^nd term of all English subjects. Speech Choir Competition and Ignite Speech Competition took place this day, but for now, I will be focusing on Speech Choir Competition.

For this term, the competition was plotted with this season, which is Christmas, and the piece was entitled “At Christmas” by Edgar Albert Guest. To be honest, before the actual competition, I wasn’t really confident about our performance since we didn’t practiced much, and we allotted one week only for the whole practice of the routine and buying of the costumes and props.

As a part of each performance, we were also tasked to make AVP as an introduction, and I was assigned to that. At first, I didn’t really know how we are going to make this AVP special, since we do not want it to be just typical and usual. For me, I want the AVP to be just natural as much as possible, showing what we’ve been through throughout this whole project given to us. As we practiced for our performance, we took videos of us and compiled it. I took place to make the video on the last day of our practice, which is December 19, Saturday and I finished it in six hours (which consist of having my dinner, taking a bath and watching TV haha!). I watched all the videos, and I am glad that we’ve got enough videos to sum up everything during this activity.

For the actual competition, my block was first to perform, then followed by the remaining four blocks. After all of the performances, I just wished that we must be in the top three at least. Fortunately, we landed 2^nd Runner-up. Not bad at all, since we knew that the judging is really tough and other groups performed better than us. In line with this, my block will have a grade of 90% for the Speech Choir.

16 - Farewell to 2nd Term (Part I): Public Speaking Competition

December 21, 2015 – Monday

This day was the start of the culminating event for this year’s 2^nd term of all English subjects. While going to school, I already felt the excitement to witness all the contestants to showcase their speeches, and I’m hoping that most of the winners will come from our block.

The theme of the event was "The cult of celebrities and fantasies... a Filipino obsession?” Few days before the actual contest, our professor in EPUBSP2, Ms. Nina let my blockmates who will be participating in the contest present their speeches instead of having their persuasive speech. From the moment they had their practice for the contest in the room, I already knew that my blockmates had their edge from winning in this competition.

The day started as we all gathered in the auditorium. Six of my blockmates (Yana, Gracielle, Bianca, Ado, Carolyn, Angela) were assigned to three different rooms wherein each room will hold ten participants and only three will advance to the final round. While we are waiting, we played some games to break the iced. The first game was speed speech. In this game, players were given random words every fifteen seconds and with that they must create a speech and switch through each words smoothly. Contestants from that game were really funny and entertaining, which is why the room’s dull atmosphere were lessened while we were waiting for the contestants to come back. Another game is like an ignite speech but this was done by a pair. There is a topic given to the contestants and they were showed some of pictures that were not really connected with their topic, yet, they needed to manage to efficiently link it in their speech. The last game was participated by the whole block. Each block was tasked to sing a Christmas song and each song should only be sung once and should not be repeated by the others, or else, your block will be eliminated. Unfortunately, we didn’t win in that game.

After all the games, the host announced the nine finalists that will compete for the final round. Gracielle, Bianca and Ado were three of those nine. The speakers presented their speeches which of them linked the topic based in their life experiences: their insecurities and family orientation, while the others linked upon their point of views.

The next day, Gracielle Sitjar was declared as the champion of the said competition. Her speech was really powerful and heart-rending, and I commend her for that. I admire her bravery towards sharing her own experiences since not everyone can look back about the pain of the past has brought.

15 - Speaking With A Purpose

Speaking in front of a large crown is considered is a problem for many people. Being a good speaker is not easy. It takes a lot of effort to enable you to express your emotions to others and to be credible to your audience. Having a good eye contact, giving life to the emotion of the speech, and speaking clearly and pleasingly all contribute to effective speaking.

Friday, November 27 – With the theme “Whether it’s the best of times or worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got,” Asia Pacific College - Speaks held Speak Sense (Season 2), a public speaking contest for high school students around Metro Manila. The participants are expected to deliver their five minute speech piece sincerely and pleasingly in front of the crown.

