How Does Poverty Affect the Literacy Rate of Filipinos?

This is a short term paper on the topic of poverty and its effects in the quality of education and literacy in the Philippines as part of my requirements in Reading Course subject for my Masters in English, Major in Applied Linguistics degree.

I. Introduction

The question of literacy always comes to mind when talking about social and economic standing, both on a personal and national level.  Stereotyping leads to an erroneous notion that developing countries (also called third-world countries) have illiterate citizens and poor families have illiterate family members. Although poverty does affect literacy on all aspects, it does not solely decide the outcome and quality of education people get as seen in the statistics of developing countries, such as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia in comparison to the standing of developed countries (also called first-world countries). When it comes to the reading ability of adult citizens, the country is even considerably at par with other first-world nations, such as Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Why Is Hiring a Ghostwriter a Bad Idea?

A music professor asked his students to submit their own classical composition as a final project. One student found his own professor’s submitted composition when he was a student, and submitted it as his own, but rewrote it backwards to avoid getting caught. As a result, the student submitted Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

You may want to think twice if you are planning to hire a ghostwriter for your school essay because the actual risk is higher than what you may think.

Why Is Yamaha P155 Contemporary Piano with Mahogany Top the Best Choice for Beginners

For more than a hundred years, Yamaha Corporation has taken music not only as a mere business but as an advocacy to share excellence across the globe by producing a full line of admired instruments of the higher class, and music development through the Yamaha Music Foundation. The brand is a proven leader in producing top-caliber digital pianos. No doubt about it, Yamaha is a true world class manufacturer.

To continue that legacy, a new line of keyboards is available to those who want only the best quality – the P-Series. The P-Series is the true essence of portable keyboards, which you can only expect from a company with more than a century of manufacturing experience. The series is top-billed by Yamaha P155 Contemporary Piano with Mahogany Top Board, the instrument that fits the most sophisticated musicians of today.

The mahogany top merges electronic sound and classical elegance
(Photo courtesy of Amazon)

Why Is Chocolate the Food for Lovers?

Chocolate has been a part of courtships, anniversaries, and romantic whatnots for so long that it is now synonymous to romance and love. It even antedates the time when Valentine's Day first became a tradition for lovebirds.

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos

Sweetness represents love, and chocolate fits the job description perfectly. This mouth-watering dessert appeals not only to the palate but to the senses as well. However, chocolate did not have an easy time convincing people of its magic when it first became a public commodity.

Why Choose Pendant Lighting For Your House?

Choosing the right type of lighting for your home should not be based on pure aesthetics. Rather, a wise decision is needed when it comes to this household staple as this will not just ruin your entire interior design but your budget as well.

Lighting can be a very expensive thing especially if you do not know what is good for your house and what lasts longer. Add to this the electrical consumption of each type that can increase bill by up to 20%. In this time of global warming when everything seems to have its “green” counterpart, it is a must to maximize the capacity of each appliance and household fixture.

A 1927 pendant light designed by Poul Henningsen

Why Is iPage a Good and Bad Choice for a Web Host?

iPage is one of the oldest web hosts around, so I did some digging of a couple of its pros and cons. Here are some reasons why iPage is possible a good and a bad choice at the same time.

Some of the free features available as of June 16, 2015
(Click to enlarge)

When Bamboos Shoot

This is another feature I wrote in 2006 or 2007. I’m not sure what form of literary piece this is, but I just wrote it. It happened in real life when I was a sophomore in high school, and it’s quite traumatizing I should say.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Einstein Plot: A Book Review

I found a copy of a book review I wrote in 2007. The book is entitled The Einstein Plot by Basil Heatter. Published in 1982, I admit it has tons of sections and information that almost had my brain circuits breaking down. I survived 384 of it though.

It's really worth the read. 

The Einstein Plot was first published in 1982.
It's a classic that never was.

Five Best Ways to Pass Your College Admission Essay

Finding your dream school means nothing if you will be denied admission. Thousands of aspiring freshmen send their applications to colleges, but most of them will be turned down for different reasons.

In Ivy League bigwigs like Harvard and Yale alone, not more than 10% of applicants go home with a slot. These are the students who stand out in a throng of fresh high school graduates with impressive records and personality.

Fond Memories Made Special By Silly Songs

Songs are memories swayed by verses while dancing in rhymes and melodies. For singers and composers, they are emotions immortalized into words and tones. While most of us can relate to certain songs that depict our past or current emotions—if not trigger us into reminiscing—some of us still connect to songs even if they say none at all of our lives.

That includes me. Certain emotions and memories rush through the back of my eyes upon hearing familiar tunes, not necessarily lyrics. Some of them are understandably relatable as conveyed by the words, but some of them I also find peculiar and funny at times.

Proudly Singing the Nueva Ecija March

1994. I clearly remember Ma’am Alba, my first grade teacher, teaching the entire class the Nueva Ecija March as a way of showing our pride as Novo Ecijanos. At first, I thought it was a mere school requirement as part of our music subject, but as I grew up, I learned that there are indeed gazillions of reasons why being a Novo Ecijano is worth boasting about.

Firsts. In elementary, we learned that Nueva Ecija was one of the first eight provinces in the country to fight the Spaniards into a revolution. We’re on the Philippine flag, symbolized by one of the eight rays of the sun!

Solving Uncertainties

I found a copy of an old poem I wrote in high school. The topic was about math, but I couldn't understand why poem writing needed to be a part of the subject.

Anyway, here it is. All lines have 10 syllables, so that's all I could come up with.

It's entitled Solving Uncertainties.