Message Sent

Nakadawat sab kaw? There is this message going viral on Messenger with an icon of an envelope with the teaser “I am send a surprise message. Open this.” The ones sending these are close friends and even prominent personalities in different departments and even the academe.

If it is a virus or a commercial gimmick of an online company, one can really think of the genius behind the “linking” and “spreading” it. The maker of the message could really make this type of thing to happen. The only thing s/he or they lack is the simple use of grammar. I AM SEND A SURPRISE MESSAGE can ring a thousand bells for a receiver who is keen in the use of English language. One could wonder if this is really relevant when in fact the words sent are grammatically wrong.

Grammar is important because it provides information that helps the reader's comprehension. It is the structure that conveys precise meaning from the writer to the audience.

According to linguapress.com, with written language, grammar is essential; written communication is deferred or indirect communication, and is unidirectional, so there is no possibility for the receiver to demand verification - at least not under normal circumstances. Written communication and any other form of indirect communication thus depend on correct use of grammar or syntax, as well as of vocabulary and spelling, in order to ensure that messages are immediately comprehensible to the reader, and not meaningless or ambiguous.

So, by just reading the text, the mind begins to function or question the proper use of the words. Like, why is this message made with grammatical errors? Is this a forwarded one or something like that of a virus? These questions are actually part of the COMPREHENSION process. A keen reader could do such questions fast before deciding for the next action.

According to Timothy Shanahan, who is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of urban education at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was Founding Director of the Center for Literacy and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, “there is a lot of evidence showing the importance of grammar in reading comprehension. Studies over the years have shown a clear relationship between syntactic or grammatical sophistication and reading comprehension; that is, as students learn to employ more complex sentences in their oral and written language, their ability to make sense of what they read increases, too.”

But with the influx of social media sites where everybody can do “shoutout”, it seems that the basic use of grammar became neglected. It is as if people are telling us that this is JUST a minute detail. There is nothing to worry since it’s just a minor glitch. Everybody commits mistakes, no one is perfect and the usual blabber of justifications. For them, as long as the message is sent, it is now the role of the receiver/reader to decode it.

Decoding texts is much more than simply knowing the meaning of words (or being able to find out the meaning) and knowing about the genre and purpose. Aspects such as grammar and punctuation also play an important role in the meaning of a text. Ttexts are often used in teaching as a means of introducing a particular grammar point or some vocabulary. However, this doesn’t mean that grammar should be, or can be, ignored. Instead, grammar should be looked at in terms of how it affects the meaning of the text and not as a goal in itself (Tennant, 2019).

We simply opened the message because we trusted the sender. Also, we probably thought that this is a New Year greeting. But one these can be alarming: Did we think about it? Did we see the mistake? Or, we are already part of the generation where grammar, vocabulary and comprehension are NOT important.

Yes, we need to be vigilant. Those who work in the academic world must be concerned about this since our learners are already manifesting the decline of these basic things they must learn. We can hear others saying that this is only a minor skill to master but we need to understand that COMMUNICATION and COMPREHENSION are still important skills in the 21^st century.

One teacher was overheard saying “Di dakan siguro pasobrahan pagbright!” and this writer retorted: Ma’am, we are in a business where intellect is the prime product! Her face went blank and I wondered if comprehension took place.

Glossary

Ugsa baja siguro! Vice Ganda of ABS-CBN’s “Showtime” was asking the “madlang people” how to spell words worth five thousand pesos if one gets it right. The first word was subpoena. Three members of the audience tried but failed. The fourth got it right. The word etiquette then was asked to be spelled. A “cool-looking” guy tried without batting an eyelash but got it wrong. But the most annoying thing is that when the host asked the audience to spell paraphernalia. No one got it right even if most of them Googled the word as flashed on the TV screen.

The audience of the show was of mixed ages and profiles. Some of them were dressed to the nines; others were young and are in college by just the looks of them. So, this could be considered as a slice of the big whole on what is happening on the vocabulary of the people who are inside of the educational spectrum?

Lately, PISA released the result of the reading-related examination. Among 79 participating countries or economies the Philippines ranked dead last in reading, and we ranked second last in both mathematics and science (beating only the Dominican Republic).

Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear. Speaking vocabulary consists of the words we use when we speak. Reading vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we read. Writing vocabulary consists of the words we use in writing.

Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read. Beginning readers must use the words they hear orally to make sense of the words they see in print. Kids who hear more words spoken at home learn more words and enter school with better vocabularies. This larger vocabulary pays off exponentially as a child progresses through school (readingrockets.org).

When one could not spell the word well, there is a tendency that it is not constantly used by the person in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Exposure to reading materials might be limited since they were not able to get the word well. Or they simply do not understand the word itself. (Digression: a lot of people I know did not realize that the word BUNTING is an English word. For them, the local term is BANTING, those embellishments we hang on the streets during fiesta.)

