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English 8
Determining Social, Moral and
Economic Issues in Text (Week 3)

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 QUARTER 3: LESSON 3

Junior High School

Learning Activity Sheet
English Grade 8

Development Team of the LAS

Writer: Cloudine B. Elandag and Joyce Yvonne M. Tan

Editors: Charmaine Rose C. Mahomoc
Reviewers: Gemna G. Pobe
Marites T. Penera
Evelyn C. Coro
Illustrators: Cliff Railoff Mascardo
Shekinawyn Vosotros
Layout Artist: April Mae A. Arcaya
Management Team: Evelyn Fetalvero
Isidro M. Biol, Jr.
Gladys S. Asis
Nelia S. Lomocso
Gemna G. Pobe
Marites T. Penera
Evelyn C. Coro

Department of Education – Schools Division of Siargao

Office Address: Km 3, Brgy. Osmeña, Dapa, Surigao del Norte
Email: siargao@deped.gov.ph

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Introductory Message

For the learner:

Welcome to the Grade 8 Supplementary Learning Material (SLM).
The key goal is for you to develop critical learning and reading comprehension skills through
guided independent reading activities. It contains contextualized and authentic activities that
are anchored to your interest.

This SLM has the following parts and corresponding icons:

In this portion, the lesson will be introduced
Set Up to you in various ways such as a story, a song,
a poem, a problem opener, an activity or a
situation.

Warm Up This will activate your prior knowledge about

the topic.

Paddle Away This section provides a brief discussion of the

lesson. Also, this part comprises of three
different stages of activities.
First Paddle – Guided exercises
Second Paddle – Guided/ Independent
exercises
Third Paddle – Independent exercises

This section provides an activity which will

Stand Up help you transfer your new knowledge or skill
into real life situations or concerns.

At the end of this SLM, you will also find:

Works Cited This is a list of all sources used in developing

this SLM.

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 Grade 8 Quarter 3

The learner demonstrates communicative competence through his/ her

Grade Level understanding of literature and other texts types for a deeper
Standard appreciation of World Literature, including Philippine Literature.

MELC/
Curriculum Code Determining various social, moral, and economic issues
discussed in the text

Learning Objectives  Identify what social issue being discussed in a text;

SURFING Get the gist THROUGH
 ENGLISH from the texts;READING
 Relate social issues in actual life situation.

LESSON 3.1

SET UP

Describe each picture below in three words. Put your answers in the box
provided.

1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3.
WARM UP

Read the conversation of Lina and Marry while they are answering their
modules then answer the guided questions that follow.

Hello Marry, are you done with

our modules?
Oh! I’m having headaches while answering,
Lin. I can’t fully understand the discussions
4 given. I need someone to explain this for me.
I think, I would go crazy! This is all because
of Covid-19.
 You’re right! If not because of this
pandemic we won’t be experiencing this
trouble while learning. But please, stay
strong! I have heard from news that there
are a number of students who got
themselves harmed and went crazy due to Thank you so much Lin, that would
pressures. Don’t worry, I can help you mean a lot. We must be resilient while
anytime, just call me. going through with this global
problem.

Guided Questions:
1. Who is having trouble while answering the modules?
a. Lina
b. Marry
c. none of them
2. What is the main reason why they are having difficulties while learning?
a. Laziness
b. social pressure
c. Covid- 19 pandemic

3. Given the context, what do you mean by the word resilient?

a. afraid of taking risks
b. fear of facing difficulties
c. able to adjust with the situation

4. What social issue can we infer from the conversation?

a. poverty

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 b. environmental concern
c. public health situation

PADDLE AWAY

Social issues refer to problems that affect society as whole. Majority of the people
strive to address the certain issue. Words related to social issues are poverty, racial
discrimination, public health situation, climate change and overpopulation.

Literature is an effective way to present and address social issues. Through poems,
stories and plays we can express our societal concerns and provide possible solutions that
would make a way for our readers to open their minds and be one of the solutions.

Social issue in text often displays as a theme or the central idea of stories and poem
that affects the overall outcome of the literary text.

Tips on locating what social issue that is being discussed in text.

