Relaunch of English Programs Held Virtually 

A video compilation from last year’s English program relaunch entitled “Glimpses” was presented. After that, Mr. Winston Gangan introduced the DEAR and the CSEP programs, and Mr. Weni Sandrino Llorca Jr. introduced the Free Talk and the Book Talk. 

The Drop Everything and Read program, also known as the DEAR program—a year-round program led by the English department, which promotes the love for reading and has been established for many years, was once more introduced to the students. All members of the PCC community are given the 15-minute time to read for pleasure. Meanwhile, the Caught Speaking in English program, also called CSEP, is back this year for both online and on-site learners who will be given virtual and physical chips, respectively. These chips could be obtained if the students communicate well in English with their teachers. Prizes and additional points in English could be exchanged with all the chips earned by the students.

Grade school students will be having the book talk, where each student is required to read a story or book which would be shared before the class starts. The high school students, on the other hand, will be having free talks. Their English teachers will be facilitating the speaking activities that may be about reading, experiences in life, or something memorable and important to the speakers. 

Students from grades one to three participated in an activity entitled “Ask PCCians” where they talked about their favorite books, characters, and the reason why they loved the characters. This was followed by the introduction of the new programs launched this year, by Mrs. Serapia Mabazza and Ms. Jenina Mitz Gipoleo, namely A Book to Share and Celebrity Reader.

A book to share is the first new program this year, which aims to encourage students to read more books after listening to guest readers read the books that they will be sharing. The second program is called the Celebrity Reader, where someone will be invited by the teacher to read a story to PCCians. 

After this, a video presentation entitled "Face the Book" was shown. The video showed the grade 9 students carefully arranging their faces or body next to a book cover with a matching body component, giving the appearance that life and art are merging as one. Lastly, the grade 10 students brought their favorite Greek gods and goddesses to life with the activity entitled ”Deity Selfie”.

To end the program, Mrs. Glenda Sia, the English Supervisor, gave her closing remarks and thanked all the teachers for all their hard work to make this relaunching a successful one. She also hoped that the programs would help motivate and inspire the students to read and use the English language.