Sakura Matsuri

 (Sakura Matsuri)

Voice over: I remembered the last time I went in a festival in Japan with my friend Zeke. It was the Sakura Matsuri. It was very beautiful, the streets are colorful, and the people around have a smile on their faces and the flower blossom itself is very very beautiful. I also remembered the two very kind and approachable tour guide who guided us.

(Scene 1 will now enter,)

Scene 1: (The Tour Guides)

Tour Guide 1: Ohayou gozaimasu! Welcome to the Sakura Matsuri.

                                I am Sakura

Tour Guide 2: I am Megumi, we are your tour guides.

Jake: Nice meeting you both.

By the way, my name is Jake and he is my friend Zeke.

Zeke: Hi! (wave his hand to the tour guide.) Nice meeting you.

Tour Guide 1: C’mon let’s enter the shrine gate.

(After the gong sound, the curtains will be remove, walk slowly to enter the shrine, background music starts to play.)

Jake: What is Sakura Matsuri?

Tour Guide 2: It is the festival to celebrate the season of cherry blossoms.

Jake: Oh! See.

(After a moment of silence)

Zeke: When do cherry blossoms bloom?

Tour Guide 1: It blooms during the spring season.

Zeke: Ok. Thank you.

Tour Guide 2: Do you want to learn some basic Japanese words?

Jake: Sure, we really want to.

(jake & zeke will repeat the words after the tour guides say the word)

Tour Guide 1: ohayou gozaimasu means good morning.

Tour Guide 2: konnichiwa means good afternoon or hi.

Tour Guide 1: konbanwa means good evening.

Tour Guide 2: arigatou gozaimasu means thank you so much.

Tour Guide 1: and sayonara means goodbye.

Jake & Zeke: arigatou gozaimasu! (smile)

 (Scene 1 stops, and the second scene will about to enter after the voice over.)

Voice over: The first place we went is the booth where it was about the origami making.

(Scene 2 will enter, walking to go to the origami booth)

Scene 2: (The Origami)

Tour Guide 2: Konnichiwa! Natsu-san. This two man is a foreigner. They visited Japan just to see the festival. They also want to know about our culture.

Tour Guide 1: This is Jake and this is Zeke.

Natsu: Nice meeting you Jake & Zeke. (handshake)

Jake & Zeke: Nice meeting you too.

Natsu: Do you want to see me make some of the origami?

Jake: Sure!

Zeke: Yes!

Natsu: Ok. Now I’ll start. (saying about the

(origami making starts)

Natsu: Here, the finish one. You may look at it. (while saying the words, give the finished origami)

Jake: Wow! It’s great.

Zeke: Wanna make some.

Natsu: It is so easy. Here, take some of my finished origamis as a souvenir.

Jake & Zeke: Thank you so much Natsu-san.

Tour Guide 2: Arigatou gozaimasu Natsu-san.

Tour Guide 1: Natsu-san will be going. Sayonara!

Jake & Zeke: Sayonara!

Voice over: We enjoyed watching Natsu-san doing origami. I am glad that he gave us a souvenir, its  really beautiful.

(pause, end of scene 2)

Voice over: After going to the origami booth we saw the anime and manga booth.

(standby )

Scene 3: (The Anime & Manga)

Jake: Look Zeke there is the anime and manga booth.

Zeke: Ow! Let’s go there. I want to see it.

(walking to go the booth with the tour guide)

Tour Guide 2: Here we go.

Tour Guide 1: By the way this is Kira-san. He is a very good anime artist.

Jake & Zeke: Nice meeting you.

Kira: (smiles) Do you want to learn some basic steps in drawing anime?

Jake: We’re glad to know.

Kira: First make a circle first, then after that draw a cone shape under the……..

        Then you’re finished..

Jake: It’s really amazing.

Zeke: Kira-san you are really a very great artist.

Kira: Haha, thank you. By the way, there are the manga. Do you want to see?

Jake: Yes!

(went to the manga section)

Zeke: Kira-san can I have one of this?

Kira: Sure, you can.

Jake: Can I also have one?

Kira: Yes, no problem, this is my way to welcome my visitors here. :)

Jake & Zeke: Thank you so much Kira-san.

                        Sayonara!

Tour Guide 1 & 2: Thank you also Kira-san. Goodbye!

(walk out in the anime and manga booth)

Voice over: Kira-san is really a good artist. I admire him for making such things. I am still reading the manga I got from him. I read it all over again.

(pause, scene 3 ends)

Voice over: After learning some basic steps in drawing anime, we went to see the dancers.

Scene 4: (The Dancers)

Tour Guide 1: Do you want to see a Japanese dance?

Zeke & Jake: Yes!

Tour Guide 1: Follow me.

(follow the tour guide, after a few minutes of walking)

Tour Guide 2: Here we go.

