Jose Carillo's Forum

NEWS AND COMMENTARY


Philippines:

More foreign language courses offered to Philippine high school students

MANILA, March 21, 2011—Priming up Filipino students for the global arena, the Department of Education is set to introduce more foreign languages in pilot schools as the department aims to produce more internationally competitive graduates.

Aside from English which is the first foreign language to be mastered by selected secondary students, other foreign languages being taught to third and fourth year students are Spanish, French, Japanese, and German.

Mandarin, which is widely used in world economic power China and Arabic which is spoken in the vast Middle East market, are set to debut this school year.

Deped’s Bureau of Secondary Education chief Director Lolita Andrada said the Special Program in Foreign Language is designed for schools whose students have demonstrated competence first in English before they start to learn another foreign language. “Studies have shown that facility in just one foreign language is now perceived as a disadvantage in a global market that is culturally and linguistically diverse,” added Andrada.

She explained that while English is a major language, it only accounts for around 30 percent of the world gross domestic product and is likely to account for less in the future.

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Probe sought on scheme to exploit Filipino nurses
By Roy C. Mabasa, Manila Bulletin

MANILA, March 23, 2011—An organization of Filipino migrants has called the attention of the Philippine and New Zealand governments to probe recruitment agencies that entice Filipino nurses with the promise that studying English in New Zealand offers better chances of meeting the level of English proficiency required by the Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ).

In its advisory “Filipino Nurses Beware of English Language Scheme as Pathway to Become a New Zealand Registered Nurse,” Migrante Aotearoa aired the grievances of Filipino nurses who shared their frustrations about the deceptive English language scheme that brought them to New Zealand.

Migrante claimed that the nurses trapped in the quake-devastated building in Christchurch would not have been there if they have not been lured to study English in New Zealand by recruitment agencies working in partnership with language schools such as King’s College.

In its website, Global Summit Consultancy and Assistance Services Inc. notes in a video “Nursing Migration Pathway” that even though doors in Australia, Canada and other countries have been closed for most nurses, “a window has been opened, especially for those who are seeking permanent migration in New Zealand…”

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Senator wants impeachment rules in plain language

March 22, 2011—Rules on the Ombudsman's impeachment trial should follow a basic rule: Omit needless words.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago made this remark Tuesday, adding that rules should be purged of words like "hereinunder" to make them easier for the public to understand.

She said the rules, which were virtually copied from the US Senate manual on impeachment, have to be updated to make them more accessible.

"The English they use is too old-fashioned," she said.

Plain language will also be helpful to the senator-judges who will hear the case. Of 23 senators, only nine are lawyers.

Santiago suggested the rules should be edited according to Elements of Style, a style guide written in 1918, and has sold more than 10 million copies by 2009.

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Use of English as medium of instruction pushed

BONTOC, Mt. Province, March 24, 2011 (PIA)—Congressman Maximo B. Dalog has co-authored House Bill No. 93, introduced by Cebu Representative Eduardo R. Gullas which seeks to strengthen and enhance the use of English as the medium of instruction in Philippine schools.

This bill aims to correct the defects of the current Bilingual Education Program of the Department of Education and has the ultimate objective of improving the learning process in schools to ensure quality outputs.

Gullas, in his explanatory note, stated that the Bilingual Policy of the Department of Education, introduced in 1974 through DECS Order No. 25, s. 1974, was designed to develop a “bilingual nation competent in the use of English and Filipino.”

This policy mandated the teaching of Filipino as a subject in all curricular levels from the elementary to college. It also required the use of Filipino as a medium of instruction in Social Studies, Character Education, Values Education, Physical Education, Industrial Arts, and Home Economics.

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Zero dropout in Philippine public schools targeted

MANILA, March 10, 2011—Mayors and top level local government officials, school administrators, and other education advocates who attended Synergeia Foundation’s 8th National Education Summit have committed to hammer down to zero the dropout rates in public schools in their localities.

Synergeia trustee Washington Sycip encouraged the participants to focus on the reduction of dropout rates and not just improving public schoolchildren’s performance. He said good education would lift families across the country from poverty, as well as ensure that democracy would work.

“When people are hungry, they sell their votes. Only when poverty is reduced will democracy really work in this country,” Sycip said.

Over a hundred top level representatives (mayors, vice-mayors and other LGU officials) from almost 50 municipalities from Cagayan Province to the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao attended the Summit. One provincial governor, Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez, headed the province’s contingent.

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Zamboanga division office of DepEd chosen to launch 2011 Project Citizen

ZAMBOANGA CITY, March 16 (PNA) -- The Zamboanga City Division Office of the Department of Education (DepEd) has been selected by the University of Asia and the Pacific to launch the 2011 Project Citizen, a campaign intended to develop school children not only as concerned citizens conscious of their civic duties but also develop skills in speaking the English language.

