Reflection

For the first three weeks of my ESOL class, I already learned a lot of things that include listening, spelling, reading, comprehension, paraphrasing, and grammar. Firstly, I noticed to myself that I am improving at paraphrasing and identifying the main idea of a text. Unlike last year, I am having a hard time identifying the main idea of a text and paraphrasing it. Second, I also noticed that my spelling has always been the same just like last year. For the past weeks of learning, I observed that I need to practice my reading and comprehension skills because I am having a little trouble to this skill especially the comprehension part. Overall, the first three weeks of ESOL has been good. I already learned quite a lot and gained more knowledge.

Reading Response 1

Title of Book: Polynesian Dance Festival

Author: John Hart

Genre/Text Type: Narrative 

Date Read: 19th February 2020

This text was about the Polynesian dance festival that they will conduct at a nearby school. This text
shows us their preparation and performance at the Polynesian dance festival. I chose to read this text
because I find the pictures shown in the text really interesting. Also, I chose to read this text because
I am really curious about how they prepare and perform at this kind of event.

One interesting/important character/event/theme/language feature was the group leader because it is really interesting that he managed to build up his members’ confidence and was able to accomplish all the responsibilities given to him to make the dance successful. A quote/evidence that shows this is “As the leader, it was my job to give the group confidence. The success of the dance was my responsibility.” This means that as a leader it is your job to cheer them up to avoid nervousness and always remind them to do their best. Also, as a leader it is your obligation to make the task given to you successful.This relates to me/interests me because I find the pictures shown in the text really interesting. Also, I am also curious about how they prepare themselves at this huge event.

I can relate to the main character’s confidence in supervising the group because it was a huge responsibility to handle. I can relate to this because back then I also handled a huge event, but I took it as a challenge and was able to make it successful. The character of Taniela reminds me of how a good leader must act in a group, it reminds me of my bestfriend because just like Taniela she was very responsible in all the tasks given to her. He was able to keep all the things in track and accomplish it. 

Goals for the Year

As a senior high school student, there are some things that I wanted to achieve for this academic year that I wasn't able to achieve. So, I tried listing the things that I want to improve and attain at the end of the year. Here are the following goals:

1. Improve my writing skills. It is very important for me to improve this skill so that I will not have a hard time writing my ideas and thoughts about a certain topic. I also think that this should be improve so that I can clearly express myself more.

2. Finish the tasks given on time. This is one of my goals for this year so that my schoolworks will not be overloaded. This is important to avoid procrastination and to avoid stressing yourself out.

3. Study the lessons before going to school. We should always study the lessons before going to school so that we will be able to relate with the discussions with every class.

4. Have a time management. This is the most important goal that I listed because I do believe that time is gold. We should always use our time efficiently and wisely to the tasks that we need to accomplish.

5. Aim for Merits/Excellences. For this academic year, it is one of my goals to achieve more merits and excellences so that I would have the possibility of having an overall merit/excellence endorsement. Having an endorsement is one of my biggest goal for this academic year.

There you go! Those are my goals for this academic year. Always remember to do your best in every single things that you do.

Blog post: A news item that interests me.

The Taal volcano is an active volcano located in Luzon, Philippines. It is known as the smallest active volcano in the world with 47 craters. On the 12th of January 2020, this volcano started to produce dark smoke that caused huge damage for the people who live near the volcano. The PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) informed that the alert level of this volcano had increased rapidly from level 1 reaching the alert level 4 which was quite alarming because it may cause surges and earthquakes. 

Since I was born and raised in the Philippines, this news has alarmed me because this volcano is located near my hometown in the Philippines. This natural phenomenon totally destroyed the community near the volcano leaving nothing but ashes. Thousands of families had their homes ruined and filled with ashes. It has been very interesting for me on how they will be able to cope with this kind of tragedy. This issue has been very interesting for every Filipino in the world because it has been over 40 years since the last time it erupted. 

This news created a huge impact on the community and to the entire nation because of the ashfalls that has reached several towns in the Philippines, covering their homes with ashes. But most of all, thousands of families who live in the community near the area of the volcano were the ones who got the huge impact because this tragedy ruined everything leaving, nothing but ashes. Aside from destroying homes, it also killed thousands of animals that were used for business like horse-back riding. This tragedy left nothing but ashes and the memories of yesterday.

Due to this, there are a lot of things that I realized. First of all, we should always be prepared because we never know what will happen next. Also, I thought about how those families who were affected by the tragedy will be able to move forward and start all over again. 

Reference:
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/03/20/taal-volcano-emits-plumes-new-earthquakes-signify-magmatic-activity-phivolcs