What's The English Of...

English is a global language, we can't argue with that. Lucky I, that I was born in a speaking country, yet, it's not really our first language nor claiming ourselves as native speakers of English but then, it's our official and also a medium of instructions daily & everywhere.
As an experienced ESL teacher locally and abroad, to be proficient and fluent in all aspects is a must or else it's gonna be an abysmal embarrassment for life, especially to those Filipinos who claim and teach English abroad.
What's driven me to post this, is that at times when a foreign visitor would come to the Philippines and certainly ask about our things around in English out of their curiosities & appreciating our environments. Lo, I have thought of sharing what I've learned about when I was asked the English of "Banaba" tree, (Queen's Flower/Pride of India)
Well, here are the lists that I knew some in English which practically you could see in the Philippines and even in some parts of Southeast Asia. Thanks to Stuart for the help..really.
This may help somehow to those who are eager to learn the English translations of Philippine plants, I mean just the common plants that you could see around your backyard.

Balimbing - Star Fruit

Kamias - Pickle Tree 

Seniguelas - Spanish Plum

Alugbati - Vine Spinach

Saluyot - Jute Leaves

Kulitis - Amaranth / Chinese Spinach

Amor Seco - Love Grass

Atis - Sugar Apple

Baguio Beans - French beans / String Beans

Lato - Sea Grape  / Sea Caviar

Anahaw - Footstool Palm

Mabolo - Velvet Apple / Butter Apple

Okra - Lady's Finger / Okra

Santol - Sour Apple / Cotton Fruit

Sitaw - Yard Long Beans

Tisa - Yellow Sapote

Acacia - Rain Tree

Acacia (wild) - Soap Pod

Acacia Crassicarpa - Red Wattle / Thick-Podded Salwood

Atsuete - Lipstick Plant

Adelfa - South Sea Rose

Wild Tobacco

Sword Gave

Ash Colored Fleabane

Agoho - Whistling Tree / Iron Wood

Marigold

Ringworm Bush

Artillery Plant

Asparagus Fern / Ornamental Asparagus

Emerald Fern

Headache Tree

Orchid Tree / Butterfly flower

Climbing Dayflower

Custard Apple

Chinese Wormwood

Breadfruit tree

Wild Bitter Melon

Bullrush

Arrowroot / Obedient Plant

Cherry Tree

Mountain Arnica

Cassia flower / Mimosa Bush / Needle Bush

American Evergreen / Arrow Leaf / Arrowhead Vine

Asoka Tree / Sorrow-less Tree 

Disclaimer: All photos were taken from Google Images and Stuart.

