Gains in English teaching and learning in the Philippines cited

MANILA (PNA)—The Department of Education (DepEd) has noted gains in English proficiency of students in public schools as a result of the department’s continuing investment in teachers’ training to further improve student performance in English.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said on Wednesday the DepEd noted the continuous improvement in performance of students in the National Achievement Test (NAT) in a five-year analysis, particularly in English subject.

“We recognize English proficiency is critical in learning as other key subjects such as Science and Mathematics use English in textbooks and other reference materials,” Lapus said.

“The Filipinos’ edge in the English language is also vital as more work opportunities here and abroad place premium on language skills,” he added.

Many of the department's intervention programs are specifically focused on low performing schools, including DepEd’s Project TURN (Turning Around Low Performance in English) which seeks to reverse the low performance in English of elementary and high schools in the 2007 NAT.

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Marikina out-of-school youths enroll in alternative learning system

MANILA (PNA)—Some 500 residents from ten barangays in Marikina City are currently enrolled in the alternative learning system (ALS) of the Department of Education (DepEd) for school year 2009-2010.

Joselyn Parungao, ALS district coordinator of DepEd-Marikina, said the campaign to encourage out-of-school youth (OSY) to complete their education has generated a lot of interest.

Parungao identified the ten barangays as Marikina Heights, Concepcion Uno, Concepcion Dos, Parang, San Roque, Kalumpang, Barangka, Malanday, Tumana and Nangka.

Earlier, the Department of Education (DepEd) has intensified its Open High School Program (OHSP), one of the alternative learning education schemes under the education department’s Drop Out Reduction Program (DORP) to address the growing dropout rate among high school students.

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Don’t talk like Kris Aquino to your kids, educator urges parents

MANILA—By all means read aloud to your kids, but don’t sound like TV personality Kris Aquino talking her colegiala talk, which is a peculiar mix of Filipino and English.

Speaking after a media briefing at the First Philippine Summit on Early Childhood Education last Nov. 4, educator Carolina Gustilo de Ocampo said Kris Aquino should set an example to Filipino children and avoid mixing Filipino and English when talking.

De Ocampo told reporters: “That one is really very bad because she’s a Lit (Literature) major. She reads very well. She’s very intelligent. She should be a good model for language because she’s excellent in both English and Tagalog. She should not mix it. She has so much power. Everybody looks up to her. Everybody finds her wonderful, so [she should] use that opportunity to be good in both languages.”

During the conference, the organizers and participants advised parents to read aloud to their children even when still in the womb to help improve their literacy later in life.

De Ocampo urged parents not not mix language registers when talking to their children. “Speak in the language of your home, not Taglish, Pampangueñoish, or Ilonggoish. The most important thing is for the parent to be very clear,” she said.

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Report on RP’s declining English proficiency disputed

MANILA—The Philippine government has disputed the findings of a Australian group administering English proficiency tests that the English skills of Filipinos are deteriorating.

The report from the IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines showed that the average score of Filipinos who took the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) last year was a poor 6.69 against the passing score of 7.0.

Andrew King, country director of IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines. described the overall average score as “disappointing” because many of the Filipino IELTS takers were supposedly “educated.”

In the rebuttal by the Philippine government, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo told a news briefing that based on the National Achievement Tests administered in 2007 and 2008, there was “significant improvement” in English in identified low performing schools.

She said 79 percent or 1,453 of the identified 1,898 low performing elementary schools increased English achievement levels from low mastery to average mastery.

Citing data from the Department of Education, Fajardo added that 82 percent or 215 of the 265 low performing high schools also registered improvement in English achievement levels from low mastery to average mastery.

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Stronger educators’ academy urged for the Philippines

MANILA (PNA)—Education Secretary Jesli Lapus seeks legislation to expand and strengthen the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) to meet the human resource demands of the Department of Education.

NEAP is the DepEd’s lead agency in designing and implementing human resource development programs for DepEd central and field offices.

“Our teachers, principals and executives can be better equipped to improve our public school system if we have a retooled and stronger NEAP,” Lapus said.

DepEd has already drafted a proposed law for NEAP to have greater responsibility and accountability on resources and financial management including its generation, utilization, recording, and reporting. It also calls for the creation of a new organizational structure and staffing pattern based on its mandate, functions and services.

Lapus said the legislation will make NEAP more effective as it will not only offer short term but also long term courses and programs to develop teaching competencies, management and leadership excellence.

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Education department urges responsible Internet use in schools

MANILA (PNA)—As the Department of Education (DepEd) goes full swing in connecting schools to the Internet, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has issued guidelines on the responsible use of Internet services by students and school officials.

“The Internet is a powerful learning tool but we should be able to observe protocol so that we can fully optimize its benefits,” Lapus admonished.

DepEd, in partnership with the private sector, is targeting to provide Internet connectivity to all public secondary schools nationwide by the end of the current school year. Aside from the students and teachers, the schools can also use the Internet for research, study, communication and administrative services.

Under the DepEd guidelines, teacher and student using the school’s Internet access shall identify themselves honestly when participating in interactive activities. They have no right to ownership or expectation of personal privacy as to their Internet usage.

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Essex author knows her way around slang

By Joel Banner Baird, staff writer, Burlington Free Press

ESSEX, Vermont—Asked to “watch your language,” who reaches for a book?

Essex Junction author Mary Elizabeth recommends her most recent opus: Barron’s American Slang Dictionary and Thesaurus.