Dr. Maybelle Tee, Division Education Supervisor for Social Studies, said the Zamboanga division office was one of the seven selected areas in the country chosen to launch DepEd’s newest advocacy.

Six social studies teachers under the Division Office were trained for 23 days in Antipolo City as part of the international project, which is introduced in 60 countries in preparation for the event.

Tee said Project Citizen is a pedagogical approach where critical skills, particularly discourse, civic knowledge and right attitudes are needed to influence public policies affecting the citizens.

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Students from remote Albay towns score better in NAT than urbanites

LEGAZPI CITY, March 13, 2011—Access to modern technology such as the Internet, Wi-Fi zones and multifunction cell phones in urban centers did not make the students of Albay fare better than those who only hear the sound of crickets in the barrios.

Students in far-flung and upland public elementary and high schools in fact proved they were way ahead of their urban counterparts in Albay, results from the 2010 National Achievement Test (NAT) showed.

This prompted Albay Governor Joey Salceda to mull implementing in the province what he dubbed as the “Cinderella Rule,” or barring students from entering Internet cafés and computer game zones from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

“There are no Internet cafés in these far-flung barangays so pupils really spend more time on their studies after doing household chores like fetching water, washing dishes,” Salceda noted.

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Senators seek better student loan system for the Philippines

MANILA, March 11 (PNA) -– Senator Edgardo Angara seeks to overhaul the student loan system in the country even as colleague Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. asked Malacañang to execute a student-friendly repayment scheme to ensure success of "study now-pay later" programs of the government.

Angara stated that one of the main priorities of the Senate committee on education, arts and culture is to overhaul the student loan system to help more students enrolled in the private schools.

Angara explained: “Right now, around 85 percent of college students are enrolled in private schools—only 15 percent are being supported by the state. The government must find a way to somehow give aid to the Filipino college students going into private tertiary institutions.

“For a private school, each year would ring up almost Php100,000 from tuitions, other fees and expenses which would be shouldered by the families. Few households in the Philippines can afford that, which is why it is so important for the government to assist them.”

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United Kingdom:

NHS uproar over the foreign doctors with “awful” English

March 22, 2011—Chief executive Helen Ashley admits getting complaints about doctors’ language skills

Doctors recruited from abroad often speak such poor English that many cannot talk to their patients properly, an NHS hospital has admitted.

Out of Britain’s 239,000 qualified medics, 88,327 are classed as “overseas trained,” either in the EU or further afield.

The hospital trust’s comments highlight the absurd reality that the UK cannot impose rules to check the quality of English spoken by some overseas doctors without breaching their freedom to travel and work under EU law.

Jim Morrison, chairman of Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I don’t want to sound racist but some of the worst-speaking doctors I have come across have been from Europe.” He also told East Staffordshire Borough Council’s health sub-committee last week that foreign locums’ grasp of English was at times “absolutely awful”.

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Research shows Americanisms aren’t taking over the British language
By Chris Hastings, The Daily Mail UK

March 13, 2011—The differences in pronunciation have been well known since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sang “Let's Call The Whole Thing Off” in the 1937 film Shall We Dance.

Anyone who has ever taken a ride in an elevator or ordered a regular coffee in a fast food restaurant would be forgiven for thinking that Americanisms are taking over the English language.

But new research by linguistic experts at the British Library has found that British English is alive and well and is holding its own against its American rival.

The study has found that many British English speakers are refusing to use American pronunciations for everyday words such as schedule, patriot and advertisement.

It also discovered that British English is evolving at a faster rate than its transatlantic counterpart, meaning that in many instances it is the American speakers who are sticking to more “traditional” speech patterns.

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History “marginalized” in schools, says government inspectors

March 13, 2011—Children’s understanding of the past is being undermined by poor history teaching and crowded timetables, Government inspectors warned today.

Ofsted said history suffered in many primary schools because of weak subject knowledge among staff and the use of “disconnected topics” in lessons.

At secondary level, growing numbers of pupils are now exposed to just two years of compulsory history classes instead of the recommended three.

In a damning conclusion, the watchdog warned that England was the only country in Europe where schoolchildren were allowed to stop studying history at the age of 13.

In all, more than 100 state schools also failed to enter a single candidate for the subject at GCSE, it was revealed, a 25 per cent increase in just 12 months.

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Warning made over reading standards as children shun tough books
By Graeme Paton, The Telegraph.co.uk

Reading standards among children are in sharp decline as pupils increasingly opt for easy books in school and the home, according to a report published today.

