1. Activating Background Knowledge through Effective Titles
The dictionary defines tradition as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. “It means that the things we know today are already inside of us- passed on by our parents. All we have to do is tap into them, somehow, to activate them, to use them. The same principle holds true when we are reading.
There are times when your teacher asks you questions about a picture, objects or a word introduce a lesson or before you read a selection. When she/he does that, your teacher is actually activating your background knowledge about something. This skills helps you understand better what you are reading or about to read. Can titles help your activate your background knowledge? How?
Look at the title of this lesson. What comes to your mind as you look at the word tradition? In groups of 5, work on the organizer that follows and give as many ideas, thoughts, or reminiscences that you can link with the word tradition.
2. Scanning Newspaper Headlines to Get Information
Newspapers are very much part of our tradition, culture, and history. In fact, they are very mush part of our lives, among students, the newspaper is a very good source of information, especially so, for their assignments and research work.
One of the important parts of the newspaper is the headline, for it carries or banners the most significant news of the day. As fourth year students, your skills in determining specific meaning and information by scanning the headline is another study skill you have to develop.
Go over the sample headline that follows. What information is given in each of the headline? What do you expect to find in the news stories which the headlines represent? What do these headlines mean to you?
1. Meralco Cuts Rates by 43C
Philippines Sunday Inquirer
August 5, 2007
2. RP kids bag gold, 13 bronzes in HK math tilt
The Philippine Star
August 5, 2007
3. Management Man of the Year is ‘every woman’s impossible dream’
Philippines Sunday Inquirer
August 19, 2007
Scan the given headlines and match them with the following extracts from the news stories.
Neither the rain nor flood could keep some of the countries top business executives from honoring one of their own. Much of Metro Manila was under water on August 15 when the Inquirer hosted a testimonial dinner in honor of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, the Ayala Corp. chair and CEO.
Cuna said there were a number of the factors that helped to bring down the power distributor’s costs in July, resulting in the lower rates beginning August.
The Department of Education lauded the students who harvested the awards… “We are proud of our students and this will inspire us in MTG Philippines to continue developing the teaching skills of our math teachers and finding ways to encourage our students to have math skills, “ Myrna Agtarap of MTG- Philippines told the Star.
3. Utilizing Knowledge of the Different Text Types
As you have learned earlier, there are different types that you will come across. Some of them are technical, some journalistic in style, and some literary. Some examples of technical reports are scientific reports, studies. Researches and business reports. Journalistic texts include straight news or features articles, while literary texts include the different literary genre most commonly found in literature books like poems, essays, stories, plays, and novels, among others.
As students, your ability to recognize and use your knowledge of the differences among these text types will help in processing the information that you read.
Find out if you have developed this skill after reading the text that follows.
Do you know of a person who has been raised under different cultures? Which culture has he/she more dominantly shown?
Two in One
Throughout high school I chose to ignore my Filipino side. The most important thing for me was to fit in – wear the latest clothes, listen to the coolest music, speak the slang spoken between friends. If anyone asked me my ethnic background, I emphasized that I was half-white, leaving out that I was half-Filipino. If prodded any further, I said that my mother was born in the Philippines, but that she was definitely mixed with Spanish blood. Somehow I had come to the conclusion that to be American meant I should exclude my Filipino heritage. To include it also might mean I wouldn’t fit in with my teenager – I had never been to the Philippines, I spoke only English, and I practiced no Filipino customs.
Since I came to college I have been exploring the Filipino culture more as part of my own culture. This is a step toward true recognition of my Filipino identify. Though I have been raised in America and have lived the “American” culture, this doesn’t mean I should deny that I am also a Filipino. My Filipino heritage has a claim on me that has been waiting to be explored further – waiting to include me – and I in it. Growing up as mixed Asian and American has made me aware that it isn’t necessary for me to be 100% American. As I begin to study Filipino history and culture through research and from my mother, I integrate this new knowledge with my American culture. This process of integration bridges the two identities that make who I am. Now I no longer say I am all American or all Filipino, instead I can proudly say that I am both.
Comprehension Check
1.What is the text all about?
3.Which culture, do you think, was predominant in him? Why do you think so?
4.What type of text is it? Why do you think so?
5.Who could have written it? Why do you think so?
4. Using Headlines to Set Purpose in Reading
Headings in text help you see the organization and main ideas of the selection. They also aid you while you skin through the text as you set your purpose in reading.
Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the World.
(An Excerpt)
So it happened that, on March 4, 1933 , this usually thoughtful energetic, and ungainly woman of forty-eight became the first Lady of the Land.
Lorena “Hick” Hicok, who covered politics for the Associated Press, had felt sure that D.D.R’s wife was an exceptional person, and the two women ha become close friends.
But it was not until Eleanor Roosevelt settled into the White house that the whole country began to see what hick had seen. Because she wanted warmhearted figure “to do something for women,: only women reporters were admitted to the First Lady’s weekly press conference, naturally, the handful of female journalist in Washington’s marveled at the American scene.
Mrs. Roosevelt was a person not only needed but also admired. In 1933 alone, three hundred thousand letters, from everywhere in the country were sent to her.
To friends like hick, Mrs. Roosevelt continued wailing about the loss of her personal freedom, what she hated most, she said, was being stared at by mobs of people.
Under ordinary circumstances, Eleanor Roosevelt would have stopped being the First Lady after the 1940 elections, but another terrifying was had begun in Europe the preceding year, and it seemed that the united States might not be able to stay out of the conflict much longer. Because of this great danger the Democrats chose Franklin Roosevelt as their candidate again – event though no other president had ever served more than two terms. Mrs. Roosevelt felt strongly that, for the sake of the nation, her husband be reelected.
“I seem to have a calming effect,” she wrote to her old friend Hick. On countless occasions already – in a coal mine, an auto factory, at the top of the mountain – someone had glanced up and seen a tall woman who looked familiar. Then came the cry: “Gosh, there’s Eleanor!” During the war, American soldiers all over the world had the same experience.
The First Lady became the symbol of home to millions of homesick fighting men. Everywhere she went, she copied down the names and addresses of “the boys” she talked with, and then wrote heart warming noted to their parents in her return.
But on April 12, 1945 , while he was resting in Warm Spring Georgia , Franklin Roosevelt suddenly fainted. A few hours later, while Eleanor was making a speech in Washington , he died.
Outwardly calm, Mrs. Roosevelt waited at the White house for Vice President Harry Truman.
Truman’s eyes were filled with tears. His first words to Mrs. Roosevelt were, “Is there anything I can do for you? Mrs. Roosevelt replied as if her own feelings did not matter: Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.”
Mrs. Roosevelt spent the rest of her life striving to promote the cause of peace. “The First Lady of the World,” President Truman would call her, she continued her work by joining the United Nations.
She retired from the U.N. when she was nearly seventy, but she still continued speaking and traveling. She went to Russia and Japan , to Israel and India , visiting peasants and prime misters, always spreading the message that world peace depends on international friendship.
By the start of the 60s, Mrs. Roosevelt’s health had begun failing. Yet she kept writing and speaking two more years – until a complicated blood disease made her enter a hospital. Shortly after her seventy – eight birthday, on November 7, 1962 , this world-famous woman died.
“She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness,” said Adlai Stevenson. “And her glow ha warmed the world.”
Source: Distant Shore, [n.p.] 1991
Comprehension Check
1.Why do you think Eleanor Roosevelt was called the First Lady of the World?
2.As you were reading the selection, what qualities of Eleanor Roosevelt do you admire most and why?
3.What does the last sentence of the text means?
4.If Eleanor Roosevelt were alive today, what difference, do you think, would she make in this highly modernized world?
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Adjust & Vary Reading Speed and Style to Suit the Text Type, One’s Background Knowledge and Purpose in Reading and the Contact Material Needed
Monday, August 18, 2008Activity
2.What did the writerfinally realized about the integration of different cultures in him?
