Post the LOVE!!!

I was amazed when i saw my favorite Hollywood actor Channing Tatum with his wife Jenna Dewan Tatum having a site of their most lovable moments.  Last Thursday, my boyfriend and i just celebrated our 7th monthsary. I can say that our relationship is not about pure sweet peas but we’ve been through a lot of hard and difficult times. Despite of this i still love him. Hope we can be like Chan and Jen… Strong and always in LOVE!

 

 

I LOVE JOSHUA!

New Beginnings: New Life, New Journey.

  It was the heat of  March 29, 2012 when he  began to follow me. Signs begins to show, that his brown eyes were captured by my simplicity. It’s not a love at first sight, it is something we felt the moment we saw each other. April 2012, when he started to say something. Words of endearment can be seen even in the shortest text messages he send. I was totally nervous. I was astonished, yet, my heart beats faster scanning the messages flash on my phone. Ms. Sweetie? I asked. It is the very first time he calls me such. the next thing I know is that I fell so deeply.

 

Things are fast. Life is dynamic. We never know where were going, but time gave way for us to see each other. Sometimes we only notice the things that are huge in our eyes, we forget things that are “Trivial” yet important.The laces of your shoe which protects your foot, the dust in your window shield that makes you get a rug to clean, the birds that sings every morning, the vendors, the buzzes of the cars and etc. which makes life more meaningful and vivid. A man broke my heart and left me all alone. That time i was a fool to think that it is the end of my world but God showed that he is not stingy in making life a piece of cake. I just hope that like me you will never stop believing that one day true happiness will come and I wished it last for a lifetime.

Alpha et Omega : Unit Template

So it’s really March 9, 2012 and the last thing i remember was to finish our rough draft in educational technology. The first few nights that I’ve been thinking about before going to bed is our final requirements. One of them is ofcourse a Unit Template.

Let’s define Unit Template….

• A device used to indicate a lesson for a whole unit.
• A device used by educators integrating both real objects and computer (ICT- based instruction)
• A blue-print of lesson similar to a “lesson plan” which is more comprehensive.

Just imagine a lesson plan integrated with technology. It is really important that future teachers find ways on how to manage their creative skills in teaching a lesson. A key tool that bridges the gap between the students and the teacher is through technology nonetheless, the teacher is still the best instructional living material ever.

” If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow”

– John Dewey

Credo Prudentia: Vocabulary ( The Meaning of Knowing Meanings)

Learning, as a language based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge. Learners must have access to the meanings of words that teachers, or their surrogates (e.g., other adults, books, films, etc.), use to guide them into contemplating known concepts in novel ways (i.e. to learn something new).

(Baker, Simmons, & Kame’enui, 1998)

Have you heard your professor saying words that are brand-new to your ears? Did you ask them the meaning of that word which caused you to have Epistaxis? Did you ever try to unlock difficulties in your vocabulary?

Many people nowadays studies in other countries because of cultural factors that affects our way of living. Part of our daily task is to talk, and one of the tools we use to create a conversational and interactive environment is the tool we call Language. Language is so broad, to be good in speaking we must know words that we can use to converse. Language is dynamic and so is culture. From time to time people create a word that is new to our ears. Vocabulary is one factor that we should enhance to be equipped and knowledgeable.

Vocabulary

 A person’s vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a functional and essential tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language. It is commonly defined as “all the words known and used by a particular person”. Unfortunately, this definition does not take into account a range of issues involved in knowing a word. Broadly defined, vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings. However, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests. First, words come in two forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in listening and speaking. Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in reading and writing. Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes words that we use when we speak or write. Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary, and may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even if we don’t know their full definitions and connotations – or ever use them ourselves as we speak and write (Kamil & Hiebert, in press).

Setting the context into the pedagogical manner, Vocabulary is taught because of the many compelling reasons for providing students with instruction to build vocabulary, none is more important than the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to reading comprehension. Indeed, one of the most enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students’ vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension (e.g., Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Baumann, Kame‘enui, & Ash, 2003; Becker, 1977; Davis, 1942; Whipple, 1925). Most recently, the National Reading Panel (2000) concluded that comprehension development couldn’t be understood without a critical examination of the role played by vocabulary knowledge. Given that students’ success in school and beyond depends in great measure upon their ability to read with comprehension, there is an urgency to providing instruction that equips students with the skills and strategies necessary for lifelong vocabulary development.