Children are more likely to read relatively tough books in primary school, according to the report.

By the end of primary education, pupils start to shun relatively difficult texts in favour of more straightforward alternatives suitable for younger children, research found.

Academics from Dundee University analysed children’s reading habits throughout primary and secondary education and found the difficulty of books “declined steadily” from the age of 10 onwards.

It emerged that The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a classic picture book by Eric Carle which charts a caterpillar’s week-long transformation into a butterfly, was one of the most popular books among 14- to 16-year-old girls in England.

The disclosure came as a separate study revealed classics such as Wuthering Heights and To Kill a Mockingbird had dropped out of a list of the top 10 most popular books for teenagers in a generation.

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Australia:

Probe hears of bribes for overseas migrant English exams

March 24, 2011—Up to 25 immigrants could have paid bribes to have their English-language exams changed in order to be granted a visa or permanent residency, a West Australian corruption hearing has heard.

The state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) is investigating allegations a staff member at Curtin University was bribed to falsify results of English-language competency tests.

It is mandatory that applicants for permanent residency and work or students' visas pass the International English Testing System (IELTS), which is relied upon by the Department of Immigration.

In 2009 Abdul Kader, who migrated from India and is now an Australian citizen, was living in a sharehouse with an employee at the Curtin English Language Centre, Keith Low.

Mr Kader had been approached by his former petrol station workmate Pritesh Shah concerned about a friend, Vishnal Pandya, who was applying for permanent residency but was repeatedly failing the English language requirements.

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Visa centre corruption probe

March 17, 2011—Western Australia's corruption watchdog is conducting a potentially explosive investigation into the delivery of English language tests used to substantiate competency for permanent residency, work and student visas.

The Corruption and Crime Commission revealed yesterday that it was investigating possible corruption at Curtin University's English language testing centre in Perth, but indicated the probe would also examine other testing centres.

Curtin vice-chancellor Jeanette Hacket said the university became aware of possible misconduct at its centre last year and immediately referred it to the CCC.

She said the officer who triggered the alarm was no longer working there.

Curtin's testing is primarily used for immigration visas.

The CCC said public hearings would begin next week to investigate whether any past or present public officer engaged in misconduct and whether the International English Language Testing System had been compromised.

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Free ride past language barrier
By Andrew Trounson, The Australian

March 16, 2011—Gigi Foster knows her disturbing research findings on international students won't make her many friends. In a university sector grown dependent on international fee revenue, it might not do much to progress her academic career either.

But the audience she wants to reach is not academe but the policy-makers. It's at this level where change could be driven to address the poor language and cultural skills she says are undermining their performance.

"It is risky for me, but it is my duty to look at this," says Foster, a Harvard graduate who moved to Australia in 2003.

But she believes her research provides evidence that universities are too often turning a blind eye to the poor written and verbal English skills of many international students.

She says her statistical analysis reveals that international students are being allowed to underperform and this is being camouflaged to an extent by grade inflation.

Full story...


India:

English, regional languages battle it out in Goa

PANAJI, March 23 (IANS)—The battle between English and regional languages as the medium of instruction in Goa is heating up.

After thousands of supporters of the English language as the medium of instruction for school students marked their turf Monday, a new front Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) has vowed to back regional languages Konkani and Marathi.

The BBSM, which comprises freedom fighters, a former chief minister and a section of the clergy, has now threatened a statewide agitation against making English as the medium of instruction.

“We want the education minister to resign for being part of a meeting which demanded that English should be made the medium of instruction,” former chief minister Shashikala Kakodkar said.

Underlining the importance of the mother tongue, Kakodkar said a massive statewide agitation would be organised by the BBSM to “end attempts made by vested interests towards cultural annihilation of Goa and de-linking Goa from the national mainstream.”

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Turkey to hire native English speakers as guest teachers

March 24, 2011—The Ministry of Education will bring in native English-speaking teachers to work with teachers in English language classes across Turkey starting from the next academic year as part of a project aiming to improve the education of foreign languages in the country.

As part of the project, launched due to the criticism that foreign languages are not taught well in the country, "English cafés" will be opened, popular cartoons and children's shows will be aired in English with Turkish subtitles and foreign language education sets will be distributed to students. The project will run for five years at an estimated cost of TL 1.5 billion. The project aims to be the foundation of the nation's foreign language teaching policy.

With the project, 10,000 English teachers will arrive in Turkey over the next four years and activities will be held during weekends and the summer vacation with the participation of Turkish teachers of English and native English-speaking teachers.

