On the Spot

Just a few minutes ago, one of my students approached me and asked me to explain a line from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Darn. I felt a sudden shiver inside me. Shakespeare has never been easy. His lines are too romantic and too poetic that an ordinary reader will not understand the intended meaning quickly.

I am an ordinary reader.

I have never considered myself as an exemplary reader. (My classmate Jason could be one. He reads fast and he understands literary texts accurately.) Aside from the fact that I read like a sloth, my comprehension is not that accurate. Sometimes, I have a tendency to over read; most of the time I have a different interpretation.

Back in college, I remember one of my professors who told us not to do “damage to mankind” by teaching wrong concepts and giving out wrong information. Indeed, the role of a teacher is quite stressful. You have to examine everything closely and study all the possible ideas that your student may think of.

I also remember my mentor, Dr. Mendiola. I’m such a disgrace had he heard my answer.

Oh wait, I suddenly realized that I’m writing this blog in order to gather comments and reactions about how I answered my student. I think it’s not too late to call my student and tell him “Hey, I’m such an ass; I made a wrong interpretation of the line…”

Anyway, here goes. (in short, what I’ve written above are pure beatin’-around-the-bush introduction)

My student asked me about the line in Act V, Scene V of Macbeth. It says, “Life is but a walking shadow…” Quite easy? I don’t know. Maybe. But I found myself petrified upon being asked. It’s really difficult to be put on the spot.

I told my student to create a sort of a table, where he will compare and contrast the characteristics of the two keywords presented in the line—LIFE and SHADOW. In literature, there is what we call as “binary opposites” but these two entities do not belong to that, because—if I remember it well—binary opposites should belong to a certain continuum, i.e. day and night, darkness and light, etc.

Anyhow, I asked him to think of the similarities of the two. I told him that like a shadow, life is temporary. It is short-lived. On the other hand, I consulted Kay and she gave me a quite convincing answer. She told me that “life is like a shadow kase…there won’t be a shadow without light..then , probably, life won’t be a life if there’s no light that shines upon us…”

Oh well, I suddenly realized that I’m doing this the reader-response way. The table is now open for comments/ suggestions/ interpretations/ clarifications/ interjections/ conjunctions/ injections/ and projections.

Yellow Papers

I presently have piles of yellow papers on top of my desk. Nope. Cory’s not waging another people power through signature campaigns in yellow papers.

I simply have three sets of exams (essay type, note that) to check. Yeah, this is nothing compared to my colleagues in the field. Some of my former classmates have 40 and above in one section. I only have 30. Some of them have 8 teaching loads. I only have four. Most of them still use the Jurassic type of recording grades that is, using class records. We use electronic encoding of grades.

Yeah, this is easy compared to them. But let me lay down the causes of my graying hair.

First, I’m the ONLY English teacher in this academy. Damn. I can’t write anything else!

Second, I’m the ONLY course developer and “textbook writer” in this school. That means, I’m having a hard time dealing with the topics that I should include in the curriculum and all those technical stuff about being an educator. I still have to call and text my college professors to seek for opinion and advice regarding various subject matters. Sigh.

Third, I’m the ONLY English teacher in this academy. Damn. I’m not merely repeating. I’m reiterating. Is there a difference? I think so. Well, uhmm…technically repeating is something really annoying, because that’s more of redundancy of whatevers. But, well, reiterating is more subtle.

Whatever.

My point is, I’m the lone English teacher here, and I can’t ask anyone to help me. If I do, I’ll just get blank stares—sometimes sarcastic smiles. It’s humiliating to say that I’m also the school paper adviser. Well, what else do you expect? Despite of my very limited knowledge about campus journalism, there it goes, I’m screening the applicants for the paper.

Pretending is one of the most difficult tasks on Earth.

But I don’t want to sound as if I’m complaining that much to the extent that I’ll leave my profession. In all fairness, there’s a joy in teaching that surpasses all these pressures and challenges. The “ohhhhhs…” and “ahhhhs…” of the students when they learn something new; the smile among their faces subtly telling you how thankful they are; the laughter inside the class when you crack a joke, and all the rest that can’t be expressed by words.

Oh well, I’ve said my piece; enough to release the tension.

The yellow sheets are now staring at me, waiting for their turn to be checked.

Wishful Thinking

A few minutes ago, while riding the jeepney from Carmel Mall to NTMA, I saw factory workers and employees boarding their shuttle services that—I assume—will bring them to a drop point near their houses. Upon seeing them, I immediately sighed and thought “How I wish that NYK—one of the biggest shipping companies in the world—and TDG—a Filipino business conglomerate ‘with a heart with vision, growth and compassion’—will provide its faculty and staff at NTMA with a similar shuttle service.” It does not need to be elegant; it does not need to be savvy; it does not need to be air-conditioned. All we need, I reckon, is a shuttle service that will pick us up every Sunday evening from a certain point (e.g. Mayapa) and bring us to NTMA; then, during Fridays, bring us to the same point, for us to get an easy access to the buses going to Manila.


Suddenly, upon reaching San Sebastian, the driver barked at me and told me that it’s the end of his line. My thought balloon popped and I realized that I should start walking towards NTMA. Indeed, some dreams come true…some do not. Who knows?

Discussions over a cup of Sinigang

This is the first blog that i'm going to post using my fist ever laptop...well, actually, i can't really call it "MY" laptop coz' it was just issued by the school...

Anyway, while having lunch at the cafetorium, we had a few discussions regarding the school's policies regarding the use of its facilities, particularly this laptop. One of my colleagues was complaining because he thinks that the laptop is inutile since some sites are restricted, the laptop itself has a lot of restrictions as regards softwares and all. But I understand the administration for drafting such policies. It's meant to ensure safety of its properties.

However, I find it really difficult and cumbersome to still ask for the IT personnel to check my PC every now and then. I just hope that their service is always available because we might have problems and the discussions might turn out to be argumentations over a cup of Sinigang... But they ensured that we should not worry because they can handle the situation... I just hope they really could...

Novice Teacher

When we were in grade school, my ate kept a diary. I don't know what a diary is during that time, but later, because of TV programs and movies, I have discovered that a diary is where you write your sentiments. I have learned that the diary functions as a person's confidante, whenever s/he cannot find someone to talk to. I've found out that a diary acts as the "shock absorber" of a person. Most importantly, I've realized that diaries should be kept secret. It's contents should be hidden between the owner and its pages.

Nowadays, however, we tend to rely mostly on technology and what we do is to write our "sentiments" through blogs. Indeed, the internet became an international gateway. But what surprises me is the fact that a lot of people find blogging very interesting and worthwhile. This generation has even learned to disclose their darkest secrets to the world.

Anyway, when I was in college, i vowed to finally write in a diary. I thought, when I die, people will forget me, but my ideologies will stay if i write them down.

The focus of my blogs will be mostly about my realizations during my teaching experiences. This is my first year to practice my profession since I was primarily hired to develop the syllabus and instructional materials of tertiary English. I find it difficult to adjust. It has been a year since I graduated and I haven't practiced my profession since then. I had difficulties regarding time management. I thought a one-hour class is to long, only to find out that my first two meetings with my students were fair enough to finish orienting them about the subjects and discussing their requirements withing the semester.

Today, I'll start the struggle, I'll try to keep my blogs updated as possible.