Philippines' DepEd K-12 and SHS Program

     It is actually read as K to 12, Kindergarten to Grade 12. The Philippines was among the three (3) countries and the only one in Asia that offered the 10-year education cycle before entering college. The Philippines before had six (6) years of primary (grade 1-3) and intermediate school level (grade 4-6); four (4) years of high school labeled as 1st-year high=freshman, 2nd-year high=sophomore, 3rd-year high=junior, and 4th year=senior. Kindergarten then is not compulsory, yet schools are offering three levels for Kindergarten, hence, nursery > kinder > preparatory, or nursery > kinder 1> kinder 2, depending on the school rules and policies. 

     Until 2012, Republic Act 10157, known as the Kindergarten Education Act ratified by Congress and signed by President Benigno C. Aquino Jr., compulsory education for five (5) years old before they enter formal schooling, as is considered the developmental years to ascertain their formal school readiness. Likewise, the Republic 10533 - Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 was signed and approved last May 2013, yet implemented a year before for those who have enrolled in grade 7.

     Questions and disagreement have been posed by some parents and students, however, the 1st batch of K-12 Grade 11, Senior High School is currently taking the different tracks the DepEd (Department of Education) is offering. This year's 1st batch is expected to complete the K-12 in 2018. 

image credit to DepEd website

The following information about K-12 and Senior High School (SHS) are enumerated below:

• K-12 is an educational mandatory for parents and school agencies to start education for the children at the age of five (5) through Kindergarten to ascertain the readiness of children for formal schooling. Primary education begins from grade 1 to 6, then four (4) years of Junior High School, and another two (2) years of Senior High School.
• A student who has finished K-10 but does not want to continue in Senior High School may do so but he/she will miss the opportunity of earning a high school diploma, thus, he/she will be called a Grade 10 Completer.
• It does not cost anything to enroll in Senior High School in Public/Government Schools. Tuition fees in private schools are also paid by DepEd thru its voucher program, however, they can top it up with some miscellaneous expenses which students will have to pay separately.
• All Grade 10 Completers from public/government schools get a Voucher for enrolling in a Private or Non-DepEd Senior High School. However, payment of tuition fees is coursed from Government to School Agencies.
• All Grade 10 Completers from private schools who are ESC (Education Service Contracting)* Grantees also get a Voucher for enrolling in a Private or Non-DepEd Senior High School.
• After finishing Senior High School, graduates can apply for employment, be an entrepreneur, pursue higher education (college) or middle skills development (short courses/TESDA)
• Senior High School offers four (4) Tracks from which Grade 10 Completers can choose depending on their interest:

1. Academic Track
2. Technical-Vocational & livelihood Track (TVL)
3. Arts & Design Tracks, and
4. Sports Track. 

• If students will have to choose Academic Track, they have four (4) strands to choose from [1] Accountancy, Business and Management Strand (ABM), [2] Humanities & Social Sciences Strand (HUMSS), [3] Science, Technology, Engineering,& Mathematics Strand (STEM), and [4] General Academic Strand (GAS).
• If students choose Technical-Vocational & Livelihood Track (TVL), they also have four (4) strands to choose from Agri-Fishery Arts Strand, Home Economics Strand, Industrial Arts Strand, and Information & Communication Technology Strand. Each strand has its specialization** depending on what the school agency has to offer.
• Arts and Design Track has six (6) strands: Music, Dance, Film/Media/IT, Visual Arts, Indigenous Arts, and Theater Arts.
• Sports Track includes subjects such as Safety & First Aid, Understanding Human Movement, General Coaching course, Sports Officiating, Fitness Leadership, Sports/Recreation/Fitness Management, Student-Athlete Enhancement & Formation, Fitness Testing * Exercise Prescription, and Recreation Leadership. However, there is a particular sports specialization and fitness to choose from depending on what a particular school has to offer.

* http://www.pnjkis.edu.ph/educational-service-contracting-esc-program

** http://www.deped.gov.ph/k-to-12/curriculum-guides/Technical-Vocational-Track

The Choices We Make

     In this life, we dreaded things we usually do. We hate the things that cause us pain, trouble, hassle, and difficulty. But the irony of it all, we are what we choose, we are the cause of our choices. 

      We are bothered by floods and landslides, yet we are the ones cutting the trees, digging the land, and throwing out garbage around without thinking. We are worried that our seas and natural resources are losing their grandeur, yet we are the ones destroying them, polluting them, and creating chaos with the balance of nature. We encountered nuisance people, yet we forget to discipline our children, listen to the elders, and even give out a smile. The choices we make are ours but the effect of these choices is for everyone to either be blessed or suffer. 