In English classes, native English-speaking teachers will accompany Turkish teachers and take part in extracurricular activities. The native teachers will also hold speaking classes for both the students and the Turkish teachers of English.

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Furor erupts over English as language for information technology exam

March 4, 2011—Uproar over use of English as medium of examination in IITs led to a brief adjournment of the Rajya Sabha today.

The trouble started when HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said that Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous bodies which are free to decide on the language for examination and curriculum.

"The Government does not impose decisions on IITs," he said, replying to supplementaries on National Testing Agency for IITs.

"It is for IITs governing council to decide what language to use for conducting the examination," he said.

This evoked sharp reaction from both ruling and opposition parties.

As opposition members took potshots at Sibal for using English to reply, the minister retorted saying they should ensure that the Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley also speaks in Hindi all the time.

Jaitley, who was present at that time, only smiled at the remark.

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Vietnam:

Schools urged to improve foreign language training to meet IT demand

March 20, 2011—Software companies have called on schools to strongly reform the training of foreign languages for the information technology (IT) sector. They believe that it is necessary to compel the schools, which provide the labor force for the software industry, to teach in English.

More than 60 percent cannot meet requirements in foreign language skills

Foreign language skill is one of the four criteria used to assess the quality of the IT labor force: background knowledge, technology skill, foreign language skill and soft skills.

Poor foreign language skill remains a problem among the Vietnamese IT labor force. A mini survey conducted by Buu dien Vietnam on nearly ten software firms in Vietnam showed that only 25-40 percent of workers can meet requirements in foreign language skills.

According to Le Xuan Hai, Director of Vietsoftware International, the foreign language level of new graduates has improved a little in the last two or three years. They can communicate and read documents in English, but they are still bad at speaking and writing. In general, Hai said, only 25 percent of workers can meet the requirements.

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United Arab Emirates:

Educationists refute myth about teaching English at an early age

TAIF, March 17, 2011—The issue of whether English should be taught in Saudi elementary schools continues to be the topic of a hot debate, with some experts saying fluency in the language is necessary to gain employment in the Kingdom’s job market.

However, there are others who claim that this would hinder children from learning their mother tongue, and weaken their understanding of Arab culture and Islam.

In Saudi government schools, English is taught from the sixth grade of the elementary level. Even though the Ministry of Education has approved the teaching of English from the first grade, the decision has still not been implemented. Nevertheless, some private Saudi schools have started teaching English from the first grade.

According to Ibrahim Al-Saleem, a professor of educational psychology, many Saudis have poor skills in speaking, reading and writing English — even after they graduate from secondary school or university — because of inadequate exposure to the language as children.

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Al Jazeera to air Children's Channel in English

QATAR, March 7, 2011—The Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC) plans to launch an English-language station for broadcast outside the Arab world.

International versions of the station in English and Arabic will be available by the end of next year, said Mahmoud Bouneb, the executive general manager of JCC.

"We have an ambition to create an international feed for JCC that will benefit other markets, [such as] Asia and North America," said Mr Bouneb.

JCC, which is majority-owned by the Qatar Foundation, also broadcasts a pre-school station called Baraem TV. The Arabic-language stations are available via the Arabsat, Nilesat and Hot Bird satellites across the Middle East and parts of Europe.

The Qatar Foundation owns a 90 per cent stake in JCC, with the news broadcaster Al Jazeera holding a small stake. The Qatar Foundation owns 100 per cent of Baraem TV.

An international feed is intended to use content from JCC and Baraem TV in Arabic and English, Mr Bouneb said.

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Germany:

German linguists oppose influx of English words
By Helen Pidd in Wiesbaden, The Guardian UK

WIESBADEN, March 14, 2011—In January Munich-based Siemens announced it would use fewer Anglicisms in future.

It is the mother tongue of Goethe, Schiller and Brecht, a language still spoken by more than 100 million people worldwide. But an increasing number of linguists now fear German is under mortal danger from a torrent of Anglicisms flooding into the nation's vocabulary.

The German Language Association (Verein Deutsche Sprache, or VDS) fears that German could become a "peripheral" language if steps are not taken to protect it from foreign invasions.

Each month the VDS updates its Anglicism Index, which reports new English words which have crept into common parlance and then suggests home grown alternatives. The latest entries include "follower", "live-stream" and "socializing" which ought really, it says, be "Anhänger", "Direkt-Datenstrom" and "Geselligkeit". Other unwelcome new additions are classic examples of the mongrel known as "Denglisch" – "business breakfast" and "eye catcher", neither of which are used by native English speakers.

