Determine information from various test types and sources using the card catalogue, vertical index, microfilm, CD – ROM internet, etc.

Monday, August 18, 2008


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 Some examples of this source of information are speeches, journals, original letters, literary works, and historical documents such as the Constitution of the Philippines .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?

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

2 comments:

kimdoroja said...

can you pls. answer for question for conprehension check in siesta.

kimdoroja said...

can you pls. answer the conprehension check under in siesta.

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