Zeke: Oww, they dance gracefully.

Jake: Absolutely.

(watches the dancer for a minute, after the tour guide will speak)

Tour Guide 2: So, where do you want to go next?

Zeke: I want to know my fortune today.

Jake: Yeah! Me too.

(pause for a while, scene a ends)

Voice over: After watching the dance with a dancer that dances gracefully. We went to the fortune teller to know what will be our fortune.

(walk to the fortune telling booth)

Scene 5: (Fortune Telling)

Tour Guide 1: Good day Kyoske-san! We want to know what will be our fortune today.

  Before I forget, this is Jake and this Zeke. (pointing Jake & Zeke) They are a foreigner who visited our festival.

Kyoske: Hello! Glad that you visited here.

                      Here, go pick your fortune.

(picking fortune sticks)

Tour Guide 2: (interrupts while picking sticks) The Japanese use a stick to know what will be your fortune.

(done picking up sticks)

Zeke: Here. (everyone, give the stick to Kyoske-san)

Jake: Here’s mine.

Tour Guide 1: Here’s mine also.

Tour Guide 2: Here’s mine too.

 Kyoske: Wait.

(get a paper with a written fortune)

                 Here, this yours Zeke, this is yours Natsu, this is yours Sakura and Megumi.

All: Arigatou gozaimasu Kyoske-san!

Jake: My fortune today will be very beautiful, it says that will have very much fun.

Zeke: Mine says that I will not be involved in any trouble.

Tour Guide 1: Nice to hear.

Tour Guide 2: We will be going Kyoake-san. Bye!

Zeke, Jake, Tour Guide 1: Sayonara!

(pause again)

Voice over: Japanese fortune telling is different from others countries. It’s really nice to have a good fortune on that day.

(pause for a while)

summary in Bullying-II (undone)

Introduction:

  Within the school or classroom where formal education occurs, the highly interactive system of teaching and learning is greatly affected by so many factors. One of which is the learning environment which is considered to be a product of the physical, psychological as well as social atmosphere created by the interactions between the teachers, the learners and among the learners themselves (Corpuz and Salandanan, 2007). 

Despite the innovative ways and different configurations to foster the right kind of intellectual, social and emotional climate in the classroom, still certain problems exist. One of these is the problem of bullying in classroom at school and even in cyber space. It is for a fact that childhood spent in school should be time-filled with wonder and joy but the reality for many children and teens is often much different because they become victims of bullying, harassments and threats. They are intentionally and repeatedly hurt by their peers or classmates. As a result, they often fail to develop their own coping skills leading to low self-esteem and depression.

Bullying hurts. Wanting and needing to belong at school is important to most students. School bullying affects the safety and social well being of the entire community. 

Various reports and studies have established that approximately 15% of students are either bullied regularly or are initiators of bullying behavior (Olweus, 1193). In the Philippines context, direct bullying seems to increase through the elementary years, peak in the high school years and decline during the college years.

It is not part of growing up and it can ruin lives. Bullying hurts and our vulnerable children need not to endure it. Bullying can make a student feel unwanted and rejected. On the issue of bullying, NO ONE DESERVES TO SUFFER IN SILENCE! No one deserves to be a victim of bullying. Everyone should put their acts together to stop this vicious abuse.

Chapter 1- A SNEAK PEAK AT BULLYING

Bullying is a serious problem in schools today. This type of abuse is a pervasive and serious problem needing attention and intervention. School bullying affects not only the safety and social well-being of the entire school community but most importantly it creates unhealthy children jeopardizing their holistic development. The experience of trauma among the victims of bullying can be very serious and may ever require prolonged and comprehensive psychological intervention to support their adaptive development and to move them onto a positive pathway.

KNOW YOUR KNOWLEDGE ON BULLYING:

1. Only boys bully. FALSE.

• Physical bullying by boys is the most common and obvious bullying behavior among students. However, physical, verbal and relational bullying occurs among both boys and girls.

2. Spending rumors is a form of bullying. TRUE.

• Spreading rumors, name calling, isolating or ostracizing others and causing embarrassment are all forms of bullying that can cause serious long-term consequences. Some studies have found a higher incidence of relational aggression in girls.

3. Bullies are insecure and have low self-esteem. FALSE.

• Many children who bully are popular, powerful, have high social status, are socially skillful and they have average self-esteem. On the other hand, some children who bully may have poor social skills, experience feelings of being socially anxious or depressed and bullying is a form of bravado or "emotional toughness".

4. Bullying usually occurs in the absence of peers. FALSE.

• Peers are present in approximately 85% of bullying episodes in school settings. Over 90% of students report having witnessed instances of bullying in their schools. approximately 75% of the time that peers are witnessing bullying, they are reinforcing the child who is bullying with positive attention or by joining in.

5. Bullies have more power than their victims. TRUE.

• Bullies usually choose victims who are physically weaker or different or who have lower status.

