Hi! I'm teacher Rod!

"Like a virgin, touched for the very first time!" 

No, it wasn't Madonna's talking, it's me Teacher Rod! 😅

Yes, it's official! I am now teaching "Holistic English Proficiency Program" H. E. P. pro. at Lee's English Center in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

But of course, this is a work from home (WFH) job, where I will be working as a part-time teacher which started on Monday, June 14, 2021.

I had my teaching demo Tuesday, June 8, 2021, with Ms. Angelyn Hilario, Manager for Lee's English Center. 

Where I remember, I had to sing to clearly introduced the teaching approach I will do if ever my application will push through with the center. 

While, I had an interview with Ms. Mavic Lee,  Lee's English Center-Director Monday, May 31, 2021. 

HOW DO I PREPARE FOR LEE? 

I had to embrace once more the long hours spent for preparing a lesson. The easy part is, I do not need to gather the information anymore for we are following a complete session shared via google documents. 

Literally, the load of work is how you are going to present it to your students in two ways; they're having fun but most importantly they were learning from you. 

I had a teaching experience in two different colleges and schools. Roosevelt College System in Cainta, Rizal in 2009 until 2010.

And went back again to the world of teaching in ELJ Center for Media Arts Senior High School in June 2018 to March 2019.

Honestly speaking, I have to adjust again with a different set-up of learning which is done now online.

The lesson are made up of 8 sessions that has different content based on the age and the level of learnings of the students. 

The difficult part is working on a power point presentation. Why? Because the design of your lesson must somehow match your topics.

This is where you are choosing and learning the best font and color for your alphabets and numbers along with the photos that must blend or match your presentation. 

So far, I consumed 6 to 8 hours for one presentation. If I am not satisfied with the design of the power point it gave me, I also used other applications available. 

Review spelling and grammar related problems. Yes, we do have a ready made sessions but checking of the content is a must to all teachers. 

THE TECHNICAL ASPECT

Not unlike the traditional face-to-face teaching where you are attending a physical class with a number of students per subjects, the online teaching is a work from home set-up that is highly dependent on wired connection that supplies strong internet connectivity. 

Some uses a desktop for this set-up, but in most cases, a personal laptop that is space saving is what we prefer. 

If a room where the work from home set-up do not have a perfect lighting condition, one must use a ring light to meet the right standard for teaching online. 

In this case, a webcam with a 1080 HD also is a must for teachers. Along with a headset that has a noise-cancellation features. 

But it has to come with a plain or white background that will help you to catch your student's attention. Say goodbye to many things you see behind while conducting an online teaching. 

Other things you need, a USB port for the mouse, headset, webcam, etc. 

OTHER NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR ONLINE TEACHING

If you are teaching a young learners such as  kinder, elementary, junior high school, one must consider also using visual aids. 

Like I personally printed for a copies of star-shaped reward to commend your students like stars to say that they are awesome, doing great a  job. 

I also printed copies of delighful images of rewards like an ice-cream, cookies, cupcake,  strawberries and pizza. 

But you know what, these elements are useful for students, it's like you're selling a new product or maybe an existing product but it has added flavors to excite their  senses. 

HOW ABOUT THE WORK LOAD? 

I have an M/W/F schedule, but it's eating my time from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. 

I had to wake up two hours prior to my 9:00 am schedule. 

Supposedly, I am currently handling 6 students. But the Lee's English Center believes that it will give a big difference if the teaching approach is done by a teacher to only one student at a time. 

During your time-in, you have to send a group in messenger the exact time you logged in. And after every session you have to send photos of the highlights of your one-on-one session with your students. 

So, if I have 6 students I have to send six times of our activity via a screegrab. And when the session ends, you have to log-out as well using the same group messenger. 

Every session with your students via zoom was recorded. Teachers at Lee's English Center are all required to upload this file after in a Facebook page exclusive for teachers only. 

If you have a strong internet connection at home, another hour is required to complete this step. 

And since, lessons changes, teacher Rod is required to make another lesson every other day. And this is a cycle that I need to repeat until, I was totally done with all the lessons. 

SACRIFICES

Long time, means less time for the family, and even less time you commit for other activities you give yourself. 

But I remember, I am also doing it for my family to help us in handling monthly bills and expenses. 

Teacher Rod here is working as part-timers only while also waiting for some applications sent in other companies that will mature as time progresses. 

The Amazing Power of Social Media

Photo Courtesy: INQUIRER.net

At home with my kids bonding with them with a feel of a whole day, whole night day, because of the gloomy, rainy, bed weather. But I had the chance to take a moment, a break from school work and was able to seat back and relax watching KBO at home. Just wanted to share, I had never seen this movie…”Ang Dalawang Mrs Reyes,” before. But you know what? It’s really worth watching. It stars veteran actresses JudyAnn Santos and Angelica Panganiban. The story was actually about two wives who discovered upon revelation of their husbands that they were gay (but there was another label put to “De Vera), in this movie. Here, it was shown at first how Santos and Panganiban dealt with heartaches and pain. But as the movie progresses, you will see the other side as well. At the end, there was acceptance and forgiveness. If I may relate this to the subject I’m handling right now…”Media Foundation,” there was an obvious presence of Social Media under the different types of Media. Santos after knowing that despite the plan to ruin the marriage of her husband to another man, she wrote an open letter using her social media account. Surprisingly, within 24hours it reaches a lot of people and got too many shares. Santos somehow after airing her sentiments to a former gay husband gained sympathy to the people in the social media. Never did she realized that this medium was too powerful that later on, almost put her former husband’s boyfriend in danger, not to mention making her daughter vulnerable to shame and public humiliation.

The use of the social media in particular is an effective medium nowadays to reach out for hundreds and thousands or even millions of people to share and air our sentiments and without knowing connecting with strangers made them feel directly what we’re going through. Thus, also reminding all of us to “think before we click,” because it comes with both good and bad effects to all of us.

Social Media, is a new form of communication growing from the usual face to face interactions, and group communications. It has a wide reach connecting with people that we know personally and for people who are completely strangers to us. Thus, there is a constant reminder that we have to be responsible all the time in using it as our very medium to communicate.

The existence of social media, gave us so much benefits in sharing messages and information in an instant from where you are and to the whole world too who has connection to the internet.  From places you’ve been to, while sipping your favorite coffee, a celebration of important occasions with friends, family, and work related activities were shared using this powerful medium.

Recently, I made an examination and included the power of this medium in my sections in Grade 11 for their midterm examination and asked my students if in this era, the labelled “millennials,” could survive living without its presence?

I’m getting different answers from this question, most of them said they can live without it citing several reasons like they can make conversations with their families and friends personally, some would play basketball, dance or even sing.

Are we saying that we are becoming dependent on the use of social media? Certainly, I must say Yes. But at some point we can live without it. It goes without saying that without it’s presence we will all go back to the traditional means of communicating, like that of sending and receiving snail mails, a personal interaction with friends, families and relatives too. But this time, immediate change is something we have to be careful with, as to the venue of a certain meeting place. The use of landline phones will be of great demand again, a personal visit to every possible libraries for research, personal appearance when interviewing people. Our generation has so much to offer today and even has a better plan to make each and everyone’s life more convenient when it comes to reaching more people. Everything comes with a certain purpose, the bottom line is to communicate faster and more effectively, of course having an entertainment at the same time.