"German has been losing its importance for 100 years," said Holger Klatte, spokesman of the VDS. "Particularly in the areas of technology, medicine, the internet and the economy, English is becoming ever more important…”

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United States:

82 percent of US schools may be labeled “failing”

March 9, 2011 (AP)—The number of schools labeled as "failing" under the nation's No Child Left Behind Act could skyrocket dramatically this year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday.

The Department of Education estimates the percentage of schools not meeting yearly targets for their students' proficiency in in math and reading could jump from 37 to 82 percent as states raise standards in attempts to satisfy the law's mandates.

The 2002 law requires states to set targets aimed at having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014, a standard now viewed as wildly unrealistic.

"No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now," Duncan said in a statement. "This law has created a thousand ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed."

Duncan presented the figures at a House education and work force committee hearing, in urging lawmakers to rewrite the Bush-era act. Both Republicans and Democrats agree the law needs to be reformed, though they disagree on issues revolving around the federal role of education and how to turn around failing schools.

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Bill would make English official language of U.S. government

March 11, 2011—Two conservative Republican lawmakers, Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), introduced the English Language Unity Act of 2011 on Friday, a bill that requires that all official United States government functions be conducted in English.

"A common language is the most powerful unifying force known throughout history," King said in a release. "We need to encourage assimilation of all legal immigrants in each generation. A nation divided by language cannot pull together as effectively as a people."

Added Inhofe: "This legislation will provide much-needed commonality among United States citizens, regardless of heritage. As a nation built by immigrants, it is important that we share one vision and one official language."

The bill would also establish a uniform language requirement for naturalization and oblige federal government officials to encourage people to learn English.

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Grammar can make or break future success for students, experts say

SEAHOLM, Michigan, March 11, 2011—Knowing the difference between nouns and pronouns may seem insignificant now, but in the long run, it may affect current grades, college acceptances and career plans.

Between the 2008 and 2009 testing season, Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) scores for 8th graders who scored above average in reading increased from 76% to 83%, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

But with technological advances like texting, and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, some say grammar has taken a back seat.

Some common short-hands that people have begun to use, like replacing “you” with “u” and “are” with “r”, are impacting their learning and their career.

And now those bad habits are making their way to assignments and even college application essays.

“That’s not good,” Loyola University (Chicago) Admissions Counselor Andrew Bourgeois said.

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McDonald’s English program makes workers loyal, fluent
By Richard Mullins, The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA, Florida, March 11, 12011—Dora Perez looks back at her life eight years ago and shudders. She moved from Juarez, Mexico, to be with her husband in Tampa, but soon found herself divorced with two daughters to support. She spoke only a few words of English, and needed a job, fast.

She walked into her local McDonald's and applied for a job, and for seven years, she grilled burgers, a task she could do with almost no English.

Then, a year ago, managers looked at Perez and saw potential. They enrolled Perez along with a dozen other employees in a new, intense program to teach English to potential managers. The company pays for the instructors, provides the computers for live online classes, and pays their employees to take classes during work time.

Now, Perez and her classmates are nearing fluency in English. In February, the company promoted Perez to guest services manager of that same McDonald's in Town n' Country where she started. She loves watching Oprah – in English – bought a house two months ago, and feels like she's living the American Dream.

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Guilt trips even afflict English kings
By By Phil Pfuehler, Hudson Star-Observer

March 4, 2011—Local stuttering expert Jerry Halvorson agrees that “The King’s Speech” deserved best-picture Oscar for exposing a condition that brings humiliation and is stigmatized, misunderstood and mistreated.

Like the stammering King George VI in the movie, the problem begins early in life, usually before a child starts school. Repressed guilt and shame fan the speech impediments.

However, Halvorson claims that stuttering is not a problem. It’s only made a problem by the reactions and attempts to help those who are close to the young stutterer.

“In real simple terms, stuttering doesn’t exist,” Halvorson says. “It’s almost a figment of our imagination. The harder parents and others try to correct a child’s speech, and the harder that child tries to spit the words out, the worse it all becomes. Correction leads to digging a deeper hole.”

The simplest solution to youthful stuttering, Halvorson asserts, is to ignore it.

“You’ve got to have a ‘I don’t give a (rip)’ attitude,” he said, using an unprintable word for this newspaper. “That casual approach will do more help than anything.”

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New Bible updates language; 'booty' falls by wayside
By Bill Chappell, Associated Press

March 2, 2011 (AP)—A pair of Christmas booties. Using the word "booty" to mean "plunder" has become impractical, as other connotations have overtaken its original meaning, religious scholars say.

The Old Testament will have a new look in the next edition of the New American Bible, one of the most popular English-language Bibles. And it'll also have some big changes — in many cases, words like "booty" and "virgin" are removed in the new translation.

