Preservice Teachers as Extra Milers: Lived Experiences in Teaching Emergent Literacy and Numeracy in an Online Radio Program

The present study explored preservice teachers’ lived experiences in teaching emergent literacy and numeracy in an online radio program of a Philippine elementary public school to fill a lacuna in online practicum experiences. Utilizing phenomenology as a methodological framework, preservice teachers’ firsthand experiences as online radio teachers were explored to acquire a better grasp of what they went through in developing their learners’ emergent literacy and numeracy skills. The finding of this study revealed three themes that underscored three stages of their practicum experiences: (1) Tuning In, (2) From AM to FM, and (3) Don’t Switch the Channel. The essence of their lived experiences offered insights that they are extra milers suggesting that their online practicum journey is a fulfilling yet challenging accountability for personal, professional, and institutional growth. The study offers policy recommendations for strengthening technology integration in teacher education programs and institutionalization of teacher educators’ technopedagogical knowledge and skills, redounding to knowledge and skills development of preservice teachers

L1 as a Tool for Dialogic Discourse in an ESL Classroom during Pre-Writing Stage

This descriptive-qualitative study investigated L1 functions in the pre-writing stage in the L2 context. It explored how L1 in the pre-writing stage built dialogic engagement as a form of empowerment necessary to engage in L2 writing. Grade 8 students conducted community interviews to gather local and national issues needed to elicit small group pre-writing discussions. Guided by the sociocultural theory of learning by Vygotsky and the dialogic model of Alexander (2010), results revealed that the speakers' L1 has significant roles in L2 writing. These identified classroom L1-supported discourses further build dialogic engagement among the participants, showing their empowered roles through problem-posing, referencing, reflecting, and problem-solving. Such L1-dialogic engagement further allows learners to penetrate social realities, which helps them to build critical awareness of their society. Data open implications for teaching English, specifically promoting critical language pedagogy in second language learning

Stuck in a Lockdown: Filipino Students' Odyssey of Resilience

The COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines forced schools to close. Many Filipino students were stranded in their dormitories and boarding houses due to government-imposed lockdowns. As the study's impetus, the researchers explored the phenomenon of stranded students during a pandemic. A transcendental phenomenological inquiry was conducted in Northern Mindanao, Philippines, to disclose the experiences of six stranded students. Stranded students' lifeworld throughout the lockdown was documented through phenomenological interviews. The phenomenological reduction technique was used to transcribe and analyze the data. Provisional codes were used to classify critical statements into themes for the initial analysis of the interview data. The research revealed the themes of (a) groping in the dark, (b) journeying towards the light, and (c) welcoming the breaking dawn. The various stages of reality in the life of the stranded students are shown in these topics. They relate the story of how their confinement experience taught them to be resilient, which covers resilience as a process. The paper discusses numerous pedagogical implications of the phenomenon