Christmas Happenings

I think it is safe to say that one of the most celebrated days of the year in our country is Christmas. It is such a popular holiday that often those not of the Christian faith participate in the festivities. It is also safe to say that this day is widely celebrated around the world, even in cultures that are not Christian in culture or persuasion, such as Japan and China. They too call it "Christmas".

Christmas is a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. Some people celebrate Christmas differently, but it is all based upon the birth of Christ. Christmas is on December 25th. This is the day that Jesus is said to be born. Nobody really knows the exact date Jesus was born. People celebrate Christmas differently from one another. For example, my family celebrates Christmas by decorating our entire house. We also exchange gifts, go to church, and cook a big dinner. Even though we do all these things, we remember the "true" meaning of Christmas - To Celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas is a time for giving and giving is the act of generosity. It nourishes love in our relationships and builds the human spirit. Giving is an expression of our love. We give in many ways with our supportive words, our listening, attention and giving of our time and of course through material giving too. Giving materially, emotionally and physically is the glue that holds people together and is a way to renew our love for one another, create lasting cherished memories, deepen relationships and create psychological health and happiness for ourselves.

Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me.

I feel so fortunate, to have my family throughout the year, but especially, at Christmas time. When showing, my family just how much I love them and what exactly they mean to me. That is so very important to me. Christmas, for me is about being with family, loving each other and showing each other just exactly how we all feel.

Just before the last day of school I give out presents to my teacher and a few of my friends. I always hope they like what I get them. When school is over and the Christmas holiday begins I usually go out with my parents. During the day I go to Dipolog; maybe to a boulevard or sometimes we just go on a ride round. Almost every day we go out for lunch.

I always ask my parents not to tell me what they get me. Of course I no longer believe Santa Claus. They usually buy a present for my brother to give to me, as my brother is three. What I do is have my supper and then we each go to our beds. My favorite part of the holiday is Christmas day.

Last year, I went down very early but my mother always tells me to wait for the rest of the family. When they come down I open my presents and every year I like what everyone gets me. At night we have a roast dinner usually chicken. During January and February, my brother and I get another present from my uncle from America it's usually clothing or sometimes jewellery.

Last year and this year, my father built a mountain that is about a metre wide. It starts small with bits and pieces and from there we build up. I live with my mother, father, brother and uncle and every year we have a nice Christmas. We are all happy and we get lots of gifts. My friends Aiza and Jane always get me a nice present and I always give them one too.

Though people celebrate Christmas in different ways throughout the world, I learned to celebrate Christmas from my family and church.

Learnig blog 4

I'm Home

It was such a nice feeling to compose a paragraph. In our last meeting , we really had a fun time doing a composition with my groupmates. After we had done it, we discussed it in order for to prepare in our defense on it.

Unfortunately , Ma'am Lynnie was not around in the class with our defense. We don't know where Ma'am Lynnie is. However, it was still a chance for us to be more prepared in our defense.

When i arrived in my boarding house, I was thinking that i should go back home because our Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses is fast approaching. I was really excited about it. But, we still have a class . What should i do? I 'm already convinced to go home. This Convention is very important to me.

December 17,2009, friday, i'm finally home. I was really so happy that i'm back. The time i saw my family, tears run down on my face. I really missed them. I hugged them so tight. This is really is it. Family reunion. That night, my mother prepared a lot of foods. We took our dinner with my entire family. We were all happy eating. Thanks God.

I also missed my classmates in highschool. We planned to have a beach party the next day. It was a joyful party because this was the first for us t o be reunited together. We really have fun swimming and we played volleyball. It was such a blissful moment.

Learning Blog 3

A Jocund Moment

My first impression of English 2 is somewhat boring because it deals much on writing , and that's what i hate most. But, as time passes-by with our lessons, I learn to love it. I discovered that it is not that much boring because there are many joyful activities that can enhance our writing skills. such that, in our previous meeting, we had an activity by group. Our task is to make one sentence in each person. Within three minutes, we should really create a paragraph. Each one of us felt so tensed because we can't directly think of a better idea on what to write because the time is limited. However, we did it even though it is not perfectly done. I really enjoyed in this activity because i can recall what i write or contribute in the paragraph which is not so coherent on the first sentence. After it, the last person to write will read what was the body of the paragraph. We just laugh of what we write because some sentence are not related. But, we had given a time to revise it for a limited time. i really had fun on it. This activity is one way of having a good composition. I learned how to make a paragraph that should have coherence and unity. It is really helpful to have a better paragraph.
In addition, there was also another activity Ma'am Lynnie gave to us. It was all about what we have in our knowledge or how great our vocabulary is. The activity goes like this. Every time Ma'am Lynnie will give a word, we should write as many words as we can which is related to the word given. I was just laughing at my work because i really lack vocabulary or stock knowledge. But, somehow, i gained knowledge about the words that i did not encountered yet. In this activity, there were many words that i gained . In addition, it was really a fun game.
Unfortunately, we will not meet again with Ma;am Lynnie because she will be attending for the graduation ceremony in MSU-Marawi. However, she gave us a task to make a composition using one of the common methods of paragraph development at least 300-500 words. It is done by group. In our group, we chose cause-effect. Our topic was about global Warming. What we did is that we enumerate first the causes and the effects of global warming. Then, we finally brainstorm our ideas and made our composition. In this activity, I learned some techniques in writing a paragraph. you must see to it that it should be coherent and unified.
I am so happy that i passed my assignment on time. I really worked hard on it. I slept late at night in doing it. At last , I made it.
In my English 3 class,all students under our teacher will take the Job Enabling in English Proficiency ( JEEP) placement exam. I was so curios about it. When i entered at room where we are going to take the test, I saw many computers. I can't explain what i felt. I was a little bit excited but somehow nervous. I thought it was so difficult, but i was wrong. The questions were just simple but others were confusing. Another thing i liked most during the test was when we use the headphone. I like how the person spoke in it. But, I just don't fully understand what they said. Sad to say... I failed the test. I just got 1.o score. It means I'm poor in English. How sad....
However, it was such a nice feeling to take on that JEEP exam because it was an amazing experience and i gained more knowledge on the use of grammar in English.