6. Victims should ignore bullying behaviors and learn to fight back. FALSE.

• Bullying is a reflection of a power imbalance that becomes consolidated through repeated interactions in which children who are victimized are unable to stop the bullying on their own and are in need of the assistance of an adult to protect them. Victims who fight back have the potential of escalating the power imbalance.

7. Children will outgrow bullying. FALSE.

• Although aggression and bullying decrease as children mature, unless adults or influential peers intervene, bullying is likely to continue and, in some instances, escalates into violence and delinquency.

8. Telling on a bully will make the situation worse. FALSE.

• Teachers need to teach students the difference between tattling and reporting: Tattling is to get someone into trouble; telling is to get  someone out of trouble. Research indicates that children who report being victimized to an adult is less likely to continue being victimized compared to those who do not tell.

9. Teachers intervene often to stop bulling. FALSE.

• Bullying is an "underground" activity that adults often miss. School staff is generally unaware of the episodes of bullying and victimization.

10. Nothing can be done at schools to reduce bullying. FALSE.

• Various school-based interventions reported worldwide have reduced bullying by 15% to 50%. The most successful interventions are ecological involving the entire school staff, parents and community members.

11. Parents are usually aware that their children are bullying others. FALSE.

• Parents are often unaware of the extent of bullying and victimization of their children. Moreover, parents do not usually discuss bullying with their children.

12. The principal of the school is the most critical person in implementing and evaluating a school bullying prevention program. TRUE.

• The principal is the key in setting the tone for discipline in the school.

(Source: www.teachsafeschools.org)

SCHOOL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT

The School Climate assessment reflects the degree to which a school is perceived as safe and inviting to existing and incoming students. This institutional-based self-assessment tool can provide educators and school heads the means to determine the level of "risk" for violence in the school.

Chapter 2- UNDERSTANDING 

THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF BULLYING 

What is bullying?'

Some researches have asserted that bullying is underreported and a not well understood issue.. Because of the shortage on information about this abuse, school workforce do not immediately respond to bullying cases until events are worst or most horrible, when someone commits suicide because of over-victimization.

Bullying has been defined as physical or verbal actions repeated over time that has hostile intent causing distress to victims. Bullying can be differentiated from the usual conflicts between children in issues that bullying behavior is a combination of aggression and power. Bullies prey on those who cannot or will not defend themselves or those who are weak. 

KEY ELEMENTS OF BULLYING:

• Power inequality. Bullying is a relationship problem in which power and aggression usually involving a power differential between a child who bullies and a child who becomes a victim.
• Bully's aim is to harm. Bullying has been defined as negative physical or verbal not accidental actions that have aggressive intent.
• Victim's suffering. Children who are being repeatedly bullied become increasingly powerless to defend themselves and extremely vulnerable to depression.
• Repeated over time. With repeated bullying, the power relationship between bullies and victims become consolidated: bullies increase in power and victims lose power.

TYPES OF BULLYING:

1. Direct (Face to Face). This type of bullying directly hurts the victim physically and psychologically. This type may take from in any of the following:

• Verbal bullying includes name calling, mocking, hurtful teasing, insults, put downs, humiliating, giving racist or sexist comments and harassment.
• Physical-bullying may come in many forms like shoving, pushing, hitting, beating up, stealing or damaging property and physical assault.
• Psychological bullying giving dirty looks, uttering threats, forms of intimidating and committing extortion are example of this type.

     2. Indirect. This type of bullying indirectly but intentionally hurts the victims.

Gossiping and Social aggression- telling people not to be friends with a student who is targeted as a victim, spreading rumors, damaging friendships, rejecting, excluding, isolating, manipulating relationships; writing hurtful or threatening e-mails and posting on web sites; and blackmailing, terrorizing, and proposing dangerous dares.

 Cyber-bullying: Fearing the Unseen

Mobile, internet and wireless technologies have increased the pace of communication and brought benefits to users worldwide. It is crucial that children and young people, who are particularly skillful at adapting to new technology use these safely and positively, and that they are aware of the consequences of misuse. While most kids use the internet for educational purposes and friendly interactions, more and more kids are using these communication tolls to antagonize, terrorize and intimidate others. The popularity of these tools provides increasing opportunities for misuse through "cyber bullying".

