Foreign language learning is experiential. It ferries learners on a big bus ride where they may ‘see’ more along the way rather than what they benefit upon reaching their destination. Teachers should see it as pragmatic, valuing the content of their course- seeking and reflecting on why they need to learn the language and what they need to learn in the language. My experience for five years on different classroom settings and different cognitive levels of learners gave me the nudge to go FUNCTIONAL. I always tell my students the old adage of linguists, ‘the language you use is the language you know’..For what better way can we really assess the competence of our learners if they cannot use it outside the four corners of their ‘warm’ yet predictable classroom. I put a challenge more on developing students’ lingual ability. As I entered Graduate School (as a student in Language Teaching), my practice and beliefs were strengthened. I was no adherent of the Grammatical approach, not that
THE REAL ESSENCE OF LEARNING On the last meeting in our Philosophy of Man class, my first day of pondering began. I never thought that at the very last hour the ultimate LEARNING would come. It was so strong that it still remained resounding in my heart up to now. My usual idea of "just-read-and-you'll-never-fail-the-course" attitude paved the way for me to rummage on books at the Ateneo library. The question of "Why Philosophy?" was more of a question to be answered rather than a topic to be discussed. "Why do I need to take this course when I had it in College before?", was a reluctance I have to abide. Days passed and our supposed "journey" has to conclude. Since I swam over the vast ocean of PHILOSOPHY and "learned" about great philosophers, their precise philosophies, I presumed it was adequate enough to close the books. Our teacher then asked, "Who am I?" Everyone was quiet. After that, she associated this q
So now, you are a Ph.D. You begin to see the light that the rise in the academic ranks has offered you. Optimistic now, you feel the change. You are deemed wiser by others and have also felt it to be true. Though you may not know it, new stern hurdles may beset the road of your one-way journey. You still flounder both mentally and emotionally and realize becoming a full-fledged Ph.D. is not easy after all. Life after getting that degree is comparable to that of a runner. That is, paces are more tracked, longer and exacting. Spectators would seem to be seeking for more. They need the equivalent of the price they earlier paid. These spectators whom you thought were your cohorts, your mentors and adherents in the field can be the very people who would rob you off the prize. Taken by surprise, they jump on you and push you aside, thinking that you are now, an able-competitor. But then you had held on to the idea that it has never been a march toward
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