THE EXODUS OF FILIPINO TEACHERS

Philippine provides the best teachers in the world, the reasons Filipino teachers are in demand abroad.This has been the problems-the country is facing ever since.
The experts called the mass departure of Filipino Teachers "Brain Drain" which only not referred to medical term of brain problems.
My last year entry was also discussing about "The Brain Drain" which was debatedly tells the mass exodus of Filipino skilled professional workers.
The grass is greener at the other side that continually lure our Teachers.With a very high compensations, who wouldn't be tempted to leave as that our Government cannot afford to elevate the good offers abroad.Can we stop our teachers from leaving? If only our Government provides the exact needs of our educators,surely our skilled teachers won't tempt to depart.
Teaching is a noble profession,they are the ones who inspired the students to dream and achieved their goals in life.The teachers, are among of those mediocre job(as they said) who just receiving-not ample of salary but meager,may it be at Private school the least at Public school.
I never dreamed of becoming a teacher because there's no money in teaching,nor predicting myself as an educator and molding students.Contrariwise, I graduated as a Secondary Education major but having no choice but to teach.However, travelling abroad has been a top choice and teaching abroad would be the second option if given the chance.
When I read Philippine Daily Star (which I forgot the exact date)just to be updated of the current events globally, my instinct led me to the Editorial column to check the latest and hottest issue in the Government,usually among the unsolved crisis which is the influx of skilled Filipino teachers.
The column startled me to cause my curiosity of reading the article seriously.My heart was awfully distressed as my eyes sadly gazing at the picture inscribed of a crying teacher flying away from her students begging her to stop on leaving.If this dilemma would continue to happen uncontrollably what will happen to our young future leaders? Mostlikely, the mediocre teachers are the one who'll be left behind.
I know a certain two Math teachers who were being hired by the US government and they are currently enjoying their lives in Southern Carolina provided by car and house of the government.The salary they're earning is just an equivalent of a CEO wage..
Herewith, was an article:
" A WIDENING DIVIDE FROM THE PHILIPPINE STAR"
Here we are facing a crisis in education, and nearly 200 teachers are leaving for high-paying jobs in the United States.A report said 198 Filipinos will soon be teaching in a county in Maryland,with starting salaries of up to $43,841 a year.There's no way the Philippine Government can match that salary, and teachers cannot be prevented from leaving for better livelihood opportunities.This doesn't make the exodus of teachers any less painful for the country.
Globalization has created a huge marketplace for certain skills, and people are moving around the world to take advantage of the job opportunities.The movement has created an imbalance in labor supply that favors affluent economies.Rich countries can hire all the foreign workers they need; developing countries are hard-pressed to replace the professionals and skilled workers who leave.
Conservative estimates place the number of Filipinos working overseas at eight million.That's a tenth of the entire population, and the number continues to grow.The annual multibillion-peso remittances are good for economic growth figures, helping keep the peso strong and reducing the country's debt burden.But the burden on many other aspects of national life is getting worse.
Experts have warned that low teaching salaries have resulted in a drastic drop in the number of Filipinos seeking careers in education.Those who do pursue careers as teachers are often in a hurry to find jobs overseas.Inevitably, the best teachers are the ones who get hired, leaving the less qualified to handle teaching jobs in the Philippines.
Most of the country's best teachers are in private schools that can afford to pay high salaries.This leave millions of students in public schools with teachers who lack the skills that are urgently needed to bridge a widening education divide between the rich and poor.
A program can be undertaken to develop a competent pool of teachers who can impart skills to colleagues across the country.This is not an impossible task and should not entail an enormous amount of investment.There are ways of enticing teachers to stay in their own land, or to at least set aside several years of their lives to serve their own people.It is good to know that Filipinos are finding high-paying jobs and better lives overseas.
It will be even better if Filipinos can be encouraged to remain in their own country and help make life better for their compatriots.

ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Just found this lines from another blog...and I feel like posting them here because of it's possible reality happens only in the Philippines.
I would like to give acknowledge to the person who originally posted this..Mr. Xavier


50. Where the most happening places are not where the party is. Instead it is where gang wars happen or where the people overthrow a president.

49. Where even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed.

48. Where everyone has his personal ghost story and superstition

47. Where mountains like Makiling and Banahaw are considered holy places.

46. Where everything can be forged.

45. Where school is considered the second home and the mall considered the third.

44. Where Starbucks coffee is more expensive than gas.

43. Where every street has a basketball court and every town only has one public school.

42. Where all kinds of animals are edible.

41. Where people speak all kinds of languages, and still call it Tagalog and where it is fast becoming unfashionable to speak English.

40. Where students pay more money than they will earn after graduation.

39. Where telemarketer and call-center employees earn more money than teachers and nurses.

38. Where driving 4 kms in the capital city can take as much as four hours.

37. Where flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets.

36. Where the tourist spots are where Filipinos can not or do not go to.

35. Where the personal computer is mainly used for games, chatting and friendster.

34. Where 13-year-olds are alcoholic.

33. Where colonial mentality is dishonestly denied.

32. Where the squatters have more to complain (even if they do not pay their tax) ---- than those employed and have their tax automatically deducted from their salaries.

31. Where people can pay to defy the law.

30. Where everything and everyone is spoofed.

29. Where even the poorest of the poor have television sets and air conditioning but do not have food on the table and can not send their kids to school.

