by: Raquel B. on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 1:09pm

I was standing alone when I saw a woman who was looking at me as I looked at her. I smiled at her but I noticed she was crying.

She was yelling but I heard nothing. People around her were laughing and enjoying with one's company but it seemed like no one noticed her.

I was shocked because she was bleeding, she was begging for help but she said nothing. She was dying... my heart was in pain as I looked at her. I did not want her to see in that situation... but I did not know what to do!

I found myself caressing her face and hair. I touched her hand to comfort her ... I wanted to embrace her to lessen her pain but she only asked a blanket to hide herself.

Destiny is in our hands.  Whatever we do at present time molds what we become in the future.   If we want to have a good future, we must make a good start.  If we want to have a stable job of course we must be educated and to become educated we should finish our studies to attain our goal. Dream is only in our mind, it helps us to become motivated and determined to make it happen. 

But if we only dream and do nothing to make it possible, it is totally useless.  We, ourselves creating our future... God only guide us and the people around us could be an instrument to lift us . . .or to distract us.  There are many aspects that can affect destiny, but we are the one who are more responsible to it.

It is true that we have to teach our children how to get their wants and not to hand it to them.  In other words, teach them how to catch a fish and not give them a fish that is ready to eat! If not, your children will become lazy and dependent.  Some people who've grown up with a better living, become not interested on their studies or work by themselves because even they don't work still they can have their needs and wants... from their parents.  Make them realize, having a good life requires a lot of hard work. 
 
You can simply start it with... teaching your young children to do household chores by themselves, how to conserve water and electricity, recycle old things, how to save money for future needs and not to waste food for there are millions of children in the world getting starve.

Rewards would be useful to motivate children but not all times.  If they get used to the prize or reward you give them after a good deeds, they would become either obedient or disobedient.  They can only do things because they are after the prize or reward... or they can't do the task because they are no longer interested with the rewards.

Teaching your children to become responsible would reflect not only to their personality but to parents as well. Anyway, what you are teaching to your children wouldn't apply only at home but anywhere they go.

I appreciate and value my friends as my family.  I am happy that wherever I go, the friends that I have, considered me as a true friend.  I don't know what I did to them but they are always thanking me for being a true friend to them. 

Maybe I touched their lives in a way that I do not know.  One thing that I am sure of... whatever happens; they will remain in my heart wherever they are.

We must have enough sleep to rest our body and get energy to start our day.  But in our situation nowadays, people tend to oversleep than working and make a living.  In my country, people love to relax, as the result, they seem like they forgot to do the things which are needed... like make a living. When I was working in a company, my co-employees were wasting their time by talking to one another rather than finishing their task.  As the result the work that could be done in a day was turned in a week. So, I expected the exasperating yelling of our boss the next day.

In school, the teacher gives a homework or project to her students and reminds them the due date of submission. But it is expected on the due date, that would be the time when the students will do the task given to them. As the result, they would cram and make an undesirable output. They might say…”It is better late than never” or “It is better to have one than nothing at all”.

No matter how you motivated them, that is what we considered as their nature … a kind of malignant disease which you can't out of their system easily.

Their reasons of failing to do the task are rather they are busy with the house chores or they forgot that they have homework or project to do. But the truth is… they have been busy with the computers, mobile phones etc. Wherever they go and whatever they do, they can’t leave their mobile phones away from their body. That is why, Philippines is considered as a text capital of the world.

Maybe there are Filipinos might react on this, but please don’t deny that what I have written is wrong. I am talking about us in general but am not saying that all of us are like this.My purpose is.... to enlighten them. 

Everyone has a goal in life but in order to achieve that, we must put everything in action rather than in words. It is like the useful expression, "If you want your dream to come true, don't oversleep".

            My name is Raquel  and I am from the Philippines. I am single. I graduated with a degree in Mass Communications major in Broadcasting, and a Methods of Teaching major in English. I am a professional English teacher. I am teaching in a public high school as an English teacher. I also teach English to Korean students and professionals.

            I have a passion for teaching and I enjoy it a lot. I joined English Club to learn more and at the same time to impart my knowledge to others. I am happy that besides learning here, I can also gain more friends and we can help each other to learn the English language. I believe that learning is a never-ending process, so we must study to learn more. Learning English is really fun and it helps a lot in dealing with other people and also for skill and career advancement.

In the Philippines, we believe that education is extremely important.  Every family wants their children to attend college and get a degree.  Parents do everything they can to support their children's education.  They believe their status in life will improve when their children graduate from college and get a good job.  Hardship doesn't end after graduation...the truth is...it's only the beginning...graduates have to face another crucial stage of  life: getting a good-paying and stable job. 

I got degrees in Hotel and Restaurant Management and Mass Communication in Broadcasting. Then after I graduated I couldn't find a job related to either of my degrees.  Then, I got another degree: Methods of Teaching in English.  I passed the board exam and got my license.  Being a licensed teacher is not a guarantee to get hired as a permanent teacher, however. Teachers need to undergo what the government calls ranking, where we have to submit all our credentials, take an examination and do a demonstration. After that, we have to wait for the schedule of orientation, then another long wait for the call regarding when and where to report.  Sometimes if there is a vacancy an applicant can get a permanent teaching position quickly. But if there is no vacancy we can work as volunteers (locally-funded teachers) and we only receive an honorarium, which is not sufficient to pay for transportation and other living expenses. But doing this does add to your experience and resume which increases your chances of getting a permanent job later on.

In my first job, I taught at a private school as a high school and elementary teacher. I worked a full schedule but my salary was only 6 thousand pesos a month.  But they deducted for holidays and days off due to typhoons, so I took home only about 4 thousand pesos. 

In my second job, as a public high school teacher, I received only 3 thousand pesos a month because I was not yet a permanent teacher. Here, you are only considered a permanent teacher if the government appoints you.

In my third job, I worked as a part-time on-line teacher with a 10 thousand pesos monthly salary. We taught Koreans on-line for 10-20 minutes each. Then, I worked as an outbound call center agent.  This job paid well but I found it boring.

Next, I worked as an English language teacher to Korean students and professionals here in the Philippines. I worked in a Korean company but since I had already developed experience to this field, I became a freelancer and got many students by myself. For every student, I earned 150-200 pesos per hour. With one student, I had 2-3 hours of one-on-one tutorial. I earned about 600 hundred pesos per student per day. I had an average of 5 Korean students a day. I earned approximately 30 thousand pesos a month from this job. But I didn’t feel my salary was sufficient because I lived in Makati City which has a high cost of living.

 I was also really bored due to homesickness so I went home to my family's province. In the province, I worked as a substitute teacher in public high school and earned 2 thousand pesos a month. 

Fortunately, I became a permanent teacher in a government school on March 23, 2011. A permanent teacher has a basic salary of more than 15 thousand pesos per month. This isn't a lot of money but it is nice to have a stable job and being government employee offers job security.

It is better to have a job with a small salary than to be jobless and have no income. So, appreciate your job and whatever you earn from it. It may be a first step towards a good career and better pay.