At 7:30 am, students from School of Management and the contestants from the participating schools gathered in the auditorium to witness the day’s event. At that time, I am so excited to witness all of the contestants to compete with each other because I know that each one of them has something to say, particularly to express themselves. Two of my friends in the said competition also participated in the event.

As each speaker deliver his or her speech, everyone in the auditorium speak nothing but silence. Everyone lends their ears to each speaker, listening to every emotion and thought to connect with them. I really like how the speakers managed to speak in the front of a large crowd, knowing most of us are strangers to them. I personally loathe the idea of speaking in public, since it takes an effort to make my nerves comfortable.

After all the speakers have delivered their speech, few minutes later, the awarding ceremony begun. The 2^nd Runner-up was Jastine Sanduigang, from Pasay City Science High School. His speech was about how he almost died when he was a baby and how he got a second chance to continue his life.

The 1^st Runner-up was Dominic Co from Jubilee Christian Academy. Having another interpretation of the theme, his speech was about a girl that he asked to the prom, but they ended up going the other way around which made him bitter.

And the champion in Speak Sense (Season 2) was Phoebe Stacey Almario from Las Piñas East National High School. Her speech was about living in a life of a broken family. Her speech was really moving. She spoke with conviction and emotion, and that thing I think made her win the competition.

Everyone of them was great, and I think all of them can be a good speaker someday. This event just proved that each one of us can overcome our fear of public speaking to be an instrument to open the minds of people we want to express our opinions and ideas with.

14 - REVIEW: Zombadings: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington

Zombadings: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington is an indie comedy film starring Martin Escudero. The story revolves to the life of Remington, who used to degrade and mock gays when he was young until he encountered a gay witch that cursed him to be gay when he turn 21. The film is also considered as a subversive movie, as it has a plot that criticizes gays a bit immoral way to entertain.

In the movie, Remington grew up doing the activities every man was expected to do. On the other hand, gays in their community were disliked, calling them as “salot sa lipunan.” It’s quite funny that the men in their community, as well as the friends of  Remington’s dad disliked gays, while some of them were just ‘tambays’, and women, like Remington’s mom work as a police. Even her partner in doing the job was a woman!

My favorite part is when Remington went to Hannah for the first time after he was been cursed already and became gay. He can’t help to talk natural but gay lingo. I laughed at the part when Marian Rivera called the albularyo ‘babe’.

We all know that being an actor in not really easy, but for Martin Escudero, he portrayed the role very well. He acted both being a man and gay without overpowering the other role. I admire his dedication in this project for giving such effort in order to study his role. I salute him for doing the kissing scene with his co-actor Kerbie Zamora for the sake of the movie because maybe for some, it is not easy follow very direction that is directed upon them. I also like Megan Young, since she carried the typical romantic comedy set-up of the film along with Martin Escudero. I saw their chemistry with each other. Lastly, Janice de Belen’s acting is really remarkable since I thought that she’s only into dramatic projects, but through this movie, I also saw her quirky and funny side.

I think the message the movie wants to convey other than not to hurt homosexuals is the whole gender quality itself. Everyone of us has the right to grow as a person in whatever way we want. Whether you are a man, woman, homosexual, bisexual or whatnot, you should be respected the way others respected themselves. The people in our society today should open their minds to give equal opportunity to everyone. We should not think that we are superior than the other gender, and instead, do whatever we wanted to be. At the end of the day, it is our life that we spend, and we should be glad as if there is no boundary that walls us through our own happiness.

Zombadings: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington is really a must-see movie to everyone who’s looking for entertainment and laughter. It is also perfect to watch with family. I like the movie because the characters portrayed their role very well, at the same time, it is a kind of suspense film that will not make you become scared because of its comedic way telling the story.