Adding further complexity, in education, the word vocabulary is used with varying meanings. For example, for beginning reading teachers, the word might be synonymous with “sight vocabulary,” by which they mean a set of the most common words in English that young students need to be able to recognize quickly as they see them in print. However, for teachers of upper elementary and secondary school students, vocabulary usually means the “hard” words that students encounter in content area textbook and literature selections.

Importance

    One of the most persistent findings in reading research is that the extent of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their reading comprehension and overall academic success (see Baumann, Kame‘enui, & Ash, 2003; Becker, 1977; Davis, 1942; Whipple, 1925). This relationship seems logical; to get meaning from what they read, students need both a great many words in their vocabularies and the ability to use various strategies to establish the meanings of new words when they encounter them. Young students who don’t have large vocabularies or effective word-learning strategies often struggle to achieve comprehension. Their bad experiences with reading set in motion a cycle of frustration and failure that continues throughout their schooling (Hart & Risley, 2003; Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Goodman, & Hemphill, 2000; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990). Because these students don’t have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read, they typically avoid reading. Because they don’t read very much, they don’t have the opportunity to see and learn very many new words. This sets in motion the well-known  “Matthew Effects,” Stanovich’s (1986) application of Matthew, 25:29–“the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” In terms of vocabulary development, good readers read more, become better readers, and learn more words; poor readers read less, become poorer readers, and learn fewer words. So the best way to enhance one’s vocabulary is to read and read and read.

Did you know…

  

Gobbledygook or gobbledegook (sometimes shortened to gobbledegoo) is an English term used to describe nonsensical language, sound that resembles language but has no meaning, or unintelligible encrypted text. It is also used to refer to official, professional or pretentious language. In this sense, gobbledygook is a hurdle of communication at best, a means of imposing power at worst.

The term was coined on March 30, 1944 by Maury Maverick, chairman of the United States Smaller War Plants Corporation. In a memo banning “gobbledygook language”, he wrote “anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot”. Maverick later used the word in the New York Times Magazine on May 21, 1944 as part of a further complaint against the obscure language used by his colleagues. His inspiration, he said, was his neighbor of Dutch descent named Gobbel De Gook. He explained, “De Gook was always outside working on his tulips, talking aloud, incessantly, about something he apparently thought was important, but no one could understand a word he said, as we neighbors called it, he just spoke a bunch of Gobbel De Gook.”

Early morning Learning with SIR DENNIS INFANTE: HAWAIIAN PUNCH!

Its been two weeks since sir Dennis went to Hawaii for a conference and its nice to have him back. We decided to review the insights that we read on the previous weeks that he’s not around. He asked us about the general learning that we acquired through the comprehensive reading of different learning theories that psychologist theorized, how does their theory works, the design and the development, for a reason I answered that: “EDUCATION INTENDS TO DEVELOP HUMAN INTELLIGENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IS AN AUTHENTIC WAY TO ACHIEVE EDUCATION”. In my own opinion i can say that In general, It really matters that we should know the different “Learning Theories” along with the knowledge on how to integrate them with ICT-based instruction. Education and technology aids the gap between learning and media.

“When faced with a steam-rolling technology, you either become part of the technology or part of the road!”

let’s be flexible about our EDUCATION.

Victus pro Sententia: Knowing Mr. Vowel

Good afternoon fellas…

It’s been a day of exhausted people around but the sun shines so bright. I am so excited to share to you the story of  Vowel. Yes Vowel. What are Vowel?.

Well perhaps some known vowels perfectly, of course we being students known them since grade one, but are we really sure that we know Mr. Vowel?

English has been so complex that even in a short period of time it evolves… “evolving” because Things we know might change within just a snap. Vowels are said to be, ”  A;E;I;O;U; & Y are the English vowels, although Y can also behave as a consonant when it is at the beginning of a word. A vowel is a sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the mouth or throat.All normal English words contain at least one vowel.” (English Dictionary.com)

and not just that…

It’s an OPEN sound,   it is produced by notblocking the breath with the lips, teeth, or tongue.

• … is always voiced (VD), ie. the vocal cords vibrate.
  The word “vowel” came into English 600 years ago, originating in the Latin “vocalis” meaning “voice.”