Scholars translating from ancient Hebrew and Greek for the new Bible decided that the meaning of those words had shifted in the 40 years since the Old Testament was last updated in the New American Bible.

Here are some of the swaps included in the new Bible:

"booty" is now "spoils of war" — for presumably obvious reasons.
"virgin" becomes "young woman" — especially where the original uses the Hebrew word "almah."
"holocaust" will become "burnt offerings" - scholars say that was closer to the original meaning, before "holocaust" came to be identified with the genocide of World War II.
"cereal"— now co-opted by General Mills and Post, becomes "grain."

Scholars sometimes clashed as they sought to refine the Bible's language…

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Canada:

Scientist says language begins before birth

March 12, 2011—A University of Regina neurolinguist contends that babies in the womb are already starting to learn language by hearing its rhythm

Children start to learn language even before they're born, neurolinguist Holly Bardutz is teaching students in her language acquisition class at the University of Regina.

While still in the womb, babies already start to learn language by hearing the rhythm of the language, says Bardutz.

To recreate what it's like in the womb, and what a baby might hear, Bardutz asked her students to spend class time in the university's pool, with their ears under water, listening to people above ground speaking in various languages, including Urdu (which is spoken in India), Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, English, French and Korean.

"What we're looking for is the rhythm of the language," Bardutz explained.

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Jury selected for English-language awards of excellence for youth

March 9, 2011—The Youth Media Alliance (YMA) has announced the jury for its 2011 English-Language Awards of Excellence, to be held in Toronto on June 2.

For more than 35 years, YMA has been recognizing the importance of quality screen-based content for Canadian kids, and the organization says it is proud this year to have unparalleled representation by children's & youth TV professionals…

The juries will judge the quality of the entries based on various components of production, including concept, writing, overall direction and direction of actors, art direction, research, technical aspects, performance, audience targeting, music and interactivity.

YMA is also very pleased to be partnering with a leading game designer) and game producer to evaluate interactive mobile and Web content. These juries will look at various areas of production, like content, structure and browsing, interactivity, concept originality and content philosophy, to assess projects submitted by Canadian producers of interactive youth content.

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Malaysia:

University vice-chancellor affirms stance on English
 
PETALING JAYA, March 12, 2011—The call to strengthen the command of the English language is not meant to sideline Bahasa Malaysia, said Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon.

Dr Ghauth said his words had been misinterpreted by some students who were offended after listening to a presentation he gave on Feb 14 which highlighted the poor command of the English language among local graduates.

“It was never my intention to do so. I will not apologise, and this will not discourage me from going around to give more talks to convey the importance of taking UM to a higher level,” he said at a press conference held to clarify the issue yesterday.

In the hour-long conference with some 2,000 students, Dr Ghauth shared UM’s visions of achieving international standards and the means to achieve them.

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English language access
By Alycia Lim, TheStar.com.my

March 6, 2011—About a year ago, G. Moganathasan could not even string a proper sentence in English, but today he stands proud speaking the language clearly and confidently, after attending a language propgramme.

Sharing his experience, the 16-year-old said that English was never spoken at home as he only spoke to his parents and siblings in Tamil, his mother tongue, or occasionally in Malay, when he had to speak with the neighbours.

“My social skills have really improved, and now I am more than willing to hold a conversation in English with anyone,” he said at the end of his testimonial which was received with thunderous applause from the floor.

Moganathasan, whose father works as a storekeeper, is one of 80 underprivileged secondary school students in the country who was selected last year to be part of the pioneer batch under the ACCESS Microscholarship Programme (ACCESS).

The programme is jointly organised by ELS Language Centres Malaysia and the United States Embassy to promote English language learning among Malaysian youth.

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Japan:

Japan launches primary push to teach English

March 8, 2011—Compulsory foreign language lessons start next month for all 10- to 12-year-olds, raising hopes among educators and industry leaders of ending a decades-long 'English deficit'

With just weeks to go before English becomes a compulsory subject at Japan's primary schools, doubts surround the boldest attempt in decades to improve the country's language skills, and its ability to compete overseas with rival Asian economies.

The new curriculum is to be introduced after intense lobbying from the business community, amid fears that Japan's competitive edge could be blunted unless it takes English communication as seriously as China and South Korea.

The new classes, which start in April, will be aimed at fifth- and sixth-grade pupils, aged 10-12, at all of Japan's public primary schools. The lessons will be held only once a week – or 35 times a year – with each lasting 45 minutes.

By the time they leave primary school, children should know 285 English words and 50 expressions, although the education ministry is reluctant to talk of targets.