Determine information from various test types and sources using the card catalogue, vertical index, microfilm, CD – ROM internet, etc.
1. Distinguishing Different Types of Sources of Information "How Barangay Came to Be”
What are considered primary and secondary sources of information? Can you distinguish if a text comes from a primary or from secondary source?
Materials that provide direct, firsthand information about subjects and events are called primary sources of information. Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the Philippines . On the other hand, secondary sources provide indirect and secondhand information. These facts include those derived from other people’s ideas such as most books and articles in magazines, encyclopedia, and newspapers.
Read the article below, and then answer the questions that follow.
How Barangay Came to Be
An interesting discovery made in Butuan in the early seventies was that of a fossilized balangay, which was a long sailing vessel in common use throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-Spanish era. The barangay as a form of government was believed to have originated from the balangay.
A balangay had a hundred households at the most. It was led by a chieftain, called a Datu. Migrants from the Malaysian and Indonesian Islands came to our shores using the balangay. Once here, they formed their own settlements, a cluster of which formed a single town ruled by a lakan or a sultan. A confederacy of several settlements would join forces in case of aggression.
When the Spaniards came, they instituted the barangay as form of local government headed by a cabeza. The change from balangay to barangay seemed to have been made but the Spaniards who could not pronounce the nasal nga of the Filipinos and preferred the r to l. If the balangays of old were meant to preserve the peaceful and harmonious relationships between neighboring settlements, the Spanish barangay was used as a local instrument of the central government to pursue its colonial goals.
Comprehension check
1.What can you say about the archeological findings in Butuan during the seventies?
What are considered primary and secondary sources of information? Can you distinguish if a text comes from a primary or from secondary source?
Materials that provide direct, firsthand information about subjects and events are called primary sources of information. Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the Philippines . On the other hand, secondary sources provide indirect and secondhand information. These facts include those derived from other people’s ideas such as most books and articles in magazines, encyclopedia, and newspapers.
Read the article below, and then answer the questions that follow.
How Barangay Came to Be
An interesting discovery made in Butuan in the early seventies was that of a fossilized balangay, which was a long sailing vessel in common use throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-Spanish era. The barangay as a form of government was believed to have originated from the balangay.
A balangay had a hundred households at the most. It was led by a chieftain, called a Datu. Migrants from the Malaysian and Indonesian Islands came to our shores using the balangay. Once here, they formed their own settlements, a cluster of which formed a single town ruled by a lakan or a sultan. A confederacy of several settlements would join forces in case of aggression.
When the Spaniards came, they instituted the barangay as form of local government headed by a cabeza. The change from balangay to barangay seemed to have been made but the Spaniards who could not pronounce the nasal nga of the Filipinos and preferred the r to l. If the balangays of old were meant to preserve the peaceful and harmonious relationships between neighboring settlements, the Spanish barangay was used as a local instrument of the central government to pursue its colonial goals.
Comprehension check
1.What can you say about the archeological findings in Butuan during the seventies?
2.Describe the fossilized balangay. How was it related to the barangay we have today in our community?
3.What was a cabeza? A datu? A sultan?
4.Compare and contrast the barangay of today to the balangay of the pre-Spanish times in terms of structure and purpose.
5 .Does your own barangay live up to the purpose for which it was organized? Why or why not?
6.What is the source of the information presented about barangays?
7.What type of source of information was it? How did you know? Explain your answer.
8.Write a paragraph about the way of life of the people in your barangay.
2. Locating information from General and Primary Sources
There are several sources of information – print materials like news papers, periodicals, general references, and non-print materials like radio and audio tapes, nowadays, the internet is one big source of information where students go to as their need (especially in research ) arises.
As such, there’s a need to develop or enhance your skill in locating information from general and primary sources.
Find out from what source of information the text you are about to read, has been lifted.
Siesta
(An Excerpt)
Leopoldo R. Serrano
When I was a boy, one of the rules at home that I did not like at all was to be made to lie in the bare floor of our sala after lunch. I usually lay side by side with two other children in the family. We were forced to sleep by my mother. She watched us as she darned old dresses, read an awit, or hummed a cradle song in Tagalog.
She always reminded us that sleeping at noon enables children to grow fast like the grass in our yard. In this way, in most Filipino homes many years ago, the children were made to understand what the siesta was. Very often I had to pretend to be asleep by closing my eyes.
Once while my mother was away, I tried to sneak out of the house during the siesta hour. I had not gone far when I felt something hit me hard on the back. Looking behind, I saw my father. He was annoyed because I had disturbed his siesta. I picked up a pillow at my feet, gave it to him, and went back to our mat. The two other children were fast asleep. The sight of the whip, symbol of parental authority, hanging on one of the post, gave me no other choice but to lie down.
During my childhood, whenever we had house guests, my mother never failed to put mats and pillows on the floor of our living room after the noonday meal. Then she would invite our guest to have their siesta. Hospitality and good taste demanded that this be not overlooked.
The custom of having a siesta was introduced in our country by the Spaniards. Indeed, during the Spanish times, the Philippines was the land of the fiesta, the novena, and the siesta.
Many foreigners have noted this custom among our people. Some believed that even the guards at the gates of Intramuros had their siesta. It was a commonly known fact that every afternoon the gates of the city were closed for fear of a surprise attack.
The ayuntamiento of Manila or the commander of the regiment in Intramuros did well in ordering the closing of the gates during the siesta hour. Once, the Chinese living in Parian, just a short way from the Walled City, timed the beginning of one of their revolts by attacking at two o’clock in the afternoon. They were sure that the dons, including the guards and sentinels, were having their siesta. They felt that they would be more successful if the attack came at siesta time.
Even today visits to Filipino homes are not usually made between one o’clock and two o’clock in the afternoon. It is presumed that the people in the house are having their siesta. It is not polite to have them awakened from their noonday nap to accommodate visitors. There is a well-known saying believed by many of our people: “You may joke with a drunkard but not one who has been disturbed during his siesta.”
Our custom of having a siesta has not been greatly affected by American influence. We have not learned the Yankee’s bustle and eagerness or endurance for continuous work throughout the day.
But if only for its health-giving effects, we should be grateful to the Spaniards for the siesta, especially during the hot weather, for the siesta serves to restore the energy lost while working and a hot climate.
Comprehension check
1. What is siesta? Who introduced this practice to the Filipinos?
2. Is siesta still relevant to the modern day Filipino? Explain your answer.
3. Do you agree with the author’s statement at the end of the text? What scientific explanation or concept do you know that may justify a statement?
4. What source of information do you think the text came from? Why did you think so?
5. Make a research from books or through the internet of any activity, custom or tradition in other country that is similar to siesta among the Philippines.
3. Using Definition to Identify a Word in a Text
From time to time, while reading, you will see a word you cannot identify. When this happens, you should use a word identification strategy to identify the word.
One strategy you can use to identify a word in a text is by finding the definition of the word, and what better way of finding the definition of the word than using a dictionary. Look in the dictionary for the word and its phonetic respelling. Use the phonetic respelling to help you pronounce the word. Then look at the definitions provided for the word. Select the definition that best fits the meaning of the word as used in the text. Knowing the pronunciation of the word and its meaning should allow you to identify the word in the text.
Activity
Find the words from the text, Two in One, which mean the same as:
1.Something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor
2.Relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linquistic or cultural origin or background
3.Language peculiar to a particular group
4.Urge someone on or incited to action
5.Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of racial, religious or social group
4. Deriving information from a Journalistic Text using a Vertical File
One of the best sources of information among the resources available at the library is the vertical file. Current information in the form of pamphlets, handbooks, booklets, and clippings is kept in a set of file cabinets called the vertical file.
For students like you who are into research, the vertical file offers a lot of journalistic texts from which you can derive the information you need.
What Filipino values are you familiar with? Find out if they are among the ones discussed in the text that follows.
The Filipino Way
The Filipino has a strong respect for the dignity of the human person and considers the other as an equal.. He is sensitive to people’s feelings, very trusting to a point of naiveté.