The importance of vowels in distinguishing one word from another varies from language to language. Nearly all languages have at least three phonemic vowels, usually /i/, /a/, /u/ as in Classical Arabic and Inuktitut (or /æ/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/ as in Quechua), though Adyghe and many Sepik languages have a vertical vowel system of /ɨ/, /ə/, /a/. Very few languages have fewer, though some Arrernte, Circassian, Ndu languages have been argued to have just two, /ə/] and /a/, with [ɨ] being epenthetic. It is not straightforward to say which language has the most vowels, since that depends on how they are counted. For example, long vowels, nasal vowels, and various phonation may or may not be counted separately; indeed, it may sometimes be unclear if phonation belongs to the vowels or the consonants of a language. If such things are ignored and only vowels with dedicated IPA letters (‘vowel qualities’) are considered, then very few languages have more than ten.

that is why we take-up “Speech”,”Linguistics” and “Grammar” courses to enhance such…

“Knowing what you don’t Know is a way of being SMART “

and

“Doing something to Know what you don’t know is a WITFUL ACT”

Tempus Fugit: Why English?

Today we had our prelim in our three major subjects. The burden had been ease and still we do not know if the stress that we endure for a about two to three weeks is over. One of my classmates asked a question that gave me the inspiration to write this blog. The question is so simple yet its “mind-boggling”. the question goes like this… ” Why are we studying English if we have our own language to enrich and develop?”. I stared at him and stared at him for the rest of the whole period. Obviously i didn’t know what to answer because  I just know that I am studying English because I was ought to master my area of specialization. 

 A never-ending principle was always told us, that we study English to communicate with the people in other places. We are also told that we are taking English courses because it is the Lingua Franca of the world, but then why not enhance first our native tounge rather to learn a language that is quite difficult and more complex?.

“TIME-FLIES”. If we don’t know the real direction of our learning then why not grab the opportunities to answer such doubts.

At the end of the day i realized the answer to the question. I don’t know if you will agree but somehow I think that “WE LEARN ENGLISH FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE IN OUR LIFE NOT BECAUSE IT IS THE LINGUA FRANCA, NOT BECAUSE OF THE ACCENT BUT BECAUSE WE VALUE  LEARNING”

There are these advantages in disadvantages of each field but knowing the field like your own best friend will help you know not only your area of specialization but also yourself.( I miss Sir Dennis already… hope he brought “pasalubong” hehehe :))

    “ALL IS WELL”

  – The 3 Idiots

Novus Annus Consilium: Education shakes 2012

Effective learning involves creating and solving our own errors. Go ahead; over-step, stretch, become too enthusiastic. When you make those mistakes common to all high achievers, use them to learn. Then enthusiastically attack again. This 2012, we must be more flexible, more critical and be more metacognitive in learning.

The supposed purpose of education, as marketed by the education industry, is career advancement, higher pay, and empowering a college graduate’s job search. This represents the current personal importance of education as determined by a few studies performed back when bureaucratic machines were still humming.

Educational importance before the industrial revolution

was tied to:

1) learning,

2) preparation for wise leadership and personal achievement,

3) opening your mind to new ideas.
What about today?  More importantly, what about tomorrow?

The bureaucratic era is ending…

You must now determine what may be most important, to you and your children, in the future. Here are some important points that i want to share…

We learn differently ( we don’t have the same perception, we have different abilities.)

• Shouldn’t education be forced to discern and approach individual needs? The bureaucratic answer is consistent – “we need more teachers, and smaller class sizes.” If students are taught the same curriculum, regardless of their skills, desires, temperament, and abilities; class size is immaterial (except as it grows the power and wealth of protected education industries and unions).

You are developing YOU,YOUR LIFE,YOURSELF.

• Your life, and the lives of your children, will prosper to the degree you can openly structure self-directed learning and keep it pleasurable. This is the educational importance of the Internet – you can discover and test thousands of ways to learn, finding what suits you best.As just one option: in computer based learning we can experience life in a more realistic format than common schools. Play a complex computer game, and you learn not by memorization and testing, but by trial and error – and then perhaps a bit of study to improve results.

(happy new year to everyone… may 2012 be your starting line to revive,remake,reconstructed EDUCATION for the future…) 🙂

“It is today we must create the world of the future.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Invenio et memento: Punctuation of the World

Last night while surfing the net i discovered a picture that really catch my attention. This picture capture my whole sense, probably because it make sense. I don’t want to exaggerate but this picture shown that people do not have the proper knowledge and familiarity about the things that they are writing.

