Deal with it. Nothing satisfying comes in one package. It requires great amount of preparation and sacrifices.
Just few hours ago, my thesis (ugh!) partner and I presented our self-inflicted study to our equally-cooperative panel of judges. God knows how nervous we were the night before. I could not even sleep due to extreme excitement, thinking and trying to practice my prepared speech. I am confident with our study, so was Ageh (my thesis partner and friend) and so we almost barely motion the hand clock to strike one!
Long before the BIG day, we engaged ourselves with the not-so-different-habit of a language researcher. Cramming. I guess, that's what I am and that's what I'll always be - a cram queen; you know, chips and TV on laid-back weekends and few hours of sleep weeks before the oral defense. That gets me to the core of my study. Just like what I always say, believe in the power of adrenaline rush, although it doesn't work for me sometimes.
Still, no matter how haggard we got, we received favorable results from our respondents and finished the study earlier than we could ever think of.
The moment of truth. Everything was geared up for our study entitled "Audio Material as Instructional Tool in Teaching Poetry". It is, obviously, given that the material should be played and listened to. Everyone was ready and so were we to defend our research. Since we are most familiar to our panel, partial sense of nervousness could be sensed between the two of us, and among the other researchers. That helped me more confidently discuss our study. However, the technology doesn't seem to cooperate. We played and tested the audio material several times before the actual defense but it suddenly refused from playing the moment when we badly needed it to play. Okay! There was a three-minute dead air which happened twice and which I believe will reflect on our evaluiation SIHT!
Although we received flattering comments, still, I wasn't expecting the technological failure at the midst of our presentation, knowing that I have readied myself and everything we needed.
At the end of the day, still, I would like to believe that everything was worthwhile. I am quite sure that this study doesn't just end here; that EFL teachers will gradually engage to using these types of material in the Philippine setting; that more (uhgr!) editings due to minimal formatting errors are to come; and that everything for me is just getting started just like how the way I wanted to start working for the printing press as an intern, just like how the way I started to know that he likes me and just like how I wanted to change the mood of my initial blog entry. Hahaha! Can anyone tell me the meaning of coherence please?
On the lighter note, following are my captured moments with Ageh from the radio station as we recorded our material.