He is capable of genuinely relating to others, empathizing during times of stress, of need (pakikiramay, bayanihan).
On the one hand, this makes a good point d’ appui for a theology of liberation, source of moral consciousness, a Filipino concept of justice based on human dignity.
On the other hand, this very quality makes the Filipino tend to interpret personally any praise or criticism regarding business or work relationships. He has difficulty viewing things objectively.
Contrary to this other-orientedness is the kanya-kanya syndrome, the so-called crab mentality of pulling down, through gossips and intrigues, persons seen to have by – passed one in rank, wealth, and honor.
Family orientation towards, not only the nuclear members, but also the members of the clan (and even kumpadres) gives the Filipino a basic sense of security.
This has its source in the extended barangay of pre-Spanish times. Diplomacy (pakikisama), or the ability to have a smooth interpersonal relationship, is a good ground for the Christian virtue of tactfulness, of never wanting to hurt others.
This strong feeling of family relationship, loyalty, and unity becomes an extreme centeredness that can result in a lack of concern for the common good which breeds patronage, nepotism, political dynasties.
The Filipino can easily adjust to any situation. He can improvise. He is flexible. He is creative, perhaps, his history of having been colonized, his openness to western influence at the same time maintaining his Asian traits, account for this.
The present socio-economic situation has also greatly influenced him to make use of whatever materials he has at hand to produce. He needs to survive.
But centuries of colonization have somehow repressed him into a general state of passivity, a lack of initiative, a colonial mentality, and a certain degree of racial inferiority.
He consciously or unconsciously translates white or anything western as superior. A top criterion for personal beauty is fair skin, an aquiline nose: the mestiza, the mestizo.
A thing imported is of better value than a native product. Having stepped “abroad” is a highly desirable social status even if it meant being a “TNT” household help in the States.
The Filipino is innately religious. This is seen in his daily life where he relates personal experiences to the powerful plan of God.
Nasa tao ang gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa (Work is man’s, mercy is God’s). This makes him resigned to any tragic event in his life and a very fertile ground for faith, hope in all the powerful providence of God’s mercy, and for love.
At the same time, there is the danger of defeatism and a reliance on fate. Talagang ganyan ang swerte! (That’s fate!) is often the resigned reaction to any personal or social state of tragedy, calamity, or even the consequence of a wrong decision made.
The Filipino in his religiosity remains an animist at heart. The Filipino has a strong hedonistic approach to life. The number of pleasure-oriented R&R complexes reflects this.
This results in superficiality, a lack of self-analysis and reflection. There is a strong tendency to accept things and people at face value.
This also holds true even in our attitude regarding clothing. The Filipino is reputed to dress beyond his state in life and his affordability level, because of this superficial desire to appear well-off (maporma), instead of looking at things as they are. This sadly shows his utter lack of maturity as a person.
One sign, though, that a nation has come of age is the ability to reflect, to contemplate.
Whether these traits are values, value indicators, or whatever sophisticated term someone else coins, is immaterial. What counts is that these traits, though universal, are very much Filipino because these were shaped by the roots peculiar to the nation that experienced them: family and home environment, socio-economic factors, culture, language, history, education, religion, politics, and media.
The Filipino’s self-actualization, his identify, means the enhancement of all that is positive in him and the purification of his weaknesses.
Comprehension Check
1.What Filipino values are discussed in the selection—positive or negative? Justify your answer by citing proofs in the text.
2.How does the writer view the Filipino values as a whole? Why did you say so?
3.Do you agree with the last sentence of the text? Why or why not?
4.Which of the values discussed, do you think, must be strengthened? Why? Which must be discarded? How can the Filipino redeem himself then?
5.Does history play a role in the Filipino value system? Why/ why not?
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
A. Determine information from various test types and sources using the card catalogue, vertical index, microfilm, CD – ROM internet etc.
A. Determine information from various test types and sources using the card catalogue, vertical index, microfilm, CD – ROM internet etc.
1. Distinguishing Different Types of Sources of Information” How Barangay Came to Be”
What are considered primary and secondary sources of information? Can you distinguish if a text comes from a primary or from secondary source?
Materials that provide direct, firsthand information about subjects and events are called primary sources of information. Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the Philippines . On the other hand, secondary sources provide indirect and secondhand information. These facts include those derived from other people’s ideas such as most books and articles in magazines, encyclopedia, and newspapers.
Read the article below, and then answer the questions that follow.
How Barangay Came to Be
An interesting discovery made in Butuan in the early seventies was that of a fossilized balangay, which was a long sailing vessel in common use throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-Spanish era. The barangay as a form of government was believed to have originated from the balangay.
A balangay had a hundred households at the most. It was led by a chieftain, called a Datu. Migrants from the Malaysian and Indonesian Islands came to our shores using the balangay. Once here, they formed their own settlements, a cluster of which formed a single town ruled by a lakan or a sultan. A confederacy of several settlements would join forces in case of aggression.
When the Spaniards came, they instituted the barangay as form of local government headed by a cabeza. The change from balangay to barangay seemed to have been made but the Spaniards who could not pronounce the nasal nga of the Filipinos and preferred the r to l. If the balangays of old were meant to preserve the peaceful and harmonious relationships between neighboring settlements, the Spanish barangay was used as a local instrument of the central government to pursue its colonial goals.
Comprehension check
What can you say about the archeological findings in Butuan during the seventies?
Describe the fossilized balangay. How was it related to the barangay we have today in our community?
What was a cabeza? A datu? A sultan?
Compare and contrast tha barangay of today to the balangay of the pre-Spanish times in terms of structure and purpose.
Does your own barangay live up to the purpose for which it was organized? Why or why not?
What is the source of the information presented about barangays?
What type of source of information was it? How did you know? Explain your answer.
Write a paragraph about the way of life of the people in your barangay.
2. Locating information from General and Primary Sources
There are several sources of information – print materials like news papers, periodicals, general references, and non-print materials like radio and audio tapes, nowadays, the internet is one big source of information where students go to as their need (especially in research ) arises.
As such, there’s a need to develop or enhance your skill in locating information from general and primary sources.
Find out from what source of information the text you are about to read, has been lifted.
Siesta
(An Excerpt)
Leopoldo R. Serrano
When I was a boy, one of the rules at home that I did not like at all was to be made to lie in the bare floor of our sala after lunch. I usually lay side by side with two other children in the family. We were forced to sleep by my mother. She watched us as she darned old dresses, read an awit, or hummed a cradle song in Tagalog.
She always reminded us that sleeping at noon enables children to grow fast like the grass in our yard. In this way, in most Filipino homes many years ago, the children were made to understand what the siesta was. Very often I had to pretend to be asleep by closing my eyes.
Once while my mother was away, I tried to sneak out of the house during the siesta hour. I had not gone far when I felt something hit me hard on the back. Looking behind, I saw my father. He was annoyed because I had disturbed his siesta. I picked up a pillow at my feet, gave it to him, and went back to our mat. The two other children were fast asleep. The sight of the whip, symbol of parental authority, hanging on one of the post, gave me no other choice but to lie down.
During my childhood, whenever we had house guests, my mother never failed to put mats and pillows on the floor of our living room after the noonday meal. Then she would invite our guest to have their siesta. Hospitality and good taste demanded that this be not overlooked.
The custom of having a siesta was introduced in our country by the Spaniards. Indeed, during the Spanish times, the Philippines was the land of the fiesta, the novena, and the siesta.
Many foreigners have noted this custom among our people. Some believed that even the guards at the gates of Intramuros had their siesta. It was a commonly known fact that every afternoon the gates of the city were closed for fear of a surprise attack.
The ayuntamiento of Manila or the commander of the regiment in Intramuros did well in ordering the closing of the gates during the siesta hour. Once, the Chinese living in Parian, just a short way from the Walled City, timed the beginning of one of their revolts by attacking at two o’clock in the afternoon. They were sure that the dons, including the guards and sentinels, were having their siesta. They felt that they would be more successful if the attack came at siesta time.