It seems that when they write the spelling correctly and thinking that it is understood by other people, the things they write are correct. A very good example of this is MAKING POST. I’m not saying that i memorized the rules in diction but most often than not we commit mistakes in using PUNCTUATION MARKS . People making posters, especially in the Philippines, if you would translate it Filipino, definitely you will be counting errors. The meaning of the message is altered and sometimes it becomes senseless when it has wrong punctuations.

As a student, I’m so sad that not all of us are aware of what we write and how we will be writing it. Miss Jennifer O. Penilla, my professor in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) will always tell us that if we are about to write , we should ought to know when to use “Punctuation Marks”, the proper one.

 

Punctuations saves not only the meaning of our message, but it can also save lives.

“why not consult mr. Alfie?, and help save LIVES”

 

“The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood. … For the want of merely a comma, it often occurs that an axiom appears a paradox, or that a sarcasm is converted into a sermonoid.”

                         –    Edgar Allan Poe

Novus Eruditio: Understanding Children with Learning Disabilities

Noah felt like he was always hitting the books. While his friends were meeting for pickup soccer games after school, he was back home in his room reading and rereading the same material. But no matter how hard Noah studied, he had difficulty remembering things and his grades stayed average. Meanwhile, his friend Sean, who never seemed to study, always aced tests. It didn’t seem fair.

Because Noah was so frustrated, his dad and teachers made an appointment with the school psychologist. She diagnosed Noah with a learning disability. Although Noah felt relieved to know what was going on, he was also worried. He didn’t like the “disability” label. And he was concerned about what it might mean for his future. Would he be able to go to college and study engineering as he’d hoped?

Many people nowadays tend to discriminate those who are physically and mentally challenge. In the developing world, we are used to those people who are functual and “normal” as common people would term it. Having Disability is a big NO! in our society, but are we in the right position to discriminate and judge these people?

A type of disability is what we called “LEARNING DISABILITY”.  

Learning disabilities are problems that affect the brain’s ability to receive, process, analyze, or store information. These problems can make it difficult for a student to learn as quickly as someone who isn’t affected by learning disabilities.(Kids.org)

There are many kinds of learning disabilities. Most students affected by them have more than one kind. Certain kinds of learning disabilities can interfere with a person’s ability to concentrate or focus and can cause someone’s mind to wander too much. Other learning disabilities can make it difficult for a student to read, write, spell, or solve math problems.

The way our brains process information is extremely complex — it’s no wonder things can get messed up sometimes. Take the uncomplicated act of looking at a picture, for example: Our brains not only have to form the lines into an image, they also have to recognize what the image stands for, relate that image to other facts stored in our memories, and then store this new information.

It’s the same thing with speech — we have to recognize the words, interpret their meaning, and figure out the significance of the statement to us. Many of these activities take place in separate parts of the brain, and it’s up to our minds to link them all together.

If, like Noah, you’ve been diagnosed with a learning disability, you’re not on your own. Nearly 4 million school-age kids and teens have learning disabilities, and at least 20% of them have a type of disorder that makes it difficult to focus.

In analyzing this people we should expand our understanding and patience. We should not discriminate them!. I’m so glad that programs such as “BUDOY” can give us an overview of what to do to those who needed our help. In our course REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH, we tend to understand people with learning disabilities by knowing what are their needs in order to cope up with the activities of the average person. 

