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             

                                          

Gaudium enim Sapiens

Many people want to become “GRAMMAR NAZI” but to become one we should memorize within our hearts the rules in English like the famous Subject and Verb Agreement. People who are really conscious about their grammar see English as their own Promise. It is not about how you will become a grammar nazi but to practice your ability to SPEAK. Why? Probably you’re thinking why did I associate grammar in speaking; primarily Grammar and Speaking are not the same. Grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. Linguists do not normally use the term to refer to orthographical rules, although usage books and style guides that call themselves grammars may also refer to spelling and punctuation, while Speaking is a tool to assist the identification and labeling of components of linguistic interaction that was driven by his view that, in order to speak a language correctly, one needs not only to learn its vocabulary and grammar, but also the context in which words are used. It is the way we convey our ideas and to interact with people. A related term in Speaking is what we called “SPEECH”. Speech is the vocalized form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of lexical and names that are drawn from very large (usually to about 10,000 different words) vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies, the syntax which structures them, and their set of speech sound units differ, creating the existence of thousands of different types of mutually unintelligible human languages. Human speakers (polyglots) are often able to communicate in two or more of them. The vocal abilities that enable humans to produce speech also provide humans with the ability to sing. A gestural form of human communication exists for the deaf in the form of sign language. Speech in some cultures has become the basis of a written language, often one that differs in its vocabulary, syntax and phonetics from its associated spoken one, a situation called diglossia. Speech in addition to its use in communication, it is suggested by some psychologists such as Vygotsky is internally used by mental processes to enhance and organize cognition in the form of an interior monologue. Speech is researched in terms of the speech production and speech perception of the sounds used in spoken language. Other research topics concern speech repetition, the ability to map heard spoken words into the vocalizations needed to recreated that plays a key role in the vocabulary expansion in children and speech errors. Several academic disciplines study these including acoustics, psychology, speech pathology, linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, otolaryngology and computer science. Another area of research is how the human brain in its different areas such as the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area underlies speech. It is controversial how far human speech is unique in that other animals also communicate with vocalizations. While none in the wild have compatibly large vocabularies, research upon the nonverbal abilities of language trained apes such as Washoe and Kanzi raises the possibility that they might have these capabilities. The origins of speech are unknown and subject to much debate and speculation. Hope you learned a lot from our discussion.

                                                                                                    LovE,

                                                                                                     SarA

“Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes. “
-William Shakespeare

Consilio et Animis: The Beginning of English

LEARN IT. USE IT. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

      When I was just a little girl I dreamt of becoming a teacher. I thank God giving me the chance to study and become a teacher. When Mrs. Rowena Dizon asked me of what area of specialization would I take my answer was straight – I said, “ I’m taking English.” It’s a tough decision though I love Science very much. Why English? Apparently, I took English because someone inspired me to choose it and I love how people speaks or should I say utter words which is a miracle, a gift from God. This ability was as precious as English. I’m happy that Mr. Dennis Infante required us to create a blog. Even though it is required I am glad that I would be able to share my knowledge in my chosen field of specialization.

 

To begin with, I would like to share to a story… entitled “ The Beginning of English”

 

Once Upon a Time…                        

 

 

                          The English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders – mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from England and their language was called English – from which the words England and English are derived..

                               

                         The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

 

                              Changes occur through time then…towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many people from around the world.

                             This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published..

                      

                           Apparently, The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one-quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

 

                        In line with that I can say that the tale of “Tower of Babel” is perhaps true…because from around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words “froze” when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call “Americanisms” are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA’s dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

Until then English Became the LINGUAFRANCA of the world…

                            

 

 

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