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Japan rattled over online exam leaks

TOKYO,  February 27, 2011 (AFP)—Japan's elite universities have had their entrance exams – the most important hurdle in any Japanese student's life – compromised by efforts to seek online help during the tests, they admitted Sunday.

Maths and English questions from the entrance examinations for the prestigious Kyoto University were placed on Yahoo! Japan's question-and-answer service web page on Friday and Saturday.

The postings were made under the same user name, "aicezuki", which does not seem to relate to any common Japanese term, and online answers were soon offered for his or her appeal.

A Kyoto University official confirmed that the postings matched questions from their tests.

Other top institutions, including the private Waseda and Keio universities, faced similar problems, Japanese media reported Sunday as the Kyoto incident made front-page headlines.

The top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun suspected that candidates took pictures of questions on their mobile phones and sent them to an outside associate who placed the queries online.

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Worried Japanese teachers fear they lack sufficient training, confidence

TOKYO, February 26, 2011—Come April, English classes will become mandatory for fifth- and sixth-graders, but a 29-year-old elementary school teacher in Tokyo has heard the concerns of her overwhelmed colleagues, especially the older ones, who have neither taught the language nor studied it since their university years decades ago.

Preparing for the English classes is a new burden for teachers. Some believe they must teach detailed rules of grammar and demonstrate proper pronunciation, even though this isn't required.

"Many teachers are considerably repulsed. They feel they can't make mistakes and fear they may speak incorrect English" during the lessons, said the Tokyo teacher, who did not want her name used.

Starting with fiscal 2011, the government will require all elementary schools to introduce compulsory foreign-language lessons — basically English — for fifth- and sixth-graders. All kids in this age group will have at least one lesson per week.

While many parents and other Japanese welcome the government's move to provide English education at an early age, some experts are concerned that most teachers are being forced to venture into uncharted waters with little preparation…

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Taiwan:

Chinese language could rival English, says Taiwan national university president

March 6, 2011—Dr. Si-chen Lee, president of National Taiwan University (NTU), said yesterday morning that the concept “globalization means Englishization” has changed along with the rapid rise of China, and Chinese and English may become two major common international languages in the next five to 10 years.

Lee made the remarks when inaugurating the 2011 NTU Azalea Festival, an event designed for senior high school students to know more about the NTU.

Lee also announced that the NTU will invest NT$50 billion in the coming five years in programs to upgrade and globalize its operations, in a bid to achieve the goal of ranking among the world's top 50 universities.

The president said that at the moment, one tenth of NTU students come from abroad, and one third of freshmen joining the university in the second half of the year will have the chance to take short-term studies or serve as exchange students at foreign universities.

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South Korea:

South Korean students learn English from robot teacher

DAEGU, March 9, 2011—Many South Korean families spend thousands of dollars a year on English language education for their children. Students attend private academies often until late at night every day. Most such schools hire teachers from abroad, but a team of engineers has created a robot that they hope will eventually replace foreign instructors.

Engkey wheels around the front of a classroom at the Hagjeong Primary School in Daegu.

The egg-shaped robot asks the class—six fourth-grade students—to repeat English phrases and teaches them children’s songs in English.

But Engkey’s voice is not its own. It is connected via teleconference to the Philippines, where a teacher conducts the class through a monitor. An image of a Caucasian woman appears on Engkey’s LCD panel head, although she is not the teacher in the Philippines.

But Engkey’s creators say this robot is much more than a video screen on wheels.

Kim Mun-sang is director of the Intelligent Robotics Program at the government-funded Korea Institute for Science and Technology in Seoul. He explains how the robot works.

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Rwanda:

Government to intensify English training for teachers
   
March 6, 2011—Education Minister, Dr. Charles Murigande, yesterday revealed that his ministry is going to strengthen training of teachers in English language proficiency.

Addressing the press at the Prime Minister's offices, Murigande said the Ministry is going to look for mentors for the teachers to improve their English.

"We carried out training for the teachers in December, now we will give them mentors who will follow their progress in schools, helping them in the language," he added.

Murigande emphasised that training teachers during holidays was not enough and that is why they had opted for mentors.

He underscored that if they fail to get enough mentors in the country, they will get them from other countries in the region.

English language training for teachers aims at equipping them with skills in the language following a resolution by cabinet in 2008 to adopt it as the language of instruction in schools.

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France:

New English language radio chat show debuts in France

Saint Blancard, February 27, 2011(PR.com)—The Flattery Show is the first English language radio chat show aired in the south west of France and a flagship Sunday evening programme broadcast on Radio Coteaux in the Gascony region. The show is presented by American Patricia McKinnes and Irishman John Slattery, who take over the airwaves at 5pm and finish at 7pm.