*credit image to GettyImages

    When things go wrong we tend to blame other people or God for our mishap, yet we never think for a moment that our choices made it. We tend to do things by following other people, going with the flow just because the majority of people are doing it, yet what we have to lose is our dignity and character. We have made the choice of not standing up to what is right, instead, we made a choice of doing something to make it right. There is a big difference between doing the right thing and enabling something to make the wrong things right. For all the mistakes, for all the choices we made, we sometimes have the option to make it right, but this is not always the case, one wrong choice leads to another.

  The choices we make lest we know, one should remember to think twice..think through..think wisely..think about these things.. is it right? is it the truth? who will be affected? what are the consequences of choosing it?..picture it..imagine it..and best of all seek HIS guidance.

The ALDUB Magic

      It has been a year since the ALDUB is a byword not only in the entertainment world and our homes but even as well in the cyber world through social media. The ALDUB phenomenal love team is Alden Richard and Maine Mendoza, the power couple that spans the world, and created noise through different social media, especially Twitter. Celebrities even outside the Philippines began to ask curious what is ALDUB.

     The power couple has so far received ten (10) awards, aside from the solo awards they
each has received since last year. They are also the most sought brand endorser, as a couple and solo garnering thirty (30) commercial ads from different companies in just one year. Bigger companies such as Mcdonald's, Coca-Cola, Bear Brand Adult Plus, Mitsubishi, and Cadbury are among those whom they have endorsed. Successful as it is, they have been on the cover of various magazines from local to international such as Reader's Digest and Forbes magazines. Just recently, in time for its 1st anniversary, the power couple ALDUB, also known as MaiDen or MaiChard leads the YES! Magazine 100 Most Beautiful Artists of the Year. ALDUB is also recognized by Guinness World Records as the Most Used HashTag in 24 hours on Twitter, for its #AlDubEBTamangPanahon (AlDub at the right time) with 40,706,392 tweets in October last year.

     The ALDUB Magic continues .. the power couple celebrated its 1st anniversary, (July 16) on its home tv station and program, GMA Channel 7 & Eat! Bulaga is the number 1 noontime variety show in the Philippines. For the record, Twitter created customized social media emoji for ALDUB for every tweet with its hashtag #ALDUB1stAnniversary, the 1st in Asia. Twitter only does this for NBA FInals, Game of Thrones, and Marvel Movies. And weeks before the anniversary, ALDUB shoots their first solo movie in Como, Italy for their anniversary offering to their fans, the ALDUB Nation. "Imagine You & Me" garnered Php 21 million (almost $ 500,000) on its 1st day of opening.

* The hashtag #ALDUB1stAnniversary garnered 6.6 million tweets in 24 hours on July 16. Real magic!


WATCH: ALDUB 1st Anniversary

English 101: The Perfect Tenses of the Verb (series 1.C4)

     After detailing the Simple Tense of the verb, we now go to perfect tenses. Perfect Tense is another set of verb tenses. Perfect tenses are actions already completed. As the word implies, perfect means  "completely done" or "made complete". So what's the difference between simple and perfect tenses? The perfect tense is used when the time of an action is not specified, while the Simple tense is used when the details of the time or place of action are given. For perfect tenses, we have the Present Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Tense, and Future Perfect Tense.

It is important to know the regular and irregular verbs with their equivalent past participle in constructing a sentence with perfect tense.

Present Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the present. It is used to express an action that has just or already happened, how often the action has happened, or to emphasize a past action's result or consequence.

Forms: he /she /it /singular subject noun = has + past participle of the verb ;
            I /you /we /they /plural subject noun = have + past participle of the verb

Examples:
          1) She has blown her hair already.
          2) It has happened twice.
          3) Pete has discussed a new lesson.
          4) I have just bought a new cellphone.
          5) We have gone here many times.
          6) The basketball players have shown their best in that game.


Past Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the past. It is used to show an action that has happened before another action happened in the past.

Forms: subject(s) = had + past participle of the verb

Examples:
     1) They had won the game when he fell.
     2) He had studied the layout before he arrived at the meeting.
     3) The children were sad since she had left the convent.
     4) The men build this dam because the plants had been dying from drought.

* the italicized words are the actions in the past, while the underlined words are the actions completely done in the past before another action.
* conjunctions such as when, before, and since, because are also used to show action in the past perfect tense.


Future Perfect Tense > this is an action completed concerning the future. It is used to show that an action will have been completed at some time in the future.

Forms: subject(s) = will /shall + have + past participle of the verb

Examples:
     1) You shall have arrived by 5:00 in the morning.
     2) He will have been here for three weeks to finish the work.
     3) Joy and Kate will have known each other this coming week.
     4) Won't they have stayed here tomorrow night?