The use of electronic technology as a mens of bullying and harassing may involve:

• threatening or harassing emails or SMS
• creating a website that belittles or ridicules another student
• taking unflattering or inappropriate pictures of other students without their permission
• stealing someone's password and sending mean messages to others
• tricking someone into sharing sensitive personal information while forwarding that to others
• using cell phones to send derogatory

Bullying as a Covert activity

Some parents and traditional teachers believe that bullying have traditionally been considered rite of passage, something all children and teens must go through. This is a myth. It has only been in a recent years that bullying have received international attention mainly due to youth who commit suicide as a result of being a victim of relentless bullying and their inability to cope. There have been enough incidents of children committing suicide for this reason that a new phrase has been coined: bullycide. (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2000). Bullying is a covert activity difficult for adults to detect because of the following:

• Most of the cases of bullying are verbal rather than physical making it difficult to prove. Verbal bullying slowly kills the spirit of those continuously victimized.
• Most cases are viewed to be transitory because bullying episodes are short-lived.
• For some teachers, they rarely observe bullying directly and admitted to be afraid to intervene for fear of retaliation.
• Parents are often unaware of the extent of bullying and they do not discuss it with their children.

Behavioral signs that a child is involved in bullying: 

• Name calls, teases, threatens, physically hurts other children or brags about being powerful to another
• Suddenly and without acquires new toys, or objects or seems to have a lot of extra money without reasonable explanation
• Bullies or is aggressive with family members at home
• Is hot-tempered, is impulsive; has a hard time following rules
• Has been involved in other anti-social activities

Behavioral signs that a child might be a victim of bullying:

Victims of bullying tend to be:

• Extensively cautious, sensitive, quite, withdrawn and shy, would cry easily, appear fearful, have few friends, and are classified as having emotional and behavioral maladjustment or disorders.
• Anxious, insecure, unhappy  and have very low self-esteem
• Victims often do not have a single good friend and they tend to relate better to adults than to peers.
• They may not fit the "macho" social image since they perceive themselves to be physically weaker than their male peers.
• If they are girls they tend to be less physically attractive than female peers. Girls who are seen as attractive are more likely to be sexually harassed by boys.

EFFECTS OF BULLYING

Children who are victims of bullying by their peers are at greater risk for psychological maladjustment or physical manifestations than other students who are not victimized. Victimized students often respond to bullying by escaping or engaging in avoidant behavior. Long term consequences of repeated victimization may result to low self-esteem, increased anxiety , depression, and even suicidal behavior.

Specific effects of bullying as emphasized in the UNICEF fact sheet: Stop violence in schools (2007) 


Bullying has its specific effects on the victim, the bully himself and the witness or bystander. Students who are the victims of bullying suffer behavioral consequence, including: loss of an interest in schoolwork, reluctance to attend school, poor attendance, lower grades and limited social contact with peers. Reports of  headaches, stomach pains, poor appetite and loss of sleep are likewise frequent.Visible cuts, scratches, bruises, loss of personal property because of theft or extortion are likewise noted as visible effects of bullying.

Bullying itself affects not only the victims but the bully themselves. Students who bully others also suffer behavioral consequences, including lower grades, anti-social behaviors, including use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and engaging in vandalism, truancy, oppositional behavior and defiance directed at adults and they are more likely to be convicted of criminal behavior in a court of law.

Chapter 3- FIGHTING THE BULLY BATTLE

"The success of a bullying prevention program program and other violence prevention programs depends on the commitment, understanding and actions of the principal. The principal sets the school's tone and ultimately provides the time, resources and opportunities for the implementation and evaluation of the interventions." (Canadian initiative to prevent Bullying website)

The role of the school in bully Prevention and reduction

Bullying is a problem that occurs in the social environment as a whole. The bullies aggression occurs in social contexts in which teachers and parents are generally unaware of the extent of the problem and other children are either reluctant to get involved or simply do not know how to help (Charach Pepler, & Ziegler, 1995)

The most effective thing that a school can do to reduce bullying is to have a clear-cut policy outlining on how the issue is raised within the community, in the curriculum, and how incidents are dealt with after they happened-the policy must acknowledge the need for both proactive and re-active strategies.Research from across the US and Europe that when schools take specific action, bullying can be eliminated. Smith and Sharp (1994) emphasize the need to develop whole-school bullying policies, implement curricular measures, improve the school ground environment and empower students through conflict resolution, peer counseling, and assertiveness training. Olweus (1993) details an approach that involves interventions at the school, class and individual levels. It includes the following components:

• An initial questionaire can be distributed to students and adults. The questionaire helps both adults and students become aware of the extent problem.  

•  A parental awareness campaign can be conducted parent-teacher conference days. The goal is to increase parental awareness of the problem.

•  Teachers can work with students at the class level to develop class rules against bullying. 

•  Other components of anti-bullying programs include individualized interventions with the bullies and victims.

Simple and Specific Interventions on bully prevention/reduction


Specific Interventions:                       Description:                             School personnel involved:

Assessment of the                     assessment of the scope of the                            School heads

school's climate                     bullying problem and analyzing core

                                                    causes will be a basic step in 

                                                   understanding school's climate

Developing quality                    Policies that will define bullying           Teachers and student representatives

anti-bullying policies                       and address appropriate 

                                                        responses to the problem

summarize