Even today visits to Filipino homes are not usually made between one o’clock and two o’clock in the afternoon. It is presumed that the people in the house are having their siesta. It is not polite to have them awakened from their noonday nap to accommodate visitors. There is a well-known saying believed by many of our people: “You may joke with a drunkard but not one who has been disturbed during his siesta.”
Our custom of having a siesta has not been greatly affected by American influence. We have not learned the Yankee’s bustle and eagerness or endurance for continuous work throughout the day.
But if only for its health-giving effects, we should be grateful to the Spaniards for the siesta, especially during the hot weather, for the siesta serves to restore the energy lost while working and a hot climate.
Comprehension check
1. What is siesta? Who introduced this practice to the Filipinos?
2. Is siesta still relevant to the modern day Filipino? Explain your answer.
3. Do you agree with the author’s statement at the end of the text? What scientific explanation or concept do you know that may justify a statement?
4. What source of information do you think the text came from? Why did you think so?
5. Make a research from books or through the internet of any activity, custom or tradition in other country that is similar to siesta among the Philippines.
3. Using Definition to Identify a Word in a Text
From time to time, while reading, you will see a word you cannot identify. When this happens, you should use a word identification strategy to identify the word.
One strategy you can use to identify a word in a text is by finding the definition of the word, and what better way of finding the definition of the word than using a dictionary. Look in the dictionary for the word and its phonetic respelling. Use the phonetic respelling to help you pronounce the word. Then look at the definitions provided for the word. Select the definition that best fits the meaning of the word as used in the text. Knowing the pronunciation of the word and its meaning should allow you to identify the word in the text.
Activity
Find the words from the text, Two in One, which mean the same as:
Something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor
Relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linquistic or cultural origin or background
Language peculiar to a particular group
Urge someone on or incited to action
Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of racial, religious or social group
4. Deriving information from a Journalistic Text using a Vertical File
One of the best sources of information among the resources available at the library is the vertical file. Current information in the form of pamphlets, handbooks, booklets, and clippings is kept in a set of file cabinets called the vertical file.
For students like you who are into research, the vertical file offers a lot of journalistic texts from which you can derive the information you need.
What Filipino values are you familiar with? Find out if they are among the ones discussed in the text that follows.
The Filipino Way
The Filipino has a strong respect for the dignity of the human person and considers the other as an equal.. He is sensitive to people’s feelings, very trusting to a point of naiveté.
He is capable of genuinely relating to others, empathizing during times of stress, of need (pakikiramay, bayanihan).
On the one hand, this makes a good point d’ appui for a theology of liberation, source of moral consciousness, a Filipino concept of justice based on human dignity.
On the other hand, this very quality makes the Filipino tend to interpret personally any praise or criticism regarding business or work relationships. He has difficulty viewing things objectively.
Contrary to this other-orientedness is the kanya-kanya syndrome, the so-called crab mentality of pulling down, through gossips and intrigues, persons seen to have by – passed one in rank, wealth, and honor.
Family orientation towards, not only the nuclear members, but also the members of the clan (and even kumpadres) gives the Filipino a basic sense of security.
This has its source in the extended barangay of pre-Spanish times. Diplomacy (pakikisama), or the ability to have a smooth interpersonal relationship, is a good ground for the Christian virtue of tactfulness, of never wanting to hurt others.
This strong feeling of family relationship, loyalty, and unity becomes an extreme centeredness that can result in a lack of concern for the common good which breeds patronage, nepotism, political dynasties.
The Filipino can easily adjust to any situation. He can improvise. He is flexible. He is creative, perhaps, his history of having been colonized, his openness to western influence at the same time maintaining his Asian traits, account for this.
The present socio-economic situation has also greatly influenced him to make use of whatever materials he has at hand to produce. He needs to survive.
But centuries of colonization have somehow repressed him into a general state of passivity, a lack of initiative, a colonial mentality, and a certain degree of racial inferiority.
He consciously or unconsciously translates white or anything western as superior. A top criterion for personal beauty is fair skin, an aquiline nose: the mestiza, the mestizo.
A thing imported is of better value than a native product. Having stepped “abroad” is a highly desirable social status even if it meant being a “TNT” household help in the States.
The Filipino is innately religious. This is seen in his daily life where he relates personal experiences to the powerful plan of God.
Nasa tao ang gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa (Work is man’s, mercy is God’s). This makes him resigned to any tragic event in his life and a very fertile ground for faith, hope in all the powerful providence of God’s mercy, and for love.
At the same time, there is the danger of defeatism and a reliance on fate. Talagang ganyan ang swerte! (That’s fate!) is often the resigned reaction to any personal or social state of tragedy, calamity, or even the consequence of a wrong decision made.
The Filipino in his religiosity remains an animist at heart. The Filipino has a strong hedonistic approach to life. The number of pleasure-oriented R&R complexes reflects this.
This results in superficiality, a lack of self-analysis and reflection. There is a strong tendency to accept things and people at face value.
This also holds true even in our attitude regarding clothing. The Filipino is reputed to dress beyond his state in life and his affordability level, because of this superficial desire to appear well-off (maporma), instead of looking at things as they are. This sadly shows his utter lack of maturity as a person.
One sign, though, that a nation has come of age is the ability to reflect, to contemplate.
Whether these traits are values, value indicators, or whatever sophisticated term someone else coins, is immaterial. What counts is that these traits, though universal, are very much Filipino because these were shaped by the roots peculiar to the nation that experienced them: family and home environment, socio-economic factors, culture, language, history, education, religion, politics, and media.
The Filipino’s self-actualization, his identify, means the enhancement of all that is positive in him and the purification of his weaknesses.
Comprehension Check
What Filipino values are discussed in the selection—positive or negative? Justify your answer by citing proofs in the text.
How does the writer view the Filipino values as a whole? Why did you say so?
Do you agree with the last sentence of the text? Why or why not?
Which of the values discussed, do you think, must be strengthened? Why? Which must be discarded? How can the Filipino redeem himself then?
Does history play a role in the Filipino value system? Why/ why not?
Summarize in five statements the information derived from the text.
1. Distinguishing Different Types of Sources of Information” How Barangay Came to Be”
What are considered primary and secondary sources of information? Can you distinguish if a text comes from a primary or from secondary source?
Materials that provide direct, firsthand information about subjects and events are called primary sources of information. Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the Philippines . On the other hand, secondary sources provide indirect and secondhand information. These facts include those derived from other people’s ideas such as most books and articles in magazines, encyclopedia, and newspapers.
Read the article below, and then answer the questions that follow.
How Barangay Came to Be
An interesting discovery made in Butuan in the early seventies was that of a fossilized balangay, which was a long sailing vessel in common use throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-Spanish era. The barangay as a form of government was believed to have originated from the balangay.
A balangay had a hundred households at the most. It was led by a chieftain, called a Datu. Migrants from the Malaysian and Indonesian Islands came to our shores using the balangay. Once here, they formed their own settlements, a cluster of which formed a single town ruled by a lakan or a sultan. A confederacy of several settlements would join forces in case of aggression.
When the Spaniards came, they instituted the barangay as form of local government headed by a cabeza. The change from balangay to barangay seemed to have been made but the Spaniards who could not pronounce the nasal nga of the Filipinos and preferred the r to l. If the balangays of old were meant to preserve the peaceful and harmonious relationships between neighboring settlements, the Spanish barangay was used as a local instrument of the central government to pursue its colonial goals.
Comprehension check
What can you say about the archeological findings in Butuan during the seventies?
Describe the fossilized balangay. How was it related to the barangay we have today in our community?
What was a cabeza? A datu? A sultan?
Compare and contrast tha barangay of today to the balangay of the pre-Spanish times in terms of structure and purpose.
Does your own barangay live up to the purpose for which it was organized? Why or why not?
What is the source of the information presented about barangays?
