The Philippines should continue improving its English, NEDA official urges

MANILA—The Philippines should continue efforts to improve English proficiency as other Asian nations, including China, have increased their standing as the region’s most competitive nations.

This was reiterated last week by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos, who reported to President Arroyo during a Cabinet meeting at Malacañang. He said that China is catching up with India in terms of English proficiency and this development would have an impact on the competitiveness of the Philippines in sectors requiring English language fluency.

He explained that one of the sectors that would most likely be affected by this development is business process outsourcing (BPO), which operates call centers and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. The Philippines still has an edge in English proficiency over most Asian countries at this time, he said, “but if we don’t watch out, we may be overtaken, they may catch up with us.”

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Education still best solution to Mindanao problem, says educators group

MANILA, Dec. 5 (PNA) -- The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) on Friday said that education is still the best way to address the growing problem of violence in Mindanao.

In a statement, CEAP said it was committed to intensify efforts to educate children in the Christian way of charity in truth, justice, and peace. It also strongly condemned the “gruesome and politically-motivated” killings of 57 civilians in Maguindanao province, saying that it was “alarmed and appalled by the atrocious and shameless act” that victimized not only legitimate participants of the electoral process but also innocent women and journalists.

“We deplore this dastardly and cowardly act of self-serving individuals who, in violating the most basic principles and values we uphold as a people, ruthlessly abused the power they wielded and trampled upon our moral standards,” CEAP officials said.

We demand that our civilian and military authorities apply the full force of the law without fear and favor in this case and bring to justice those responsible for this brutality,” the Catholic schools said.

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RP attaché in Middle East to focus on education concerns

PASIG CITY (PIA)—With growing number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Middle East and the establishment of Philippine schools in the region, the country is set to deploy its first attaché to focus on educational needs of the Filipino families there.

“These schools follow the Philippine basic education curriculum and are regulated by Department of Education," explained Education Secretary Jesli Lapus. To date, there are some 43 Philippine schools in the Middle East of which 23 are located in Saudi Arabia. The attaché will assume office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2010.

Selected for the new post Dr. Estrella Babano, who has served as DepEd Regional Director for Northern Mindanao (Region 10) for 11 years was. She is a proponent of several initiatives in education, especially in strengthening Muslim education and indigenous communities.

Lapus added that the attaché will supervise and assist these schools. Recognition of the students’ qualifications and the schools programs and eventual enrolment in higher education is a key thrust. "This move is aligned to the presidential directive to give special attention to Filipino students abroad," he said.

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2 Filipino students get perfect scores in international math contest

MANILA—Two young Filipino mathematics contestants won gold medals in the recently concluded 2009 Philippine International Mathematics Competition (PIMC) for elementary and high school students. The two and a Thai student were the only competitors who got perfect scores in the 20-nation contest.

The two Filipino gold medalists were Mikaela Angela Uy of St. Jude Catholic School in Manila and Justin Edric Yturzaeta of the Jubilee Christian Academy in Quezon City. they shared the honors with Theemathas Chirananthavat from Thailand.

Uy and Yturzaeta were among the 24 gold medalists from the Philippines who topped the PIMC with a 100-medal haul. The Philippine team also won 32 silver and 44 bronze medals in the competition, held last week at the Grand Iloilo Hotel in Iloilo City.

Thailand came in second with 48 medals, including 20 golds, while Taiwan was third with 46, including 14 golds. Defending champion China could only place fifth. It was edged out of fourth place by Hong Kong, which took home three gold medals, one more than the Chinese team.

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DepEd to conduct math storytelling sessions at library hubs in various schools nationwide

MANILA (PNA)—The Department of Education (DepEd) will conduct math storytelling sessions at library hubs in various schools nationwide to encourage the habit of reading and better appreciation of mathematics among teachers and school children.

The year-round storytelling events will be conducted by Jesus L. Huenda, DepEd-Bureau of Secondary Education senior education program specialist. Huenda is the inventor of eDamath and SciDama inventor and is a 1981 presidential gold medallion awardee for his innovative way of teaching mathematics.

Huenda said he will use his own inventions to conduct math storytelling nationwide to encourage the habit of reading and better appreciation of mathematics among selected math teachers and students. Dubbed as the “Juan-day Storytelling at the Library Hub by the Mathemajess’yan,” the reading event will commence on December 16 at the library hub in Plaridel, Bulacan.

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Language proficiency program launched for Davao public school teachers

DAVAO CITY (PNA)—The Davao Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Council has launched a program on language proficiency for teachers in public high schools here so they can produce students employable in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

ICT Davao vice president for industry development Bert Barriga said such program will be included in the high school curriculum. It will provide training for the teachers based on the required need of the recruitment companies.

He said it is important that the graduates have the ability to communicate well. “We need to develop this type of talents,” he said.

Barriga said that considering that Davao is a preferred hub for BPO operation because of the abundance of manpower, developing those talents will increase the number of graduates to be hired.

