Neil Drew Race

I am happy that one of our homework is to watch a movie in an online site, TED.com. This is actually the first time that I heard about it, I have no idea what speeches I expect. In short, i am totally clueless. But here’s the thing, If you’ll ask me now, after I visited and watched some spectacular videos, you know what? I am definitely AMAZED! 

i want to talk about a video regarding the social media,and I am pretty sure that we are all aware of it. I am astonished because I myself is a very user of it and I don’t even realize about its effect in the global field.

The speaker herself was Johanna Blakley, her topic was SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE END OF GENDER. She presented facts that the world today is facing so many issues and the people don’t even noticed about the changes that took place. Meanwhile, she said that social media contributed to our popular culture. That in her analysis, the derogatory norms and stereotypes exposed in advertisements, magazines and television were starting to diminished because of the social media. She cite some examples that will eventually opens a new perspective for her audience. I am glad that she was able to relate such idea to the massive connotations about gender. 

Nonetheless, there are also other options if I am interested to hear something about science, business, life and more. From this moment on, I will be visiting the site often. (credit to our professor who introduce the site to us)

But before I forget,I should also tell you that this week, the span12 has ended. I already have my grade in Span12. ( I am so satisfied to its result). Moreover, the next course is entering, Span13. This time, the main topic is presented. it’s SUBJUNCTIVE! everybody say: GOODLUCK! :D

“Hey, I discovered a new site that my span prof shared us, you guys should check that out, it’s TED.com”— I told my friends in Laguna. SHARE!

— Neil

This week started when the formal introduction about the main topic for the span13 took place. It was the PRESENT-SUBJUNCTIVE! This time, our professor told us that we should be careful in using it and we should bear in mind that this subjunctive mood didn’t exist in our esposed language which were the Filipino and the english. Nevertheless, last tuesday, we already had the form for conjugations and were given the list for irregularities. I believe that this time, I should focus more on the content and be ready for some adjustments in order to understand it fully.

After some series of explanation, exercises, and this week, we came up with one of the functions of the subjunctive, this was the purpose for EMOTIONS. This was to show that subjunctive can be used in a way that it was very subjective. I also feel that this week, I am starting to be comfortable in the lesson.

The main discussion for this week deals more with the usage of the subjunctive. This time, I am pretty sure that we will have more complicated parts and I should be prepared for that. ( maybe I should have read some topics about it, maybe in you tube or somewhere in the net )

WORDS FOR THE WEEK: If you’re interested in a particular thing, don’t just put your words into it, act on it!

—- Neil

This week seems to be a funny week for everyone! All of us are laughing! It is because the main topic for our lesson revolves to LOVE! ( i admit if this is the topic, everyone is so interested)

to its extent, i am happy that i appreciate the subjunctive this time, maybe because its usage deals with emotions! with hopes, desires, wants. with uncertainty! This is the fact that my willingness to study this challenging topic has been doubled. ( like what we do in our assignments, to pass a poem about love)

Moreover, the level in understanding the topic is annexed to achieve the good vibes. Its good that we have this kind of classes this week, maybe, its how things work when the sem is about to end and we will be facing the hell week.

I learned new things this week,and  I’ll give myself a treat for doing things well in this lesson. I hope that in due time, I will benefit from those things. What matters most is my momentum in learning the language. If only I will be given a chance to have more spanish courses, I will definitely have them.

“Espero que tu estes conmigo para siempre” - one of the lines I made in my poem!

( I also send my poem to my girlfriend as soon as I’m done doing it) WEEEHH!

—- Neil 

— Neil

Learning the subjunctive is challenging! this is my theme foe this week’s journal! 

I am starting to think about the topic. maybe its easy to conjugate because the only thing I need to invest is familiarity. But, when it comes to comprehension, that is something that makes me think, we are dealing with subjectivity and certainty. I need to bear in mind that in spanish, they have official rules for it. That even when things are not true, I have to use the subjunctive. (ohh. I started to search online references for this because I get confused all the time). 

This week, we are taught of impersonal statements and I am overwhelmed with so many adjectives with the formula es + adj + que! with that, I already assumed that if there’s que in a sentence, I should immediately use subjunctive. But later, I stand corrected. We also taught about doubts and denials. This part is also considered as a use of the subjunctive. And with regards to this matter, we are guided with examples that will make us understand the topic fully. 

What important lesson that i should bear in mind is the fact that what we are learning things that deals with the present, I mean, we are just taught of the present-subjunctive. And my knowledge about it is still  limited.

I caught myself in a situation(this friday): I realized that its cool to have the subjunctive because I can use this in my love life (hahaha)

LOVE DOUBTS DENIALS - haha

— Neil

Hell week is starting to pull my leg off! This week is not just a series of days with work loads but also with physical-mental stress! I hope that I can still manage the next remaining days this week! 

The last week of class is about to end, we just finished the last lesson in our subjunctive, I should remember ( the WEADDING thing ), the synthesis of the course, then we had our examination, composition, and that’s it. I am glad that everything is in good manner and I hope I’ll pass the last exam. (*fingers crossed*)

Meanwhile, I would like to talk about the last experiences I had in this journey! my spanish class. I would like to express my thoughts and feelings into two things. First, GLADNESS, gladness because I earned a lot of information in spanish, the lessons I’ve learned are not that easy but now, I can say that I really do understand and appreciate the language. I commend the way my professor taught us. She is probably the 80% reason why I came up with how I can use the language. I am just glad that I enrolled to her class. I would also like to mention my classmates who are just there to share the same feeling like I do. They are all awesome! Now, the second thing, SADNESS, sadness for the reason that this will be the last course I will take from my foreign electives, and of course, the fact that semester has to end. ES MUY TRISTE QUE EL CLASE TERMINE PRONTO. (I hope my grammar is corect. :D).

i’ll have to make sure that I wont forget everything I’ve learned! I will be needing all of this when I travel to spain! (dreaming)

Mom: Neil, how’s your spanish class? I believe you can still get a good grade. 

Neil: yeah mommy, it’s fine,because I love spanish! :)

(its good to have someone who believes in us no matter how stress we are, let’s spread this lesson, BELIEVE)

—Neil