What type of source of information was it? How did you know? Explain your answer.
Write a paragraph about the way of life of the people in your barangay.
2. Locating information from General and Primary Sources
There are several sources of information – print materials like news papers, periodicals, general references, and non-print materials like radio and audio tapes, nowadays, the internet is one big source of information where students go to as their need (especially in research ) arises.
As such, there’s a need to develop or enhance your skill in locating information from general and primary sources.
Find out from what source of information the text you are about to read, has been lifted.
Siesta
(An Excerpt)
Leopoldo R. Serrano
When I was a boy, one of the rules at home that I did not like at all was to be made to lie in the bare floor of our sala after lunch. I usually lay side by side with two other children in the family. We were forced to sleep by my mother. She watched us as she darned old dresses, read an awit, or hummed a cradle song in Tagalog.
She always reminded us that sleeping at noon enables children to grow fast like the grass in our yard. In this way, in most Filipino homes many years ago, the children were made to understand what the siesta was. Very often I had to pretend to be asleep by closing my eyes.
Once while my mother was away, I tried to sneak out of the house during the siesta hour. I had not gone far when I felt something hit me hard on the back. Looking behind, I saw my father. He was annoyed because I had disturbed his siesta. I picked up a pillow at my feet, gave it to him, and went back to our mat. The two other children were fast asleep. The sight of the whip, symbol of parental authority, hanging on one of the post, gave me no other choice but to lie down.
During my childhood, whenever we had house guests, my mother never failed to put mats and pillows on the floor of our living room after the noonday meal. Then she would invite our guest to have their siesta. Hospitality and good taste demanded that this be not overlooked.
The custom of having a siesta was introduced in our country by the Spaniards. Indeed, during the Spanish times, the Philippines was the land of the fiesta, the novena, and the siesta.
Many foreigners have noted this custom among our people. Some believed that even the guards at the gates of Intramuros had their siesta. It was a commonly known fact that every afternoon the gates of the city were closed for fear of a surprise attack.
The ayuntamiento of Manila or the commander of the regiment in Intramuros did well in ordering the closing of the gates during the siesta hour. Once, the Chinese living in Parian, just a short way from the Walled City, timed the beginning of one of their revolts by attacking at two o’clock in the afternoon. They were sure that the dons, including the guards and sentinels, were having their siesta. They felt that they would be more successful if the attack came at siesta time.
Even today visits to Filipino homes are not usually made between one o’clock and two o’clock in the afternoon. It is presumed that the people in the house are having their siesta. It is not polite to have them awakened from their noonday nap to accommodate visitors. There is a well-known saying believed by many of our people: “You may joke with a drunkard but not one who has been disturbed during his siesta.”
Our custom of having a siesta has not been greatly affected by American influence. We have not learned the Yankee’s bustle and eagerness or endurance for continuous work throughout the day.
But if only for its health-giving effects, we should be grateful to the Spaniards for the siesta, especially during the hot weather, for the siesta serves to restore the energy lost while working and a hot climate.
Comprehension check
1. What is siesta? Who introduced this practice to the Filipinos?
2. Is siesta still relevant to the modern day Filipino? Explain your answer.
3. Do you agree with the author’s statement at the end of the text? What scientific explanation or concept do you know that may justify a statement?
4. What source of information do you think the text came from? Why did you think so?
5. Make a research from books or through the internet of any activity, custom or tradition in other country that is similar to siesta among the Philippines.
3. Using Definition to Identify a Word in a Text
From time to time, while reading, you will see a word you cannot identify. When this happens, you should use a word identification strategy to identify the word.
One strategy you can use to identify a word in a text is by finding the definition of the word, and what better way of finding the definition of the word than using a dictionary. Look in the dictionary for the word and its phonetic respelling. Use the phonetic respelling to help you pronounce the word. Then look at the definitions provided for the word. Select the definition that best fits the meaning of the word as used in the text. Knowing the pronunciation of the word and its meaning should allow you to identify the word in the text.
Activity
Find the words from the text, Two in One, which mean the same as:
Something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor
Relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linquistic or cultural origin or background
Language peculiar to a particular group
Urge someone on or incited to action
Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of racial, religious or social group
4. Deriving information from a Journalistic Text using a Vertical File
One of the best sources of information among the resources available at the library is the vertical file. Current information in the form of pamphlets, handbooks, booklets, and clippings is kept in a set of file cabinets called the vertical file.
For students like you who are into research, the vertical file offers a lot of journalistic texts from which you can derive the information you need.
What Filipino values are you familiar with? Find out if they are among the ones discussed in the text that follows.
The Filipino Way
The Filipino has a strong respect for the dignity of the human person and considers the other as an equal.. He is sensitive to people’s feelings, very trusting to a point of naiveté.
He is capable of genuinely relating to others, empathizing during times of stress, of need (pakikiramay, bayanihan).
On the one hand, this makes a good point d’ appui for a theology of liberation, source of moral consciousness, a Filipino concept of justice based on human dignity.
On the other hand, this very quality makes the Filipino tend to interpret personally any praise or criticism regarding business or work relationships. He has difficulty viewing things objectively.
Contrary to this other-orientedness is the kanya-kanya syndrome, the so-called crab mentality of pulling down, through gossips and intrigues, persons seen to have by – passed one in rank, wealth, and honor.
Family orientation towards, not only the nuclear members, but also the members of the clan (and even kumpadres) gives the Filipino a basic sense of security.
This has its source in the extended barangay of pre-Spanish times. Diplomacy (pakikisama), or the ability to have a smooth interpersonal relationship, is a good ground for the Christian virtue of tactfulness, of never wanting to hurt others.
This strong feeling of family relationship, loyalty, and unity becomes an extreme centeredness that can result in a lack of concern for the common good which breeds patronage, nepotism, political dynasties.
The Filipino can easily adjust to any situation. He can improvise. He is flexible. He is creative, perhaps, his history of having been colonized, his openness to western influence at the same time maintaining his Asian traits, account for this.
The present socio-economic situation has also greatly influenced him to make use of whatever materials he has at hand to produce. He needs to survive.
But centuries of colonization have somehow repressed him into a general state of passivity, a lack of initiative, a colonial mentality, and a certain degree of racial inferiority.
He consciously or unconsciously translates white or anything western as superior. A top criterion for personal beauty is fair skin, an aquiline nose: the mestiza, the mestizo.
A thing imported is of better value than a native product. Having stepped “abroad” is a highly desirable social status even if it meant being a “TNT” household help in the States.
The Filipino is innately religious. This is seen in his daily life where he relates personal experiences to the powerful plan of God.
Nasa tao ang gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa (Work is man’s, mercy is God’s). This makes him resigned to any tragic event in his life and a very fertile ground for faith, hope in all the powerful providence of God’s mercy, and for love.
At the same time, there is the danger of defeatism and a reliance on fate. Talagang ganyan ang swerte! (That’s fate!) is often the resigned reaction to any personal or social state of tragedy, calamity, or even the consequence of a wrong decision made.
The Filipino in his religiosity remains an animist at heart. The Filipino has a strong hedonistic approach to life. The number of pleasure-oriented R&R complexes reflects this.
This results in superficiality, a lack of self-analysis and reflection. There is a strong tendency to accept things and people at face value.
This also holds true even in our attitude regarding clothing. The Filipino is reputed to dress beyond his state in life and his affordability level, because of this superficial desire to appear well-off (maporma), instead of looking at things as they are. This sadly shows his utter lack of maturity as a person.
One sign, though, that a nation has come of age is the ability to reflect, to contemplate.
Whether these traits are values, value indicators, or whatever sophisticated term someone else coins, is immaterial. What counts is that these traits, though universal, are very much Filipino because these were shaped by the roots peculiar to the nation that experienced them: family and home environment, socio-economic factors, culture, language, history, education, religion, politics, and media.
The Filipino’s self-actualization, his identify, means the enhancement of all that is positive in him and the purification of his weaknesses.