13 - Plagiarism: Words & Thoughts

 “People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy after” ― Oliver Goldsmith

According to Oxford Dictionary, plagiarism is defined as ‘taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own'. On the other hand, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined it as ‘the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person’. Even though it was indicated in a different way from each other, both meanings convey the same thing: plagiarism is an act that is being credited for something made by someone else. 

Sometimes, students, or even professionals plagiarize on a purpose out of their present situation. They are required to publish their works on a limited amount of time but do not have the ability to compose credible works. They lose their faith in writing and its procedures that they plagiarize others to supply what they needed. On the other hand, people imitate the works of others simply because they lack moral values. Another reason is they have confidence that they will not be caught. While there are a lot of resources people found on the Internet which makes it easier to find something to imitate and make one’s work, that same method is used also to recognize people who just stole other’s work.

Moreover, to escape plagiarism, most experts said that we must take responsibility to make an act if we know someone who do these constantly. It is not good if we knew someone or an institution that we respect plagiarizes work of others. Not telling the case of plagiarism is equivalent in doing it yourself. In spite of everything, we are supposed to be accountable in our own studies, but we must also make sure that we are not up to steal someone’s ideas. The following are some of the suggested strategies to avoiding plagiarism:

• Understand the real nature of plagiarism. Make some researches in order to understand it more.
• Credit the sources that you used in your study.
• Revise the text that you have seen in other’s work—even if your article is not as good as the original author’s, writing in your honest way is far better than plagiarized one.

It is really important to give credits to the people where someone got the idea. Sure thing that no one was get sued from a study for having too many references, right?

Sources:

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/242/466

http://wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf

12 - K-12 Implementation: Solution or Complication?

According to Department of Education, K−12 Curriculum covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School) to provide adequate time for mastery of perceptions and skills, improve learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

The foundation

Before K−12 curriculum was implemented, our country was one of only three countries in the world and the only one in Asia that had still follows the Basic Education Curiculum (BEC). For scholars who are trying to compete in a progressively developing worldwide corporate market, this was been seen as a disadvantage.

For the students

The change began in 2011, when the universal kindergarten was introduced. Starting in 2012, several schools implemented the curriculum in accordance to DepEd’s memorandum. Public schools began having half-day classes for grade one students, with the Filipino as the medium of teaching, and private schools also made alterations in their own recognized syllabus. As follows, K−12 curriculum also means that students will graduate a bit older compared to those who graduated under the 10-year education system, but the two added years in the curriculum will let the students apply in any vocational jobs once they graduate. In relation with that, DepEd stated that future graduates under this curriculum will be more ready to take their tertiary education which suits their capabilities along with their established skills.

Implementation

Transition for Private Schools

Real situation

Despite the praises received upon the program by the government, K−12 program of the US has not even been able to improve the education system; with lesser resources in our country, we can say that this program will give challenge to the future.

There are too many graduates unprepared to go on higher education and even technical vocation. Many politicians said to cure all those insufficiencies – where until now, there is no appropriate teacher-student ratio that can support the incoming senior high school to learn new skills. Some of the requirements needed for K−12 are laboratories, computers, textbooks and more classrooms. Private schools have some of these materials and facilities, and can afford to support new amenities if needed, but how about the public schools? These are some of the concerns that are not openly addressed by K−12, and if we implement additional years, we can expect it will bring another burden to the never ending problems of the education sector.

If we will look in all sides, K−12 curriculum is definitely an idealistic program because of what it can give to its future graduates. But on the other hand, we should also look upon our capabilities in implementing this since we just focused on what we can get from it, rather than its whole requirements.

In the coming year, which we will now see its application to the first batch of senior high school prior to the implementation of the curriculum, we hope to see the affirmative response of the people along with the government’s efforts to solve all these shortages in order to make this K−12 curriculum be a true stake of our educational system, instead of the problem that so many now perceive it to be.

Sources:

http://www.gov.ph/k-12/

http://ph.theasianparent.com/advantages-new-k-12-curriculum/

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/33727/ready-or-not-k-to-12-curriculum-starts