28. Where the honking of car horns is a way of life.

27. Where being called a bum is acceptable and never offensive.

26. Where floodwaters take up more than 90 percent of the streets during the rainy season.

25. Where everyone has a relative abroad who keeps them alive.

24. Where crossing the street involves running for your dear life.

23. Where you can get killed if your singing sucks at a karaoke bar.

22. Where billiards is a sport, darts is a bar game and where boxing is almost becoming the national sport.

21. Where even the poverty-stricken have the latest cell phones (that are stolen from those who can afford.)

20. Where insurance does not work.

19. Where water can only be classified as tap and dirty - clean water is for sale (35 pesos per gallon).

18. Where the church governs the people and where the government makes the people pray for miracles.

17. Where University of the Philippines is where all the weird people go. Ateneo is where all the nerds go. La Salle is where all the Chinese go. College of Saint Benilde is where all the dumb La Sallians go.

16. Where fast food is a diet meal.

15. Where traffic signs are merely suggestions, not regulations.

14. Where mostly people with influence and power can make it big in showbiz. No talent required.

13. Where being held up is normal. It happens to everyone.

12. Where kids dream of becoming pilots, doctors and basketball players but never get to live it.

11. Where rodents and cockroaches are normal house pets.

10. Where the definition of traffic is the "non-movement" of vehicles.

9. Where the fighter planes of the 1940s are used for military engagements, and the new fighter planes are displayed in museums.

8. Where Nora Aunor is an acclaimed actress, Boy Abunda is the best talk show host and Manny Pacquiao is a hero... Where the population knows more their showbiz stars better than their national heroes and past presidents, knows more of showbiz gossips than their national history and current events. And where candidates for senator and president use celebrities to win the national elections.

7. Where cigarettes and alcohol are a necessity, and where the lottery is a commodity.

6. Where soap operas tell the realities of life and where the news provides the drama.

5. Where actors make the rules and where politicians provide the entertainment.

4. Where finding a deer on the road will be a phenomenon. A dog? It's normal.

3. Where people can get away with stealing trillions of pesos, but not for a thousand.

2. Where being an hour late is still considered punctual.

1. And finally... where everybody wants to leave the country!!!






These following pictures courtesy of Tahanan Books

HAS PHILIPPINE ENGLISH GONE TO THE CARABAOS????

Posted at www.freewebs.com/ericsblog last Friday, Sep 15, 2006

I would like to share this topic which I made during my Current Issues subject in school.Honestly, this has been a very controversial topic in the Philippines.
Being good in English is an asset for the Philippines.English proficiency will make you competent in the games called globalized world.Highly recognize companies and establishments, always demands English profeciency to applicants.The trend now is globalization, that it is advancing the national interests of the Philippines that mastery in English will not result in decline in filipino language proficiency but can be a cosmopolitan.
The question was not about adequate english proficiency, but, Do our students, can still be saved from carabao english?Evidences gathered that: Some teachers are not highly competent in grammar, Students acquire the same error.Fear of mistakes and embarrasment,students prefer to be passive.Teachers speak filipino in the class so that they can express and elaborate more easily. Students poor in english vocabulary,teachers themselves lack english vocabulary.Faculty and staff, seldom uses english when they talk to each other specially to students.Lastly, students didn't pay much attention to their english subject.
Some of the recommendations I got from the english speaking students and filipino students who were fluent in english are the following: Implement strict rules in school campuses as an English speaking zone.
Stop the students of popularizing jibberish frankenstein called taglish which is neither grammatical Filipino nor decent English. Make friends to native speakers or students who are fluent.Read more English books. magazines, newspapers and list down the difficult words to expand the vocabulary.Watch good english movies and tv shows and new programs.Consult the experts for more improvements.
Try to communicate in English whenever it is possible, in dormitories, classroom and in every places where there is a chance.Practice good pronunciations and listen to good speakers. Accept correction from students who are grammarians. Develop interest in English through constant self-practice.
From that I ended to a good conclusions which I beleived that would help: Faulty usage of English will not only prevent millions of filipinos high school and college student graduates landing high-paying jobs, but it will create endless havoc, jeopardize trade, commerce, info.technology.Seriously, the continuing decline of English language proficiency in almost all segments of Philippines society has becoming an alarming national problem of crisis proportions.Without English proficiency, how can our millions of talented but jobless youths' become the pillars of the Philippine economy.
For the sake of saving civilization and the future of English in this country, and to prevent the destructive tsunami of constipated english in the country,let's challenge our students (including myself) that our once mastery and competitive advantage of good Philippine English made us ahead to our Asian neighbors.