Not sure if you should take offense if told you’ve just butted into a conversation? Look it up: (“This use of ‘butt’ is not anatomical, although many people might not know that.”)

The 600-page reference book, published last month, will appeal to anyone who needs to know—or simply wants to know—the meaning of slang words, their origins and when (and why) they might rub someone the wrong way.

“A listener doesn’t always have the ability to detach meanings from words,” Elizabeth said Tuesday. “Sometimes a word will take someone’s mind in an unfortunate direction, whether they want it to or not.”

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Armed in Afghanistan means learning local language

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Standard Newswire)—Armed, referring to our soldiers, usually means guns and ammunition, but now being armed has also come to mean learning the local language.

Missionaries have known for years that interaction with the local people, plus learning their local language and culture, is the key to acceptance and to knowing what is really happening in the area. Learning the local language means that you respect their language, and you, therefore, respect them. Afghanistan is a society of honor vs. shame, just like many cultures in the area.

Although there are two major languages in Afghanistan, there are at least 46 other languages spoken. Translators are not always available, plus the translator may understand the local language, but not really understand English. Language understanding must go both ways. Many of us have been around translators who listen to people talk for several minutes, and then, when you ask what was said, you get a one sentence or sometimes even a one word reply.

At a minimum, our soldiers should know and learn what key words they should be able to understand when they are mentioned in local conversation.

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High school drama students present David Ives’ series of comedic plays

By Yovanna Bieberich, staff, Argus-Courier

The complexities of language, love and social interaction can be both intriguing to examine and easy to poke fun at. The humor found in these human experiences are the subject of “All in the Timing,” a series of one-act plays by American playwright David Ives.

Casa Grande High School drama students will perform six of Ives’ “All in the Timing” short plays Nov. 13-15.

The collection of plays was written by Ives between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service in 1994, with a collection of six plays; the current collection contains 14. They are short, comedic and frequently employ wordplay. The brevity and easy stage requirements make it a popular play for high school and college students to perform.

The six-pack of short plays the students will perform include “The Sure Thing,” “The Universal Language,” “Variations on the Death of Trotsky,” “Words, Words, Words,” “English Made Simple” and “The Philadelphia.”

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Bill Gates makes big push on US education reform

WASHINGTON - The real secretary of education, the joke goes, is Bill Gates.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been the biggest player by far in the school reform movement, spending around $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education.

Now the foundation is taking unprecedented steps to influence education policy, spending millions to influence how the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools.

The federal dollars are unprecedented, too.

President Barack Obama persuaded Congress to give him the money as part of the economic stimulus so he could try new ideas to fix an education system that most agree is failing. The foundation is offering $250,000 apiece to help states apply, so long as they agree with the foundation's approach.

Obama and the Gates Foundation share some goals that not everyone embraces: paying teachers based on student test scores, among other measures of achievement; charter schools that operate independently of local school boards; and a set of common academic standards adopted by every state.

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Indian police investigates English language test scam

Top executives of a company contracted by Australia's largest recruiter of international students are being investigated for fraud in India.

In the latest scam to hit Australia's international education industry, Indian police this week arrested one man and are hunting a second as part of an investigation into a swindle involving English language proficiency tests.

The fraud involved students with poor English allegedly paying to have someone more proficient sit English tests on their behalf. Students from India must pass an English test as a condition of their Australian visa.

Revelations of the scam call into question the integrity of the English-language testing system for foreign students, and raise fears some Indian students are entering Australia using English language certificates gained by fraud.

Indian police were tipped off about the scam earlier this year by IDP Education, Australia's biggest international student recruitment company.

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Kingpin of IELTS scam kingpin arrested

LUDHIANA: Police have arrested the kingpin of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scam, that had come to light on July 6, 2009, when they arrested three persons, including two boys and a girl in an impersonation case whereby they had superimposed their pictures on the passport for appearing on behalf of other candidates.

Notably, police had also arrested people from Jalandhar, Faridkot and Ludhiana in the same case, but Rajbir Singh, who was being considered as the main accused, was not arrested as he had managed to escape on July 6 and is absconding since then.

With Vishal Mehta’s arrest, police are claiming to have solved the case, saying the accused was the mastermind behind the scam. Assistant sub-inspector Tarsem said Mehta, who was arrested from Gurgaon on Saturday night, was ex-manager operations with Planet Education Company, looking after their operations in India and Nepal.

The company had tied up with Australian embassy for conducting IELTS exams. It was here that he started taking money from aspirants for Australia for getting them to secure qualifying marks, charging them somewhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. And for this, he used to contact people securing marks below the required cutoff, contacting them through fake email ids.

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Educational publisher launches two new English learning programs

ORLANDO, Fla.—Educational publisher Pathways Learning announces the launch of two new educational programs, English Travels and Blast! Building Grammar and Writing. These programs provide comprehensive learning systems that enhance instructional effectiveness and improve student outcomes in English Language acquisition.

Pathways Learning had co-developed these programs with Innovatus Education, a respected international educational publisher. It has exclusive license to market and distribute the products throughout the United States and its territories and possessions, Department of Defense Schools, and American Schools abroad.

English Travels supports a Response to Intervention protocol with systematic instruction and assessment. The program consists of theme-based units designed to explicitly teach language structures, vocabulary, grammar/writing, and phonics/word study. It will enable English language learners to acquire vocabulary and grammatical structures through emphasis on oral language.

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