*won't = will not

Trauma

*image credit to realitysandwich

     Every person has their own fears. These fears came out of unforgettable and fearful experiences one had encountered. It only differs on how its fear has been taken, to what degree the experience was, and to what extent the fear itself. A deeply disturbing experience. Once you have seen the same scenario from other people, or almost the same situation, the fear comes back. The trauma that paralyzes you at that very moment...the trauma that could make you hysterical...the trauma that could even lead to a nervous breakdown. I am speaking not only for myself but for others as well, to those who have that traumatic experience.. one that hits like a dagger, inability to move, a sudden recoiled of that event. Sometimes you have that uncontrollable sudden burst of emotions like crying, anger, fear...the experiences you never wanted to share, the fear that you are afraid to show, the weakness you keep hiding even to yourself..anger toward the person who has hurt you throughout. Trauma is a wound so deep..that when you thought it's already healed but it's not .. who can understand the pain? the fear? the memories?.. and why I am writing this?.. only someone who had been or had gone the same experience can understand...and it has no place, I think, in the world of others who has not...

Celebrate Life

    Did you ever see how important? that.. every.. single.. moment..  when you see a person alive or not in pain?.. Did you ever feel how life can be happier if you see someone sick in bed but was able to stand and go on with your life?.. Did you ever think that lying in bed because it is already night and taking a rest for tomorrow's task is such bliss, instead of being in bed with sickness? The moment  I open my eyes without the pain, I am glad I can eat my favorite dish I have cooked yesterday, I can hear the crunch of my favorite mixed nuts "Ding-dong", and I can savor the sweetness of my favorite coconut "Hany".

     Succumb to an unknown chronic pain that could stop my world for a time, I cherish every moment that I can touch and hold hands with my kids, especially my youngest...Faith. Stand and go out looking at the greens, smell the breeze at the beach, eat my favorite foods, working on my laptop to write what I was thinking. Pain can make one surrender life itself. So much throbbing pain every minute wet my eyes to tears. Pain that lasts, it seems to no end. Every pain I dreaded to feel. Worries came in when I feel its onset. 

     Life is wonderful..why end it?.. Everything on earth is amazing.. why destroyed it?.. Some people fight for its life to stand, walk, run, speak, eat normally, to see things the way they were. God is wonderful to make me see things as they were and were they not, to think deeply of all things He has created for what it is. I'm thanking Him for every time that I can open my eyes and see the light of the day, hence, hoping for what the day would bring. Oh, yes, God. thank you I'm still alive! I'm celebrating my life!

What We Need To Know About El Niño & La Niña

With the ending phase of El Niño and the coming of La Niña, everyone seems to be bothered about what it would cause to the environment and the food supply in a certain country as well as its economy. El Niño is a Spanish word that means "The Little Boy" or "The Christ Child", and was used since the occurrence emerge of Christmas. Whereas, La Niña (also called"El Viejo") is the counterpart of El Niño meaning "The Little Girl", this is the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) cold phase or event. El Niño occurs every 3 to 5 years and is almost always followed by La Niña.

      *oscillation > movement from one position to another.  

   

What is El Niño?

     El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), it is characterized by warm ocean temperatures that develop in the equatorial Pacific.

What causes the El Niño?

     It is caused by the warmer waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Why the waters are warmer?

     As the trade winds lessen or reverse their direction, winds from the west push the warm surface of waters to the east in the direction of South America, such that there are lesser cold waters pulled up from below due to increase in warmer waters.

Watch this >> Animated Video on El Niño

What are the effects of El Niño?

Changes in weather patterns

• temperature changes
• precipitation changes
• storm track changes
• changes in currents and ocean temperature

These changes lead to other consequences such as:

fires, drought, flooding, economic changes, price of heating and food, a crash of fisheries, famines, plagues, insect population explosion, and crop failure.

However, there are also positive effects  brought by El Niño such as,

fewer hurricanes and other tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic, milder winters in southern Canada and the northern continental United States, replenishment of water supplies in the southwestern United States, and less disease in some areas due to drier weather like malaria in southeastern Africa.

======================

What is La Niña?

     La Niña is the cold phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), it is characterized by cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.

What causes the La Niña?

     It is caused by the build-up of cooler-than-normal waters in the tropical Pacific, the west coast of South America.

Why the waters are cooler?

     The unusually easterly trade winds and ocean currents bring these cold waters to the surface, known as the process of upwelling.

Watch this >> Animated Video on La Niña

What are the effects of La Niña?

• drops in the ocean temperature
• cold currents rise up along the coast
• extended rains
• higher than average rainfall
• hurricanes and cyclones
• flooding

These effects can also have consequences on the agriculture and food supply of countries, as well as on private and insurance costs for crops.

There are also positive effects such as enhanced growth of fish populations and marine life due to the nutrients brought about by upwelling cold currents, thus fishermen get a good catch.

Click to watch more >> Observing El Niño