Comprehension Check
What Filipino values are discussed in the selection—positive or negative? Justify your answer by citing proofs in the text.
How does the writer view the Filipino values as a whole? Why did you say so?
Do you agree with the last sentence of the text? Why or why not?
Which of the values discussed, do you think, must be strengthened? Why? Which must be discarded? How can the Filipino redeem himself then?
Does history play a role in the Filipino value system? Why/ why not?
Summarize in five statements the information derived from the text.
Arriving at the Appropriate Meaning of Words
Many words in the English language have multiple meanings. Often, the meaning of a word depends on how it is used in a sentence. For example the words value and device, may have several meanings.
Value
a. worth
b. numerical quantity
c. relative duration of a musical note
d. lightness or darkness of a color
e. something intrinsically desirable
Device
f. a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical o electronic contrivance
g. an explosive contrivance; a bomb
h. a turn of phrase intended to produce a particular effect in a literary work
i. a plan, scheme, or trick with a particular aim
j. an emblematic or heraldic design
ACTIVITY
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Deriving Words
Look at the following words given and read.
A. Commonly, nearly
B. Spaniard, drunkard
C. parental
D. authority
Notice that common and near are adjectives. What happened to their function when ly was added? Notice, too, that Spain is a noun and drunk is the past participle of the verb drink. What happened to their function or use, when the suffix –ard was added? Similarly, parent is a noun. What became of it when the suffix –al was added? How about the author? What part of speech is it? Did it change function when the suffix –ity was added?
In English, suffixes, like prefixes, are very common. The following chart shows suffixes, their meanings and the parts of speech they form.
A. Commonly, nearly
B. Spaniard, drunkard
C. parental
D. authority
Notice that common and near are adjectives. What happened to their function when ly was added? Notice, too, that Spain is a noun and drunk is the past participle of the verb drink. What happened to their function or use, when the suffix –ard was added? Similarly, parent is a noun. What became of it when the suffix –al was added? How about the author? What part of speech is it? Did it change function when the suffix –ity was added?
In English, suffixes, like prefixes, are very common. The following chart shows suffixes, their meanings and the parts of speech they form.
ACTIVITY
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Getting Meanings through Word Analysis: Suffixes
You sometimes come across words which have been derived from their roots by adding certain structures like prefixes and suffixes.
In your earlier years of schooling, you must have been done with exercises and development activites on the use of prefixes. In this lesson, you will deal with deriving words through the use of suffixes. A suffix added to the end of a root word. We have, for example, a verb that becomes a noun by adding a suffix. This is called a noun derivative. A noun that becomes an adjective by adding a suffix is called an adjective derivative. These are but few ways by which we can identify how words are derived.
Utilizing Knowledge of the Different Text Types
As you have learned earlier, there are different types of texts that you will come across. Some of them are technical, some journalistic in style and some literary. Some examples of technical reports are scientific reports, studies, researches, and business reports. Journalistic texts include straight news or feature articles, while literary texts include the different literary genre most commonly found in literature books like poems, essays, stories, plays, novels, among others.
As students, your ability to recognize and use your knowledge of the differences among these text types will help in processing the information that you read.
As students, your ability to recognize and use your knowledge of the differences among these text types will help in processing the information that you read.
ACTIVITY
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Determining The Information Map Used by an Author in Essays
Sunday, August 17, 2008Determine the information map used by an author in essays.
Concept mapping is developed by Joseph D. Norak and his research team at Cornell University in the 1970s. It is a technique for visualizing the relationships among different concepts. It is often in the form of circles and bubbles.
A concept map is a diagram showing the relationship among concepts. Concepts are connected with the labeled arrows.
Source: English IV Textbook Expressway
Types of maps used by the some authors:
1.)Problem-Solution Map
2.)Process Development Map
3.)Persuasive Argument
4.)Characteristics
5.)Research Topic
6.)Narrative Story Line
See in this website for more information:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmargeru/conceptmap/types.htm
Activity
Form in a groups of four, make a concept map in any stories or paragraphs you wish.
Determining how the plot of the story develops
The term plot refers to the series of events in the story. It deals with what happens in the story. The action of the plot progresses because of a conflict, or the struggle between two opposing forces. The conflict usually builds up to the emotional peak or climax, and a denouement follows when the conflict is resolved in some way. The complications that build the climax, known as the crisis, or the turning point, are described as the rising action. The events that take place after the climax are called the falling action.
Source: English IV Textbook Expressway
Source: English IV Textbook Expressway
Truce in the forest
Fritz Vincken
It was toward the end of World War II in Europe. The Allied Armies had just crossed the boarder between Germany and Belgium, and Germany Field Marshall von Rundstedt had thrown his last reserves into the battle to keep the Allies from advancing. A lone woman and her twelve-year-old son were hiding in a little cottage in the forest near the German-Belgian boarder. It was Christmas Eve, and suddenly there was a knock on the door.......... Read the story to find out what quiet miracle took place.
Source: English IV Textbook Expressway
Read the whole story " Truce in the Forest " by Fritz Vincken in this website:
http://www.areavoices.com/mnmusing/?blog=17824
Questions after reading:
1.)What could be considered a miracle happen in the story? Explain your answer.
2.)Describe the characters involved in the story?
3.)What are the lessons the author wanted to convey to the readers?
4.)If you are the mother, would you do the same?Think of a particular quote that can be dedicated to the mother in the story?
5.)Go back to the story. Identify the events that fall under each part of the plot.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. It is a short piece of imaginative writing, of a personal nature and laid out in lines. Poetry was a responsible attempt to understand the world in human terms through literary composition. It can be defined as ‘literature in a metrical form’ or ‘a composition forming rhythmic lines. Compared to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has a structured method of writing.
Elements of Poetry
1.) Rhythm
2.) Meter
3.) Rhyme
4.) Alliteration
5.) Simile
6.) Metaphor
8.) Theme
9.) Symbolism
10.)Conclusion
See this website for more information and description about elements of poetry.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/basic-elements-of-poetry.html
Activity:
See this site for a short quiz:
http://www.quia.com/quiz/741084.html
1. Distinguished different types of sources of info” How Brangay Came to Be”
Saturday, August 16, 2008What are considered primary and secondary sources of information? Can you distinguish if a text comes from a primary or from secondary sources?
Materials that provide direct, firsthand information about subjects and events are called primary sources of information. Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the
Read the article below and then try to analyze which one are the primary sources or the secondary sources.
How Barangay Came to Be
An interesting discovery made in Butuan in the early seventies was that of a fossilized balangay, which was a long sailing vessel in common use throughout the Southeast Asian region in the pre-Spanish era. The barangay as a form of government was believed to have originated from the balangay.
A balangay had a hundred households at the most. It was led by a chieftain, called a Datu. Migrants from the Malaysian and
When the Spaniards came, they instituted the barangay as form of local government headed by a cabeza. The change from balangay to barangay seemed to have been made but the Spaniards who could not pronounce the nasal nga of the Filipinos and preferred the r to l. If the balangay of old were meant to preserve the peaceful and harmonious relationships between neighboring settlements, the Spanish barangay was used as a local instrument of the central government to pursue its colonial goals.
Check your understanding
(An excerpt from The Big Wave, by Pearl S. Buck. New York: Harper
Trophy, 1976.)
Overview
Kino lives on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan. His friend, Jiya, lives in a fishing village below. Everyone, including Kino and Jiya, has heard of the big wave. No one suspects it will wipe out the whole village and Jiya’s family, too. As Jiya struggles to overcome his sorrow, he understands it is in the presence of danger that one learns to be brave, and to appreciate how wonderful life can be. During the Holocaust many children lost their entire family. This story is about a child who, like so many children in the Holocaust, loses his family and looks to the kindness of friends to help him cope with the loss.
Objectives:
Students should be able to:
characters in the story;
• recognize that people deal with loss in many different ways;
• understand the meaning of enemy; and
• understand how something other than a person can be considered an enemy.
