“Nursing Students To Progress”

National Service Training Program or NSTP has achieved its objective in me. NSTP helped me acquire the good citizenship values, the basic concepts of civic consciousness and social responsibility. I have learned about these concepts by applying it into a community based field work.

I, together with my group mates were assigned to do the field work at Rizal High School in Pasig City. We were assigned to teach the English subject to the eighteenth section of Rizal’s sophomores. Wanting to give the students a holistic English syllabus, we thought of teaching them the art of English rhetoric. We wanted them to effectively speak and write in English.

Our first week with the students was a “getting to know” meeting because we believe that for one to gain the maximum knowledge and skills, one must be comfortable with the teacher of that certain subject. During the same time, we introduced to them the “Speak and Write English Policy” since we believe that one must experience to learn. The second and third weeks had been allocated for us to refresh students of the definition and uses of nouns and pronouns. The fourth week was allotted to reading comprehension, vocabulary and pronunciation. At this time, we wanted to see the students’ skills in reading and in speech so that we know which parts we need to focus. The fifth and sixth week were allocated to refresh students of the definition and uses of verbs, adverbs and adjective. The last two weeks was allotted to test students’ progress by applying what they have learned. The last weeks tackled about the basic sentence patterns and paragraph writing.

Our group believes that we were able to achieve our objectives of teaching students English because the summary of the tutorials’ evaluation showed that most of the students improved their English skills. Thirty-two percent (32%) of the students improved their reading; seventeen percent (17%) improved their writing. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the students improved their grammar; thirty-four percent (34%) improved their pronunciation; thirty-six percent improved (36%) their vocabulary and thirty-eight percent (38%) improved their spelling. Also, the results on the distributed activity sheets showed that the students understood all the topics discussed. However, some of them should be encouraged to answer because they tend to be lazy.

I truly enjoyed my NSTP experience for it made me realize useful things in life. It made me a better person by making me participate in activities for social development. It gave me a clearer view of my role in nation building because it made me see the real scenario of our country’s challenges. It too gave me awareness on effective techniques for teaching. For instance, I noticed that oral recitations in the form of a game review increased the students’ participation and learning. Simply, the NSTP made me more humane. It taught me lessons that can not be learned in books. It taught me the value of patience. It made me practice Christian charity.

I enjoyed my NSTP experience; however there is always room for improvement. I suggest that the Center for Social Responsibility should hold workshops/seminars before the start of the students’ field work. This will enable the NSTP-LTS students to acquire the proper knowledge and skills for teaching. It will too exercise their creativity in making effective teaching techniques. Thus, the UA&P-NSTP students will be able to impart more to their NSTP students. The UA&P-NSTP students will touch more minds and lives.

Now, that NSTP has helped me become a better friend, student, teacher, sister, and citizen. I do not only define NSTP as a National Service Training Program, but also an act of “Nursing Students To Progress”