1. Note important details while reading.

 Jot down words, phrases, or sentences that you think are significant in
understanding the text.
2. Read the entire text.
 Reading the whole text is important to get the entire picture of the text.
3. Understand how the plot is affected by the aspects of the world.
 Relate the entire text to the real-life scenario.
4. Determine what societal problem in text that affects the characters’ action.
 Examine closely the characters’ words and actions so you can
determine the social problem discussed in text.
5. Identify the underlying idea or the theme.

A. First Paddle

Read the poem by Edwin Markham entitled “The Man with the Hoe” and
answer the graphic organizer.

The Man with the Hoe

BY EDWIN MARKHAM
Written after seeing Millet’s World-Famous Painting God made man in His own image,
in the image of God made He him. —Genesis.

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans   

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Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,   
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.   
 Time’s tragedy is in that aching stoop;   
Through this dread shape humanity betrayed,   
Plundered, profaned and disinherited,   
Cries protest to the Judges of the World,   
A protest that is also prophecy.
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,   
is this the handiwork you give to God,
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched?
How will you ever straighten up this shape;   
Touch it again with immortality;
Give back the upward looking and the light;   
Rebuild in it the music and the dream;   
Make right the immemorial infamies,
Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes?

How will you ever straighten up this shape;   

Touch it again with immortality;
Give back the upward looking and the light;   
Rebuild in it the music and the dream;   
Make right the immemorial infamies,
Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes?

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

How will the Future reckon with this Man?   
How answer his brute question in that hour   
When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world?
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings—
With those who shaped him to the thing he is—
When this dumb Terror shall reply to God   
After the silence of the centuries?

What I think about social issues… My understanding of social issues in the poem…

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 My opinions about social issues are… The social issues present in the poem are…

The two classes of people mention in the poem

are…

The author wanted to tell the readers that…

B. Second Paddle

In a society where one dreams of democracy, the main issue is that the majority rules
but minority rights are protected. Everyone has the right to speak and be heard. Everyone has
equal rights and responsibilities in exercising one’s beliefs and in asserting one’s identity. All
citizens then are entitled to negotiate in the "marketplace of ideas".
Read the passage carefully, then answer the following questions. Encircle the letter of
the correct answer.

A HERITAGE OF SMALLNESS
Nick Joaquin

(1) Society for the Filipino is a small rowboat: barangay. Geography for the Filipino
is a small vague saying: Society for the Filipino is a small rowboat: the barangay. Geography
for the Filipino is a small locality: the barrio. History for the Filipino is a small vague
saying:matanda pa kay mahoma; noong peacetime. Enterprise for the Filipino is a small stall:
the sari-sari. Industry and production for the Filipino are the small immediate searchings of
each day: isang kahig, isang tuka. And commerce for the Filipino is the smallest degree of
retail: the tingi.
(2) What most astonishes foreigners in the Philippines is that this is a country, perhaps
the only one in the world, where people buy and sell one stick of cigarette, half a head of
garlic, a dab of pomade, part of the contents of a can or bottle, one single egg, one single

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banana. To foreigners used to buying things by the carton or the dozen or pound and in the
large economy sizes, the exquisite transactions of Philippine tingis cannot but seem
Lilliputian. So much effort by so many for so little. Like all those children risking neck and
limb in the traffic to sell one stick of cigarette at a time. Or those grown-up men hunting the
sidewalks all day to sell a puppy or a lantern or a pair of socks. The amount of effort they
spend seems out of all proportion to the returns. Such folk are, obviously, not enough.
Laboriousness just can never be the equal of labor as skill, labor as audacity, labor as
enterprise.

(3) The Filipino who travels abroad gets to thinking that his is the hardest working
country in the world. By six or seven in the morning we are already up on our way to work,
shops and markets are open; the wheels of industry are already agrind. Abroad, especially in
the West, if you go out at seven in the morning you’re in a dead-town. Everybody’s still in
bed; everything’s still closed up. Activity doesn’t begin till nine or ten– and ceases promptly
at five p.m. By six, the business sections are dead towns again. The entire cities go to sleep
on weekends. They have a shorter working day, a shorter working week. Yet they pile up
more mileage than we who work all day and all week.