Learning Blog 2

Missing My Class

In the last meeting with Ma’am Lynnie, she told us that she will not going to meet us for two meetings because she will go to Manila for her important transaction there. She re minded us to always visit her blog spot website to check her new postings either an assignment online or not.

The next week, I was expecting that Ma’am Lynnie was not around that’s why I did not go to school in her time. But then, on the afternoon, I saw one of my classmates and asked her if Ma’am Lynnie was around. She answered “ yes”. Oh no! I was so shocked about it . However, I am really thankful that I saw my classmate because she gave me details about what Ma’am Lynnie had told them in the class. They checked the assignment given last meeting. How sad…. I missed mine. Ma’am Lynnie gave an assignment on that day about the examples of the common methods of paragraph development . I did not fully understand how is it to be done because I was not present when Ma’am Lynnie discussed it. How disappointing…. This assignment is by partner. But, I have a problem. I can’t find my partner. I don’t know where should he be found. Oh no! I should do this assignment on my own. I guess I will have some difficulties because I’m only the one to do this. But still, I will do this on my ow because it was my fault.

As of now, I have already some collections of sample paragraphs of the common methods of paragraph development. I am confused in distinguishing where that particular paragraph belongs to. In this assignment , it is so helpful in determining what kind of paragraph we should write in our composition soon. I’m hoping that I could accomplish this assignment on time.

In my English 3 class, many things did happen in our first meeting with Ma’am Villabona. She let us introduce ourselves in an extra ordinary way. I felt nervous because I don’t have any talent to render. What I did is just I told a story about my background and my lifestyle. I can say that my presentation was so boring. However, I enjoyed watching the different presentations of my other classmates.

Our teacher pointed out that English 3 is all about oral communication. Meaning, we should have to engage in different activities done orally. We should enhance our communication skills. I am expecting that we will really have a joyful time in our English 3 class.

Concept Map

Specific Topic: The Adverse Effects of Playing Computer Games to Students
Thesis Statement: Playing computer games have adverse effects to students such as it affects their physical condition, depletes their allowance and no more focus on their studies.

Learning Blog 1

Writing a Topic isn’t That Easy

On the day our English 2 teacher started her discussion with us, I felt a little bit nervous because she told us that we should speak English in the class and every time anyone caught by her speaking vernacular will perform either singing or dancing. Honestly, I am not good in speaking English. But, it is my pleasure to have a teacher like Ma’am Lynnie in order for us to enhance our speaking skills and be fluent enough in speaking English.
In our first meeting, I learned about writing a topic and narrowing it. At first, I was so confused on how to narrow a specific topic because I’m not used to do writing composition. It is easy for me to think of a topic but I find it hard to narrow it because I have no knowledge about its idea or information. However I put in my mind to really practice my writing skills and apply what our teacher discussed about the steps in writing. As our teacher go on discussing, she gave us some examples on how to narrow a topic. With this, I somehow got an idea on how to have a better composition. I learned that one way in narrowing a topic is by clustering and concept mapping. In this way, a topic is easier to narrow. She also gave us some activity by partner to think of a topic and narrow it. After it, she let us read our work. With this, our teacher made some revisions on the specific topic and thesis statement we made. I now learned some tips on how to have a better specific topic and thesis statement. I also gained knowledge about writing the sentence outline.
With what our entire teacher discussed, I realized that the first step of writing is somewhat easy. Having a first topic and narrow it. I just hope on the following discussions with Ma’am Lynnie about writing, I will learn more things on it and be a better writer.

How i feel and think towards writing in English!!!

Writing is known as the last skill being developed by most of the students/individuals among the skills we have. And now it is sometimes neglected…. But do we know how addicted it is? When developed and properly used??

Writing in English is not easy and everybody thought it is. We need to search on something and sometimes, it needs an inspiration in order to create a thing to write. It is not that fine easy to write directly a composition. It needs a heart, a reflection on something and a mind that that has a sharp pointed purpose to write.

I think in writing we need to develop our vocabulary In order to produce a better composition. Writing needs effort and time because as you write you go on to different techniques and strategies.

Writing therefore is a great skill that is design for the man of vision and the man of drive who is capable to listen the voice of experience--- to write!