According to Steven Stahl (2005), “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world.” We continue to develop vocabulary throughout our lives. Words are powerful. Words open up possibilities, and of course, that’s what we want for all of our students.

But what is it that allows a person to encounter a lot of words for him to know the world better? That is reading.

Reading Vocabulary plays an important role in word recognition. Beginning readers use knowledge of words from speech to recognize words that they encounter in print. When children ‘sound out’ a word, their brain is working hard to connect the pronunciation of a sequence of sounds to a word in their vocabulary. If they find a match between the word on the page and a word in they have learned through listening and speaking, and it makes sense to them, they will keep reading. If a match is not created, because the word they are reading is not found in their vocabulary, comprehension is interrupted. This is the case even if they are able to generate the correct pronunciation through the decoding process (Beck, 2019).

Lately, the superintendent of schools where this writer is assigned instructed that a focused group discussion be conducted to identify the gap why we lag behind reading comprehension. It was then found out that educators do not even see the importance reading evidence of having NO reading programs in schools. The reading activities conducted are Band-aid solutions and for compliance purposes as well.

There is a need for teachers and school heads to consider the importance of reading among themselves since they could not develop plans of actions if they do not understand its importance. There is a need to develop the intelligent WILL among the educators to love reading themselves. They could not give what they do not have.

The curriculum must be revisited as well. There might be jam-packed competencies to be taught that teachers are hurrying to finish them NOT considering the BASICS like comprehension and numeracy.

For how could the future leaders discern and infer when they do not even know that the word JUDGMENT does not have an E after G?

Distinguished

Kagamay da ini sweldo nan maestra! A complain often overheard from a teacher or any other government employee. Another teacher posted on social media the different entry point salaries of teachers in other countries highlighting the Philippines as the lowest with P20,000 as the basic income per month. One could really wonder, why are they complaining? They are blessed with jobs, right? There are those who are jobless and are trying their best to find one.

Indeed, appreciation is a difficult competency to attain.

Appreciation or gratitude is “an emotion that is typically evoked when one receives costly, unexpected, and intentionally rendered benefits, and is thought to play a key role in regulating the initiation and maintenance of social relationships” (Forster et al., 2017).

The Harvard Medical School defines it as a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives … As a result; gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals–whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.

There are people, friends and even family members who complain a lot. This is maybe caused by training the mind to dwell on the negative side rather than looking for the positive/beauty in a situation. There might be traumas which cause them to complain a lot they have become unappreciative.

A number of authors have espoused a theoretical relationship between gratitude and well-being. In a very pragmatic way, this association seems logical. Experiencing gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation tends to foster positive feelings, which in turn, contribute to one's overall sense of well-being. Therefore, gratitude appears to be one component, among many components, that contributes to an individual's well-being (Sansone, 2010).

The people who manifest positive energy have the tendency to have positive dispositions and eventually dwell on happy and peaceful spheres. The ones who bring with them negative vibrations often feel unease, discomfort which could eventually turn out to become illnesses in the mind and even body.

Why are they unappreciative? Here are some manifestations according to powerofpositivity.com:

People who aren’t thankful are always in need of some kind of assistance. Whether it is help with bills, watching the kids or giving them a ride. They always need something from you. They are in a perpetual state of emergency and it is usually things they create themselves either through poor judgment or on purpose in order to create the drama they feed on.

The thing is that unless they need something from you, then you never hear from them. They only turn to you for friendship when they are in a jam. You will never hear them say “Hey let me take you out to lunch” or “let me help you with that.” If everything is going fine then you don’t exist in their world anymore.

They may feel entitled to your help either because you are family or they feel that you owe them something for being their friend. They aren’t grateful because they feel they have earned your help and you are just paying them back.

Despite all of your help ungrateful people will turn on you. They will talk behind your back. They will say that you never help them. That they do all of the work and you are the ungrateful sponge. Despite all you have done for them they will tell their friends or other family members what a horrible person you are in order to get more sympathy from people who can’t help them.

Ungrateful people will never let you forget that one time you weren’t able to help them. Whether it was because of time constraints or lack of funds it doesn’t matter. They will hold that guilt over you until the end of time.

Contemporary research, though, paints a more complicated picture of ingratitude. People who are ungrateful tend to be characterized by an excessive sense of self-importance, arrogance, vanity, and an unquenchable need for admiration and approval. Narcissists reject the ties that bind people into relationships of reciprocity. They expect special favors and feel no need to pay back or pay forward.

So, maybe these people who are complaining are very good with their jobs. The teachers who are complaining about their “meager” salaries are highly-proficient or even distinguished?

Or simply they just complain and find faults because they feel that they are THE BEST?