The Flattery Show is a music based programme that includes light-hearted banter and whimsical jokes by the co-hosts. Listeners' views and comments are discussed and there are rotating segments such as "Song of The Week", "Ask a Frenchie," and "Life in the South-West". To keep listeners on their toes, random topics are picked from a big "Bag O Topics."

The Flattery Show, still in its infancy, has received very favourable feedback from listeners and businesses alike. John and Patricia, who launched the project themselves, say that they are enjoying the adventure of producing a groundbreaking radio show, first of its type in France. “Nearly 500,000 Britons, and at least 3 Irish and 3 Americans that we know of in this area, now have a light entertainment radio program in English,” says John. “It's very exciting to create this show and we see this regular broadcast not only as fun entertainment for the expatriates living in France, but also as a bridge between the English speakers and the French.”

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Africa:

Invest in adolescents' education and training, urges UNICEF

NAIROBI, February 25, 2011—With the majority (88 percent) of the world's 1.2 billion adolescents living in developing countries, investing in their education and training could break entrenched cycles of poverty and inequality, says the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2011 State of the World's Children report.

"We need to focus more attention now on reaching adolescents - especially adolescent girls - investing in education, health and other measures to engage them in the process of improving their own lives," Anthony Lake, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement issued at the launch of the report, Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity, on 25 February.

Lake said: "Adolescence is a pivot point - an opportunity to consolidate the gains we have made in early childhood or risk seeing those gains wiped out."

In Nairobi, UNICEF's regional director for eastern and southern Africa, Elhadj As Sy, told IRIN: "Africa has the largest proportion of children, adolescents and young people in the world. Almost half its population is younger than 18 years and almost two-thirds are younger than 25 years.

"As the gap between rich and poor, men and women, urban and rural keeps widening, and inequality generates a 'nothing to lose' generation, paying more attention to adolescents and young people is especially critical for the African nations. ."

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The loss of mother tongue?
By Gothataone Moeng, MmegiOnline

February 25, 2011—"Young people nowadays ke makgoa, they speak English only, if you ask them a question, they respond in English, they don't understand Setswana," says Freddy 'Rra-Lindiwe' Molebatsi.

 Molebatsi is a 79-year-old father of two brought up in Maitengwe who has been a long time resident of Tlokweng.He speaks Setswana with both a sprinkle of South African Tswana accent and a slight Ikalanga accent, the former a result of 27 years spent in South Africa as a construction worker, where he says he first learnt Setswana along with Sotho, Zulu, Venda and Afrikaans. Despite the languages he learnt later in his life, the traces of his formative years in Maitengwe, where he spoke Ikalanga exclusively - "the language I suckled from my mother" - are evident.

Molebatsi shares his concern about young people's predilection - at the expense of indigenous languages - for English with his 68-year-old wife Gertrude Gini 'Mma-Lindiwe' Molebatsi who, originally from Standerton, South Africa, grew up speaking Sotho and  Zulu. Their concern, however, is microcosmic of how the older generation feel about what has been described in some quarters as a crisis of Botswana's mother tongue languages.

Languages spoken in Botswana are estimated at around 23, many of which are under threat of extinction… 

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Belgium:

EU to offer “one-off” English-language-only entrance exam to attract more British

BRUSSELS, February 21, 2011—In a bid to attract more bright British candidates to apply for jobs in European Union institutions, officials in Brussels are considering an unusual step by offering a special 'one-off', English language only entrance examination.

Last week the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, lamented the shrinking number of Brits putting in applications to work in Brussels.

The 54-year-old Portuguese, who has been in charge since 2004, called the figure 'shockingly low' and believes that the main reason is because many top candidates are not proficient in any other language than their mother tongue.

Barroso has spoken with Prime Minister David Cameron and his Foreign Secretary, William Hague, about the problem, and they all agree that in order to boost numbers again, this 'one-off' English language exam is the answer.

“It's one of the options,” said one aide to Barroso, according to the Financial Times. “There is clearly a specific problem with the UK and it seems that language is the real issue.”

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Zambia:

Children’s use of too much English detrimental to mother languages

February 21, 2011—The use of English at an early age of a child has been described as detrimental to the preservation of mother languages.

In some urban areas in Lusaka, there is a growing trend among educated parents to teach their children English before they learn their original language.

To make matters worse, most gadgets that children play with use English for instructions of operations.

With this realization, the world is today commemorating International Mother Language day with focus on information communication technologies.

A linguistic expert, Dr. Nkolola Wakumelo, says there should be a provision for gadgets to be written in local languages for young people to use their indigenous languages.

Meanwhile, a linguistic doctor has expressed concern over the use of English in parliament.

Full story...



 




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