Suggested topics for discussion:
• Why do the people whose homes face away from the sea don’t have windows on the
rear of their homes? What do people in Florida do to protect their homes from
damage?
• Who is the old gentleman? Do you think he minds the boys swimming to his island?
How did you reach that conclusion?
• Discuss what Jiya meant when he said the sea is angry. What do you think an angry
sea looks like?
• What was Jiya’s father’s reaction when the two boys are late returning from the sea?
Why?
• Analyze the cultural differences shown in the story.
• Discuss Kino’s father’s quote, “Then do not be afraid. When you are afraid, you are
thinking about them all the time. Enjoy life and do not fear death – that is the way of
a good Japanese.”
• How do the different characters deal with the big wave and the death of Jiya’s
family? How do you deal with scary and sad events? Which of the characters’
actions are most like your own?
• Discuss Jiya’s decision to stay with Kino and his family. Why did the old man want
Jiya to be his son?
• What was the old man’s reaction to people rebuilding their lives on the beach?
Why?
• At what point in the story did Jiya begin to live again? What or who helped this to
happen? How?
Suggested Activities:
• Research Japanese culture.
• Compare and contrast the life of a farmer with that of a fisherman in Japan.
• Create a Venn diagram comparing Kino’s vacation and a vacation you have taken.
• Compare Kino’s daily life to your own.
• Make a map or model of the island from the story, including the geographical
information given in the story.
• Study the topography of Japan and the surrounding islands.
• Research the weather patterns of Japan.
• Research the big wave.
• Write an article for a newspaper reporting about the big wave. Write follow-up
articles about the people involved.
• In small groups plan and create fishing villages that could possibly withstand another
big wave. Present how each group’s village could survive a big wave.
How to Learn English
Friday, August 15, 2008Learn the basic reading and listening abilities of English.
- Spend at least one hour everyday listening to news or discussion programs such as NPR (National Public Radio) news or BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation; the World Service or Radio Four are best) news. It's hard to understand what they are saying when you first begin to listen to them, but gradually you'll get used to the speed and tone. Then you can get a brief idea of what they are talking about, although you can't get the detail. You don't need to listen to the radio for an whole hour at once. It's best to spend twenty or thirty minutes on listening separately.
- Spend more than three hours every day on reading English news or articles. Reading builds up your vocabulary, idioms, phrases, and the concepts of English structures. If you do enough reading, it will save you a lot of time since you will not need to spend more time on building your vocabulary or grammar. Read out loud when you do your reading so that you can improve your pronunciation at the same time.
- Learn the phonetic alphabet (pronunciation symbols). This can help you pronounce correctly, and it's necessary to speak with the correct tone if you want to make some friends with native English speakers. This is a big deal for non-native English speakers.
- Make some pen pals and write them at least once everyday. The best way to improve your writing is to practice writing as much as you can. The more you write the more you know how to use what you've learned from reading and listening.
- Make friends with native-English speakers. This is the most difficult task because of the difference in culture, but you can't really master English unless you can communicate with a native English speaker fluently. You have to know enough things and have good listening skills if you want to have good conversations with an American or Briton. Remember to ask a lot of questions to keep the conversation going. When someone asks you a question, give more than just the basic information. For example, if someone asks you "Do you like living here?" don't just answer "Yes" or "No," but tell them why, too.
Watch some English TV. TV is the best and most inexpensive teacher to learn real English. Not only you can learn formal English from news or debate TV programs, but you can also learn everyday English from soap operas and sitcoms. Be careful because too much jargon or too many idioms make your speech ambiguous. - Try listening to the Radio. Radio is also one of the best and inexpensive English teachers. Because there is no picture, you cannot lip read. You must train your ear to listen
- Use an English-English dictionary and bring your dictionary wherever you go. If you find some words that you don't know, look them up in your dictionary immediately.
- Use your newly-learned idioms or vocabulary. Once you use the words which you memorized, you will never forget them again.
- Think in English. Getting used to using English all the time will make it easier to listen and react with it.
- Join web groups or clubs where you can post questions freely and discuss the use of grammar such as Kela-Bi Group at Google
- Take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class at your local community college (if you live in the USA.) Classes are free! Your tax dollar at work!
- And, Just a personal advice don't kill yourself by practicing English conversations using 'nosebleed' terms! All you need to do is to practice,practice,practice! Enjoy!
Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Learn-English
Modified by: vitA
Who is she?
If in the previous activity you have to introduce and describe yourself,in this activity you have to introduce your classmate, best friend or anyone who's with you in front of the class..be sure to convince the class that he/she is a likeable person.If in any case you don't want to introduce somebody from the class, you can use Madam Engert below.
Oral presentations
Making a good oral presentation is an art that involves attention to the needs of your audience, careful planning, and attention to delivery. This page explains some of the basics of effective oral presentation. It also covers use of notes, visual aids and computer presentation software.
The audience
Some basic questions to ask about an audience are:
- Who will I be speaking to?
- What do they know about my topic already?
- What will they want to know about my topic?
- What do I want them to know by the end of my talk?
By basing the content and style of your presentation on your answers to these questions, you can make sure that you are in tune with your audience. What you want to say about your topic may be much less important than what your audience wants to hear about it.
- Planning your presentation
In an effective presentation, the content and structure are adjusted to the medium of speech. When listening, we cannot go back over a difficult point to understand it or easily absorb long arguments. A presentation can easily be ruined if the content is too difficult for the audience to follow or if the structure is too complicated.
As a general rule, expect to cover much less content than you would in a written report. Make difficult points easier to understand by preparing the listener for them, using plenty of examples and going back over them later. Leave time for questions within the presentation.
Give your presentation a simple and logical structure. Include an introduction in which you outline the points you intend to cover and a conclusion in which you go over the main points of your talk.
- Delivering your presentation
People vary in their ability to speak confidently in public, but everyone gets nervous and everyone can learn how to improve their presentation skills by applying a few simple techniques.
The main points to pay attention to in delivery are the quality of your voice, your rapport with the audience, use of notes and use of visual aids.
Voice quality involves attention to volume, speed and fluency, clarity and pronunciation. The quality of your voice in a presentation will improve dramatically if you are able to practise beforehand in a room similar to the one you will be presenting in.
Rapport with the audience involves attention to eye contact, sensitivity to how the audience is responding to your talk and what you look like from the point of view of the audience. These can be improved by practising in front of one or two friends or video-taping your rehearsal.
- Effective use of notes
Good speakers vary a great deal in their use of notes. Some do not use notes at all and some write out their talk in great detail. If you are not an experienced speaker it is not a good idea to speak without notes because you will soon lose your thread. You should also avoid reading a prepared text aloud or memorising your speech as this will be boring.
The best solution may be to use notes with headings and points to be covered. You may also want to write down key sentences. Notes can be on paper or cards. Some speakers use overhead transparencies as notes. The trick in using notes is to avoid shifting your attention from the audience for too long. Your notes should always be written large enough for you to see without moving your head too much.
- Visual aids
Visual aids help to make a presentation more lively. They can also help the audience to follow your presentation and help you to present information that would be difficult to follow through speech alone.
The two most common forms of visual aid are overhead transparencies (OHTs) and computer slide shows (e.g. PowerPoint). Objects that can be displayed or passed round the audience can also be very effective and often help to relax the audience. Some speakers give printed handouts to the audience to follow as they speak. Others prefer to give their handouts at the end of the talk, because they can distract the audience from the presentation.
Source: English Expressways
Authors: Eugenia Gorgon, Virginia F. Bermudez, Ed. D., and Remedios F. Nery
Trigger it!
Group yourselves into 5. Discuss what you think is the deeper message of the picture above. Present an individual evaluation of the picture in front of the class and interpret it as a group in the form of a poem, a song, a dance or a role play.
Conquer the fear
It is a known fact that the first thing that students fear during the first day of school is standing in front of the class and introducing yourself...Don't you know that this is the first step to conquer the fear of public speaking? Well, this activity will surely boost up your speaking skill.