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CNN Hero of the Year urges students to volunteer as teachers

MANILA (PNA)--CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida proposed on Friday morning that colleges and universities urge their students to volunteer as tutors to out-of-school youths.

Recently arrived Hollywood, California, where he received the CNN award, Peñaflorida told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the need to rescue vulnerable young people from a life of crime.

He related how his pushcart (kariton) classroom had grown from 20 to 200 volunteer teachers. Today, he added, the program teaches more than 2,500 students every Saturday.

“We are not governed by a curriculum. We are not an alternative teaching program. We teach primary children, ages 4 to teens, who have lost interest in school for one reason or another,” Peñaflorida explained to the President.

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Two Filipino youths win web debates

MANILA—Two young Filipinos won the recent CNN/YouTube Debates and their prize includes a free trip to Copenhagen, Denmark to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Paul Darwynn Garilao and Alfonso Orioste Jr., both graduates of De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila, won the CNN contest a week after another Filipino, Efren Peñaflorida, was hailed as the CNN Hero of the Year.

Garilao and Orioste will be part of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) and attend the live debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube. CNN news anchor Becky Anderson will host the live debate that would include leaders from 193 countries.

“Once again, we have proven the bayanihan spirit online,” Garilao said. “Filipino consumers—wherever they are—massively voted for our video. Based on our count, more than 600 Facebook users linked the video and shared steps on how to vote. At least 12 bloggers also campaigned for the video and shared their thoughts on climate change.”

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Schools face struggle to find new teachers

The state of Victoria will struggle to find enough new teachers in the next three years because of record numbers of staff taking sick leave and a drop in university teaching graduates.

An Education Department report has identified a sharp increase in teacher vacancies in Victoria. More than half of all principals say they have found difficulty in recruiting staff.

The worst-hit subjects will be languages, mathematics and science, especially in secondary schools and rural areas. But in a new trend, schools have found it harder to employ teachers in English, the arts and humanities than they have in previous years.

The report showed that Victoria would need an average of 3,300 new teachers in public and private schools every year until 2012, but would fall short by about 300 new teaching graduates. This meant the Government would have to rely on other methods of recruitment—interstate transfers or incentives for former teachers to return to the classroom—to meet demand.

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Parents’ financial hardships reflected on students’ report cards, study shows

The Clark County School District has always struggled with its sky-high population of poor children. The number of homeless students is expected to reach 8,000 by the end of the academic year, a 30 percent increase. And a full 44 percent of the district’s students receive free or reduced-price lunches, a commonly used indicator of childhood poverty.

Family poverty, in turn, is correlated with lagging student achievement. Now, the deep recession threatens to make this problem worse, and do so for years to come.

According to a study from two economists at the University of California, Davis, a parent’s job loss can increase by 15 percent the likelihood that a student will repeat a grade.

This short-term damage, which is particularly acute in families where the breadwinner has just a high school degree, matches up with other data showing the negative long-term effects of poverty on student achievement.

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English department offers modern Greek class

For many students and community members the Greek language seems difficult and out of reach, reflecting the cliché “It’s Greek to me.” However, learning the language is no longer a dream but an obtainable goal.

For those interested in learning to read, write and speak the Greek language, the English department at Shawnee State University will offer a Modern Greek class for the spring semester 2010.

“Many students want to take the class to learn how to read the Bible in it’s original language, Greek, while others are interested in learning the language to gain a competitive edge in their careers," said Dr. Stylianos Hadjiyannis, the professor who will be teaching the course.

According to Hadjiyannis, a native of Greece, thousands of words in the English language have been borrowed from Greek. The language is based on phonetics and the English alphabet, making it easier to learn.

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“Mediocre” schools in the United Kingdom warned

The annual report of education watchdog Ofsted says that school improvement in England is being held back by a “stubborn core of inadequate teaching.”

But the chief inspector Christine Gilbert hit back at local authority leaders who had accused Ofsted of “feeding fears” over child safety. She said criticism of children’s services was justified if it “saves just one child from abuse.”

The report also raised concerns over maths and English in primary schools. Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, attacked the focus on negative aspects of the report. “This regular ‘talking down’ of teachers and state schools is not only totally unfair, it is grossly inaccurate,” she said.

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Bangladeshis swamp English language service

A service using mobile phones to teach English in Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by users since its launch on Thursday.

The Janala project, developed by the BBC World Service Trust, provides short English lessons by mobile phones.

It had expected 25,000 users on its first day but received more than 100,000—four times the number who use similar services in the country to check cricket scores. By last night, the service had taken more than 375,000 calls.

“'It’s technically very basic—you call a number and you hear a recorded voice,”' the project's manager, Sara Chamberlain, said from Bangladesh.

''It's the lowest common denominator when it comes to technology [but] our service provider has called to say they need to expand the capacity.''

The service offers 250 three-minute recorded lessons on pronunciation and conversational English, augmented by a website and text message testing. It is hoped to reach 6 million Bangladeshis by 2011, as part of Britain's nine-year English in Action program.

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