1. What kind of text is "A Heritage of Smallness"?

A. essay B. novel C. poem D. short story
2. Which paragraph expresses the main point of the article?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
3. What astonishes foreigners in the Philippines is that this is the country where people
buy single products. What part of speech is the underlined word?
A. adjective B. adverb C. noun D. verb
4. Filipinos are obviously not indolent. The underlined word functions as a/an .
A. adjective B. adverb C. noun D. verb
5. According to the selection, what is society for the Filipinos? It is a small .
A. industry B. rowboat C. stall D. town
6. Foreigners are astonished with Filipinos when the latter buy .
A. a piece of cigarette C. a dozen of eggs and dairy products
B. cartons of milk products D. economy sizes of assorted products
7. When do Filipinos think that their country is a hard-working one? It is when they .
A. go abroad and earn money
B. sleep on weekends and holidays
C. risk many things just to make a living
D. wake up early in the morning only to work
8. What is commerce for Filipinos? It is a/an .
` A. tingi B. barter C. sarisari D. isang kahig, isang tuka

9. What idea about the Filipinos can be drawn/extracted after reading the text? Filipinos are
A. hardworking and are compensated accordingly
B. hardworking but not compensated with their efforts
C. belittled by foreigners working so hard yet getting too little from their hard work
D. not indolent but not being one isn’t enough; so there is a need to balance hard work
and productivity.

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10. The text tells the reader that life in the Philippines is .
A. easy B. informal C. challenging D. stress-free

Total Number of Words

Total Number of Minutes in Reading the Whole Text
Total No. Words
Total No. of Minutes

How did you read? Tick the box which descriptor matches your reading time.
Speed Reader I read the text between 30- 50 seconds.
Average Reader I read the text between one to two minutes.
Developing Reader I read the text for two or more minutes.

C. Third Paddle
Most of us are active in social media, which of the following social issues would you share or
hide? And explain why.

personal photos of kids suffering your blog to raise awareness

from malnutrition
share or hide?
share or hide?
__________________
________________________
explanation
explanation
______________________________
_____________________________ ______________________________
_____________________________ ___________________________
_____________________________

data about your personal and financial

identity

share or hide?

________________________

explanation

_________________________________
_________________________________

share something about a model a politically charged comment about a

community in low crime rates suspected graft and corruption accused
official
share or hide?
share or hide?
_________________________ 10
_________________________
Explanation
Explanation
 STAND UP

Consider the challenges you’re facing as a student and how it may be related to the social
issues in our society.

Student Challenges Social Issue Explanation

Example: Bullying Poverty A student can be
affected by bullying
because of physical
appearance due to
poverty.
Safety protocols during the
pandemic

Broken family

The use of technology in

studies

Student’s heath security

ANSWER KEY

THIRD PADDLE SECOND PADDLE

Answer may vary 1. A 6. B

11 2. A 7. A
3. D 8. D
4. A 9. D
5. B 10. A
 FIRST PADDLE WARM UP SET UP
Answer may vary 1. B. Answer may vary
2. C.
3. C.
4. C.

WORKS CITED

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Almonte, Liza R., et al.
Electronic Sources:
https%3A%2F%2Fstudy.com%2Facademy%2Flesson%2Fidentifying-understanding-social-issues-in-a
text.html%3Ffbclid
%3DIwAR3Y9V15xtq5ReaRIouQq8gScIIDOwpVvkLXoLWMyykQRuiNnhIFuDrISxE&h=AT3EWo68jrc-
JJXAfVXGWiwZldlTru84KqfF764PhPTEoY1hNwEW2bSGUUgbTEJr-
0sRHh_ODydf66p7sxTLZJkCwPi6_u9Bba6KYdgGu-u7c3-vlNbMKliFtOswWfFv9XN6gQ

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47948/the-man-with-the-hoe

English 7 Learner’s Material pages 412-414

Sarip, Sittie Nabela (January 11, 2015) Top 4 Issues in the Philippines
Retrieved: https://norhainahmapandi.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/essay-the-top-
4-issues-in-the-philippines/

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