Skin Tone

                                              (photo: bbc.com)

Ma Miss Universe baja an Negra? This is one question which could be considered ignorant but is still present in different communities around the world. This is also the main reason why Miss South Africa got the coveted title as she said:

“I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful. And I think that it is time that it stops today. I want children to look at me and see my face and I want to see their faces reflected in mine."

Racism, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and those racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Bigotry, however, is a strong, unreasonable idea especially about race (including skin color) or religion.

Racism takes many forms and can happen in many places. It includes prejudice, discrimination or hatred directed at someone because of their color, ethnicity or national origin. People often associate racism with acts of abuse or harassment. However, it doesn’t need to involve violent or intimidating behavior. Take racial name-calling and jokes. Or consider situations when people may be excluded from groups or activities because of where they come from.

Racism can be revealed through people’s actions as well as their attitudes. It can also be reflected in systems and institutions. But sometimes it may not be revealed at all. Not all racism is obvious. For example, someone may look through a list of job applicants and decide not to interview people with certain surnames (humanrights.gov.au).

The reason why whitening lotions are in demand here in our tropical country is the need to have fair skin. It became a potent marketing strategy among big companies to add the word “whitening” on moisturizers and even soaps. This is the other side of having that repulsion to dark skin. Filipinos equate beauty to have fair skin.

Christopher (2018) mentions that, beauty transcends across gender, race, age and ethnicity. A person can be considered beautiful just by their physical appearances and through their actions. However, opinions about beauty differ when it comes to the color of the skin. In some parts of the world, beauty is perceived as “the fairer you are, the more attractive you’ll be”.

These are progressive times; there is a need for us to open our minds through education. The more educated we are, the less bigotry will prevail. A change of mindset must be instilled for us to accept differences and cultural diversity.

Filipinos are sensitive of being called as domestic workers. A lot of reactions from social media mushroom as the culprit will be grilled to smithereens. But we are also good in name-calling. We judge people of dark skin and the indigenous people. We grimace on the not-so-famous people and try to attach to people of prominence.

Our change of mindset on skin color must start now.

The paradigm shift should be made ASAP.

Skin color, religious beliefs, sexual preference and gender are NOT the criteria to be marginalized. These people also have beauty in their own right.

Dyslexia

                                          (image: parenta.com)

Ayang ayang na aman sab na mag top ta na ya na may nagbasa anhi! Reading for entertainment and information seems to be alien to the majority of Filipinos these days. When you are in airports waiting for your flight, you could either see the many talking loudly or playing/tinkering their android phones.

Among 79 participating countries and economies, the Philippines scored the lowest in reading comprehension in the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), according to the results released Dec. 3, 2019 (philstar.com).

PISA is a worldwide study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that examines students’ knowledge in reading, mathematics, and science.

This could be alarming since reading skills are included in the so-called “life skills”. In this age and time, it is of importance to read labels, follow written instruction and get necessary information out of printed materials. But the result of the PISA showed dismal result so with that of Mathematics and Science where Filipino landed second to the last.

Moreover, according to Chavez (2017), only 17 percent of all children surveyed by Scholastic reported having time to read a book of their choice at school daily. In a 2014 survey of just over 1,000 children ages 6 to 17, only 31 percent said they read a book for fun almost daily, down from 37 percent four years ago.

The Department of Education freely accepted the challenge presented by the data and the recent result. The system succeeded in the “access” part evidence of the overflowing number of enrollees in the schools. But the “quality” part seems to be left out. Adding to burden is the psychological confusion of the shift to the K-12 curriculum where the system is still in the adjustment period.

But what is the missing link?

The National Research Council (NRC), a group of experts convened to examine reading research and address the serious national problem of reading failure, concluded in their landmark report Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998) that most reading problems can be prevented by providing effective instruction and intervention in preschool and in the primary grades.

Yet, there are students who are in the high school who cannot read well. Is this the reason why learners are finding difficulties with worded problems and understanding Science concepts?

The NRC noted that for students to learn to read well they must a) understand how sounds are represented by print and be able to apply this understanding to read and spell words, b) practice reading enough to become fluent readers, c) learn new vocabulary words, and d) learn to self-monitor when reading to make sure what they read makes sense and to correct their own errors.

These competencies are being taught in the curriculum. But then again, the learners of today have different ecologies. They are being pushed to the 4^th Industrial Revolution and their way of life has drastically changed. Educators must understand Education 4.0 so that the learners will be taught HOW to learn not just WHAT to learn.

Denton (2017) mentions that effective reading teachers adapt their instruction, making changes designed to meet the needs of different students.

But the pressing question can be posed: Can a teacher who do not have the passion to read teach effective reading? Another reference point: What about those parents who do not see the value of reading? Can they automatically blame the school system where in fact they themselves do not instill good reading or study habits among their children?

Blaming and finding scapegoats could not find solutions. There is a need for both the school and the home to make literacy a way of life among the young. We might have moronic leaders in the future.