I am What I am!
In this activity you have to choose from the topics below to discuss in front of the class. Don't worry, these topics are all about your personality...Good Luck!
My Favorites are...
Someday I want to become a...
I love my Family because...
My Bestfriend is...
How to Develop Confidence in Speaking
The ability to give a speech is one of the most valued business skills today. And yet most people report that giving a speech is their number one phobia.
Try these 10 tips to get over your nervousness and to develop confidence while speaking.
- Expect to be nervous. Even experienced speakers get nervous. Instead of trying to eliminate your jitters, turn them into energy you can use to boost your delivery.
- Prepare. Know what you are going to say – and why you want to say it.
- Practice. Speak to supportive audiences in small forums where less is at stake – at a staff meeting or a PTA meeting. Join Toastmasters or take a Dale Carnegie course.
- Breathe. In the thirty seconds before you begin speaking, take three slow, deep breaths through your nose, filling your belly. As you breathe out, say silently to yourself, “Relax.”
- Rehearse. Stand up and walk around as you practice out loud. Don’t memorize your speech or practice it word for word. Talk it through, point by point. Imagine you’re explaining your main ideas to someone who likes you.
- Focus on your audience. Stage fright is rooted in self-preoccupation. (“How am I doing?” “Am I making any sense?”) Stop focusing on yourself. Focus, instead, on your audience. (“How are you?” “Are you getting this?” “Can you hear me?”)
- Simplify. Most speakers try to accomplish too much in a speech. Then they worry about leaving something out or losing their train of thought. Aim, instead, to communicate what your audience can hear and understand in the limited time you have. Keep it short and simple.
- Visualize success. Practice relaxation techniques in the days before your presentation. Lie down or sit comfortably in a quiet place. Breathe slowly. Close your eyes. Scan your body, consciously relaxing any tense muscles. Imagine your upcoming speaking engagement. Picture yourself speaking with confidence.
- Connect with your audience. Make the audience your allies. Talk to individuals before your presentation to get to know them. Look them in the eye as you speak to them, one person at a time. If your audience sides with you, your job as a speaker becomes much easier and you can relax.
- Act confident. People won’t see how nervous you are. (They can’t tell if your palms are sweating or your knees are knocking or your heart is pounding.) So don’t tell them. Smile. Stick your chest out. Look confident, even if you don’t feel it.
Noting effectiveness of textual aids in activating background
“Onward duty calls!” is call for action that holds true in the Filipino way of life. It is inherent in all of us to set aside our own concern in the name of duty. This and a number of other positive Filipino values are what we need to strengthen for us to progress as a country. We just have to activate that which is already in us.
Activating background knowledge also applies on what we read. You might have noticed that sometimes, you see tables, grids, diagrams, or graphs in texts that you read. These graphic organizers aid the reader in understanding some pieces of information in the text, which are practically better, presented using such devices.
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Activating background knowledge also applies on what we read. You might have noticed that sometimes, you see tables, grids, diagrams, or graphs in texts that you read. These graphic organizers aid the reader in understanding some pieces of information in the text, which are practically better, presented using such devices.
SOURCE: Bermudez, V., Cruz, J., Gorgon, E., Nery, R., San Juan, M. English Expressways IV textbook
Phrases & Clauses
A CLAUSE is a collection of grammatically-related words including a predicate and a subject.
Ex
- since she laughs at diffident men
- I despise individuals of low character
- when the saints go marching in
- Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid racoon
- because she smiled at him.
A PHRASE is a group of related words that does not contain a verb and its subject. A phrase functions as a single part of speech.
PHRASES are versatile. They can function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. They allow writers to expand sentences. In this way, writers can add descriptions and details and they can control the flow of their prose.
Here are some types of phrases. Study their forms and examples:
1. The prepositional phrase includes the preposition and the object of the preposition as well as any modifiers related to either.
Examples:
The flying saucer appeared above the lake before it disappeared into space.
- ABOVE is not an adverb because it has an object to complete its meaning; therefore, ABOVE is a preposition and the entire phrase is an adverb phrase.
Crystal could hear her sister snoring across the room.
- Objects usually answer the question what. Therefore, we can ask across what? to determine the object of the preposition.
2. An appositive phrase modifies or describes a noun or a pronoun. It is usually after the noun, but it could be located in front of the word it modifies.
Examples:
Franklin, a talented man, served our country well.
- ( a talented man is the appositive phrase) or
A talented man, Ben Franklin served our country well.
- ( a talented man is still the appositive, but is located before the main subject)
3. A verbal phrase consists of a verbal and any objects or modifiers.
Remember: A verbal is a verb form that does not serve as a verb in the sentence. Instead, it functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
There are three types of verbals: infinitive, participial, and gerund.
Remember: A modifier is usually an adjective or an adverb that limits, clarifies, of qualifies another element of the sentence.
As there are three types of verbals, there are three types of verbal phrases:
1. INFINITIVE PHRASES - start with an infinitive which is followed by any objects, and/or modifiers.
Ex:
To tour Australia slowly is my dream.
infinitive: to tour object: Australia (the direct object of the infinitive) modifier: slowly (an adverb modifying the infinitive) infinitive phrase: to tour Australia slowly
I must study to pass my winter exams with good marks.
infinitive: to pass object: my winter exams (the D.O. of the infinitive) modifier: with good marks (a prepositional phrase modifying the infinitive) infinitive phrase: to pass my winter exams with good marks
2. GERUND PHRASES - consist of a gerund and any objects and/or modifiers . A gerund phrase can look similar to a participial phrase because the gerund has the same form as the present participle. The main difference is that the gerund (phrase) functions as a noun (ie. subject, object, subject complement, appositive), and the participial phrase as an adjective.
Example:
I enjoy riding my bike in the evening.
gerund: riding direct object: my bike modifiers: in the evening
3. PARTICIPIAL PHRASES -consist of either a past or a present participle and any objects, and/or modifiers . Participial phrases always function as adjectives within a sentence.
Examples:
That dog keenly hunting the ducks must be a thoroughbred.
participial: hunting object: the ducks (the D.O. of the participial) modifier: keenly (an adverb modifiying the participial) participial phrase: keenly hunting the ducks
Hidden by the trees, Jerry waited to scare Mark.
participial: hidden modifier: by the trees (a prepositional phrase modifying "hidden") participial phrase: hidden by the trees (an adjective modifying "Jerry")
Helpful Links: http://marksesl.com/grammar/Phrases_and_Clauses.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clause
Presenting oral reports
Oral Report- is a presentation of factual information to an audience. Besides collecting and organizing the facts you will present, you must choose a method of delivery for your report. Here are four methods:
- The Manuscript Method. You read a written report to your audience word for word, glancing up from time to time to make eye contact. In this method, you will not miss anything. However, the audience might be bored if the oral report is done using this method because of the monotony of the whole process.
- The Memorization Method. You learn by heart and recite a report you have written. This method, tends to make you too structured, too formal. You will not be able to give additional explanation because you have to present your report verbatim or word for word. Buf if you have a sharp memory, it is very likely that you can deliver the report well.
- The Extemporaneous Method. You can write the report in rough form. You speak spontaneously using an outline or note cards as guide. You can explain further as you report. But sometimes you tend to speak lengthily without considering the time element.
- The Impromptu Method. You talk on the spot with no prepared draft, outline or note cards. This method is applied only to brief reports that require little or no research or presentation. The downside is that you tend to be disorganized in this method. However, if you are familiar with the topic, you can, most likely, discuss it comprehensively.
No matter what method of delivery you use for your oral presentation, your manner and appearance communicate as much as your words. To maximize the impact of your message, keep the following points in mind:
- Maintain a relax posture.
- Speak directly to your audience and enunciate clearly.
- Make an effort to be articulate.
- Use facial expressions for emphasis.
- Make readable visual aids (charts, diagrams, drawings) that clarify what you are saying.
Use gesticulation if necessary.
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