Introduction

MABUHAY!

I'm going to start by saying - I'm a filipino, though I was born and raised in the U.A.E. I would say that I have been exposed to a variety of cultures, languages, and customs due to most of the schools I was enrolled in being international institutions. Despite being filipino, the language just hasn’t stuck with me notwithstanding that everyone at home speaks tagalog. My dad’s sports friends and the other youth in my church would make fun of my accent when I would attempt to speak tagalog and I feel like that’s what made me quite hesitant when learning about language. They would notably say "nosebleed" whenever I’d speak. They wouldn't really want to include me during their bible study groups so I was always casted to the side.

Term: ‘Nosebleed’

Filipino slang used when a Filipino tries to talk in English to a person (mostly foreigners) who speak English. Although the Filipino may understand what the person is saying, they tend to say nosebleed as an expression of difficulty when trying to fluently express themselves or sometimes comprehend.

On the topic of expressing oneself, I like communicating - not with words - but with art and dance. I sometimes find it difficult to express my way with words as I tend to ramble nonsensically or my words stumble, preventing me from clearly saying what I really want to say. On the other hand, art and dance is what I'm good at. When it comes to those, I feel confident in my talents and knowing what I want to convey to the viewer through these mediums or through these movements.

I think it's important to study language in order to help understand another culture as everyone's culture can be different from each other and in my opinion, I believe that it will open up one's perspective about things

In my opinion, I believe it's important to study language to help understand other cultures. Individuals from different cultures have their own perspectives on things - which could be affected by their upbringing, their environment, law, etc. Therefore, understanding culture could lead to a better grasp on why we think a certain way, additionally our intentions/meaning behind words.

There's nothing new that I would want to try this year, well nothing that comes to mind. But, I would like to step up my planning and organizing game, if I had any. It has always been my weakest point - especially when procrastination is my best friend - and ignoring priorities has turned into a profession since arriving to Raha.

I decided to take on the higher level for language and literature to challenge my capabilities to assist my transformation in becoming an open-minded, knowledgeable, reflective, and thinking communicator. These are important for my goals as having these traits would be beneficial to me in university, or even being out there. In the world.