A good example of this is Understanding Individuals with DSYLEXIA. Dyslexia (pronounced: dis-lek-see-ah) is a type of learning disability. A person with a learning disability has trouble processing words or numbers. There are several kinds of learning disabilities; dyslexia is the term used when people have difficulty learning to read, even though they are smart enough and are motivated to learn. The word dyslexia comes from two Greek words: dys, which means abnormal or impaired, and lexis, which refers to language or words.Dyslexia is not a disease. It’s a condition that you are born with, and it often runs in families. People with dyslexia are not stupid or lazy. Most have average or above-average intelligence, and they work very hard to overcome their learning problems. Research has shown that dyslexia happens because of the way the brain processes information. Pictures of the brain, taken with modern imaging tools, have shown that when people with dyslexia read, they use different parts of the brain than people without dyslexia. These features also show that the brains of people with dyslexia don’t work efficiently during reading. So that’s why reading seems like such slow, hard work. Most people think that dyslexia causes people to reverse letters and numbers and see words backwards. But reversals occur as a normal part of development, and are seen in many kids until first or second grade. The main problem in dyslexia is trouble recognizing phonemes (pronounced: fo-neems), which are the basic sounds of speech (the “b” sound in “bat” is a phoneme, for example). Therefore, it’s a struggle to make the connection between the sound and the letter symbol for that sound, and to blend sounds into words.This makes it hard to recognize short, familiar words or to sound out longer words. It takes a lot of time for a person with dyslexia to sound out a word. The meaning of the word is often lost, and reading comprehension is poor. It is not surprising that people with dyslexia have trouble spelling. They may also have trouble expressing themselves in writing and even speaking. Dyslexia is a language processing disorder, so it can affect all forms of language, either spoken or written. Some people have milder forms of dyslexia, so they may have less trouble in these other areas of spoken and written language. Some people work around their dyslexia, but it takes a lot of effort and extra work. Dyslexia isn’t something that goes away on its own or that a person outgrows. Fortunately, with proper help, most people with dyslexia learn to read. They often find different ways to learn and use those strategies all their lives. If you have dyslexia, you might have trouble reading even simple words you’ve seen many times. You probably will read slowly and feel that you have to work extra-hard when reading. You might mix up the letters in a word, for example, reading the word “now” as “won” or “left” as “felt.” Words may blend together and spaces are lost. Phrases might appear like this ( see picture below) 

 You might have trouble remembering what you’ve read. You may remember more easily when the same information is read to you or heard on tape. Word problems in math may be especially hard, even if you’ve mastered the basics of arithmetic. If you’re doing a presentation in front of the class, you might have trouble finding the right words or names for various objects. Spelling and writing usually are very hard for people with dyslexia.

Proper and reflective Understanding is the basic needs of these people. We should create an environment that will help them to live everything in normal order. As we termed we are “Normal”. So, let’s try to reflect,if we are normal, then we must act as a normal person  pursuing an equal environment . The role of the Teacher especially in teaching these special people.

First, as a teacher who is involved in education for the disabled, you must strive to be aware of any obstacles that may be present in your classroom and ultimately posing distractions for disabled students.

                      

 If you are an able-bodied individual, put yourself temporarily in the position of a disabled person by navigating your classroom on crutches, in a wheelchair, and with your vision and hearing impaired (with a blindfold and earplugs). By forcing yourself to experience a familiar atmosphere without the assistance of some of your senses and while lacking mobility, you may be surprised that there are several aspects of your classroom that would ultimately be an obstacle for a disabled person.

Even if you are not currently teaching any disabled students, your classroom should be accessible to people of all abilities, including visitors. Even something as small as a threshold within a doorway can be challenging for someone who uses a walker or wheelchair.

Also, take care to ensure that there is enough space between the desks for a disabled student to navigate freely without fear of stumbling or getting caught on the legs of the desk. Although most disabled students will ask for help when it is needed, you will often find that they prefer to be as independent as possible. It is your responsibility to help them achieve this objective by making your classroom as accessible as possible.

 If you are teaching  disabled           students, you also must be aware of procedures that are in place regarding the extent of discipline that can be administered when necessary. The basic intent of the laws that are currently in place helps to safeguard against children being expelled or suspended from school because of something related to their disability.Although teaching disabled children comes with its own set of challenges, they can be easily conquered with a bit of advance planning.

 According to RAVEN 1994;2011, Teachers can provide mainstreaming in a variety of ways depending upon the strengths, weaknesses and specific educational needs of each disabled student. When a special education student is enrolled in a regular classroom, the teacher needs to understand the student’s disability and its effect on classroom performance. This will allow the teacher to plan appropriate activities that will build upon the student’s current skills and promote success. The student likely will benefit from placement in the regular classroom if the teacher will take the following actions:

1. Focus on the student’s actual skill deficits and behaviors rather than the student’s special education classification.
2. Create lessons and activities that help increase the student’s self-esteem.
3. Develop specific, achievable objectives for both learning and social behavior, and teach directly to those objectives.
4. Ensure that the student understands all of your directions.
5. Give assignments and evaluate performance based on the student’s current level of functioning, rather than the level of other students in your class.
6. Deal with behavioral problems by setting firm, fair rules and by enforcing them consistently and impartially.
7. When faced with a particularly difficult problem, ask for advice from special education specialists at the school.
8. Involve the student’s parents and ask for their help and support.

 “The human species is made up of seven billion subspecies each consisting of one specimen”.  ~Robert Brault