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

11 - An Open Letter to Alfredo Salazar

 Dear Alfredo,

It has been almost eight years from the moment I met you in the dinner party and today, I’ve come to realize that everything about you was all different from what you are today.

Back then, with all of the things that we do, I didn’t know how you made me fell in love with you. Those were the days where I felt I deserved nothing special but your existence and actions spoke to me otherwise. I didn’t know how you have done that but I surely wouldn’t want to know it anymore. I’d took it as your greatest secret to me. I didn’t even know what else to say when you keep telling me that you adore and love me; but it brought happiness and at the same time, fear to me.

The happiness that I felt with you during our small talks is honest and free. I feared the day when we were already there and we didn’t know what’s next for us. I feared what might happened next when we became who we want us to be someday. All that was inside of my head was all like “If all else fails, we still have each other though. What matters the most is the present.” I choose to live by the moments when I’m alone with you. We thought our future as if it would never be shaped by our present life, but rather, with the choices we have made together.

But the moment I feared the most came. You left me.

Day by day, I thought of you, then I started to lose my motivation to accomplish everything that I have to do in life. I felt lost and odd. The feeling was like there is something that is removed upon you which can never be healed by anything. They all say it’s all part of giving the love for the wrong person but I don’t think it is really supposed to be like this. I lost my youth, waiting that one day, you might come back.

There was silence in my head that was deafening. I wanted to scream and tell everyone how painful and heartbreaking that was but I guess they wouldn’t understand it all. Maybe that earsplitting silence was just what I needed the most at that time. Maybe I was really meant to be noiseless after all.

Today, I know we’ve grown and developed so much as individuals and I think that’s the best part of the whole thing about it – nothing stops us from growing. It’s been a good, long run for us and I believed that it ended there. Our love for each other still shines through, like stars in the sky, but it will never be the same as like we’ve had before. As we go through life, I hope you will find your true happiness ...and so as I. I want you to know that I will always remember the times when I am with you and I will never regret the moment I met you.

Love,

Julia

10 - Builder of the National Identity

People from the west tremendously influenced our culture and beliefs today. They brought their practices in our country, as well as their language and literary works. While we Filipinos rejected some of these heritages, we also come up to create our own customs and styles. The members of the Spanish and English-speaking classes proves that as the early Filipino literature was written in Spanish, or English, we established proficiency in both written and oral communication which accordingly became our way to cope with different culture. Bienvenido Lumbera, has challenged in this point of view, and became one of those who restored our classic poems and stories in our Philippine literature.

Lumbera was born in Lipa on April 11, 1932. He was only in the age of five when he became an orphan. He and his sister were adopted by their caring grandmother, Eusebia Teru. He attended schools where his teachers commend him for his dedication in his studies, as well as in reading books and making literary works. Confident, he became an enthusiastic reader and entered the University of Santo Tomas with M.A. degrees, with the wish of becoming a creative writer. Before he graduated in 1953, he published his first stories and poems. Later on, Fulbright Fellowship took him to the University of Indiana where he earned his PhD in Comparative Literature.

A few years later, he came back to the Philippines to teach Literature, Philippine Studies and Creative Writing at the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas. Sharing his knowledge from his studies, practices, and life, he did not only have the chance to teach in the country, but also in Japan. His definite form of writing inspired many of his readers until today.

He was able to create numerous well applauded literatures for publications and theater, some of which include Tales of the Manuvu, Rama Hari, Nasa Puso and Amerika, Bayan: Apatna Dulang Musika, Revaluation, Pedagogy and many more. In electing Bienvenido Lumbera to receive the 1993 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the Board of Trustees distinguishes his asserting faith in the place of the Philippine literature in forming the individuality of modern Filipinos. In 2006, he earned the title of Philippine National Artist for Literature.

According to him, language is the key to national identity. Until Filipino becomes the true lingua-franca of the Philippines, he believes, the gap between the knowledgeable classes and most of Filipinos will not be linked. "As long as we continue to use English," he says, "our scholars and academics will be dependent on other thinkers." His success, as well as his continuous love for the country's artistic traditions and languages just proved that we are all called to influence one another by being proud of our own heritage.

Sources:
http://freewayonline.com.ph/bienvenido-lumbera-biography/
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/awardees/awardee/profile/150
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienvenido_Lumbera