Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an immediate shift from in-person to online interaction classes and different learning methodologies. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the lived experiences of ten quinquagenarians teaching English and Filipino online pedagogy in Marikina's School Division. In analyzing the data, the Researcher used individual online in-depth interviews, online focus group discussions, and observations. He collected the data through the Colaizzi (1978) process. Eight (8) themes emerged from the interviews: educator’s dedication, emotional distress, technological offline, pedagogical frustration, educational stressors, struggle educator, technical support, pro-traditional learning, and ICT skills for quinquagenarians. The study concluded that with the unexpected deployment of online pedagogical approaches, the learners saw this teaching method as a vexatious atmosphere every day. Limited digital knowledge and internet connectivity were the major challenges in delivering education in the new normal. Too much stress every day and being paranoid about doing digital tasks assigned by the Department of Education made the participants' lives stressful. The online pedagogy made the lives of ten participants complicated every day, every hour, and every minute during the pandemic. The participants showed different styles to cope with the challenges of online pedagogy. It may be concluded that the participants had no skills in terms of ICT integration. The traditional way of teaching still required teachers to be physically present within the confines of a classroom and to be learning alongside their respective students. In this case, it may be concluded that traditional learning pedagogy was still at the heart of the English and Filipino quinquagenarian teachers.
