At
the first glance at the book of Araling Panlipunan, it is not only the students
who feel so drowsy knowing the fact that this subject contains general
information. Like in Grade 7, the subject is Philippine history which obviously
tackles what happened before or even the current and future affairs of the country.
The Araling Panlipunan 8 is all about Asia’s context while Araling Panlipunan 9
tells about the history of the world and included the discoveries on Earth. On
the other hand, Araling Panlipunan 10’s description is Economics which probably
emphasizes the Philippines’s economy as well as the other countries.
All
of these subjects mention above are just easy but most of the students really
get bored with the bulk pages of each book. There are also teachers handling
and specializing social studies tend to give up because nowadays especially
K-12 curriculum based books in Araling Panlipunan use English terms which make
them so hard.
So
what if your principal would assign you to handle Araling Panlipunan subject?
Would you take that challenge as an English teacher? If I would be asked, my
answer should be ‘Yes’. Why would I do that? Well, let me enumerate the
benefits of teaching Araling Panlipunan.
First,
I know I am trained or let me say I am accustomed to speaking English since my
course is BSED- English. I know the fact that most books in Araling Panlipunan
are written in Filipino terms. So, it is my chance to practice or even enhance
my speaking skill especially the difficult words in Filipino. At least it would
not be awkward if I talk with my students who are fund or who prefer speaking
Filipino language to English language. Little by little, I can read fluently
the terms. Also by that, I can communicate well with Filipino teachers. It’s
amazing, isn’t it? I’d like to emphasize this word, “Nakakapagpabagabag”.
Wait,
there’s more. Handling Araling Panlipunan is not that easy just what other
think. Based on my experience especially that I am a fresh teacher or even old
ones confessed that they still had to read the contents of the book. Every year
or once in three years (depending on the school) the books whether in grade 7
or 10 are changed. For instance, this year’s publisher is Vibal, and then next
year is Phoenix. It is very important to note that reading is a “must”. So by
teaching Aral.Pan, one has to really read every night before he discusses the
lesson to his students. He has to be cautious for there are students who are
three steps away from our knowledge when it comes to this subject. He has to be careful what he imparts because
mostly, the contents of this subject are general knowledge which means that the
knowledge that the students got from us would be brought wherever or whenever
they are. Take note that there are books that contain wrong information or not
reliable ones even the newly published books and as an English teacher turned
to Aral.Pan teacher, we need to make it as a habit. We must be thankful that
our laziness in reading will be somehow eradicated or decreased. Oh, it’s
motivating, right? Read now!
Do
you think it is over? Well, wake up! Another thing is by handling this subject;
we can recall our past knowledge. Nay, do not say you remembered everything
because according to some experts on brain-based strategies, we can only
remember things/ideas in just 1 to 18 seconds unless they go to long term
memory. Anyhow, it is called as past knowledge since you already stored the
ideas in your memory bank. So you are lucky because at least you can share to
your students what you learned. You will not have a hard time explaining the
lesson to the class. Good job! Good job if during your elementary, secondary or
even tertiary days you did not just sleep. Shame on you!
Excited
to know more about the benefits? Relax. It is so advantageous for us English
teachers to handle this subject because as what I have said earlier, some words
are written in English terms. Good things that you are considered as a “walking
dictionary”. No, no… I know that every lesson, we encounter unfamiliar words
which really need to be browsed. We have to laugh because when our students ask
the meaning of that word, we can now easily give or answer them. Just tell your
memory to function right away or else you would say, “Okay, class that’s your
assignment”. Never do that, please.
Lastly,
yes this would be the last benefit. Calm down. This is the most important one.
Please bear in mind, “the most important one”. As you’ve been focused on your
English subjects, you tend to forget to scan or broaden your knowledge about
the other subjects. Don’t just study one. Be a voracious reader. I know that
you don’t know everything on Earth but at least you would not miss the very
important topic. Like in my experience, I just knew that Germany caused all
troubles in World War I and World War II. Ooops! I am not anti-German, I don’t
invent stories. I read not only one book but more than one. I also watched
videos related to World wars.
Wanna
know if these things are true? I tell you, handle Araling Panlipunan. It is not
boring but interesting!
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