ICT employers prefer English-speaking skills over aesthetics

DAVAO CITY (PIA)—Companies nowadays no longer require one to be young, beautiful and handsome, but strongly favor those who have good command in English. This is particularly true in the information-communication technology (ICT) industry.

Lizabel Holganza, president of ICT Davao Inc., said in a recent media forum that the ICT industry, particularly in companies whose employment capacity has not been filled up, absorbs workers even beyond 50 years old, which is over what is normally called the “employable aged.”

“Hindi na kailangang maputi, maputi ang ngipin [There’s no need to be fair or to have white teeth],” Holganza said of jobs as contact center agent. “Jobs in ICT are no longer age proof. If you are introvert, you can be a transcriptionist; if you are creative, you can do animation.”," she said in a media forum.

Including business process outsourcing, the ICT industry created 6,000 jobs in 2009 from a baseline of 1,070 jobs in 2001. It is targeting to generate some 30,000 jobs in 2015.

Holganza said that Davao City, which has become a magnet of jobseekers from neighboring cities and provinces even outside the region, now has 60 BPOs and other ICT firms.

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Philippine education department told to continue English proficiency program

MANILA (PNA)—Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently instructed Education Secretary Jesli Lapus to continue the government’s English-proficiency training program for public school teachers.

The President issued the directive after observing the ongoing National English Proficiency Program (NEPP) for elementary teachers at the P. Burgos Elementary School along P. Guevarra St. in Manila this afternoon.

Noting that 100,000 of the country’s estimated 500,000 teachers have already benefited, the President wants the program to continue.

“We have made progress in many areas, but more is needed to be done. I instruct Secretary Lapus that English training should be a continuing program,” the President said.

The President said the government has allocated over P2.5 billion for teacher training over the last three years especially for English teachers.

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Barobo NHS wins big at DPSA Learning Challenge awards

MAKATI CITY—Barobo National High School, a Smart Schools Program partner school in Surigao del Sur, bagged the grand championship, two major awards, and three special awards during the 2nd Doon Po Sa Amin (DPSA) Learning Challenge Awards competitions held from February 5 to 6 in Makati City.

Barobo NHS’ entry, “Sumbada: Buhay Lambat,” which features the fishing method of Barobohanons, was awarded the Grand Champion title and also won the Best in Technology and Livelihood Topic Category award. Its second entry, “Davisol: Mga Likha at Pananampalataya,” won in the Best in Arts and Culture Topic Category award and special award for Best in Photos.

The teacher-student teams of the winning entries received a total of P120,000 cash prize—P50,000 for Grand Champion, P30,000 each for Topic Category Award winner, and P10,000 for Special Award. They also won DPSA premium items while their school will receive an AOC LED computer monitor and three desktops.

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DepEd ties up with private sector to promote math among schoolchildren

MANILA (PNA)—The Department of Education (DepEd) has signed a memorandum of agreement with Tan Yan Kee Foundation, which will collaborate with ABS CBN Foundation in producing new episodes of the series “Mathtinik.”

This series aims to instill appreciation for mathematics among schoolchildren. It comprises modules that make mathematical concepts easy to understand and entertaining for schoolchildren.

DepEd will also seal an agreement with Lufthansa Technik Philippines and Tan Yan Kee Foundation to provide 2,000 armchairs to schoolchildren in selected divisions in the Ilocos Region.

“We thank our partners from the private sector who recognize the value of education, and who give utmost priority to it,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said. “This agreement speaks of their commitment to help the department deliver quality educational services which our schoolchildren rightfully deserve,” Lapus said.

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Correct phonics to be part of new English curriculum

JERTIH—Language arts and use of correct phonics will be the core of a new curriculum for English language to be implemented next year, said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the move to introduce the curriculum was to assist students master the language. A new approach would be incorporated in the teaching of English language, he said, adding he had taken a look at the curriculum.

“I have looked at it. It is a huge change from the current curriculum and I believe it will help our children master the English language,” Muhyiddin said when he spoke recently at the Besut district Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) excellence awards ceremony at the Besut municipal council hall in Gong Kemuntong here.

“What is important is standard and the new curriculum will teach students according to the standard British English language phonics so that our students will know how to pronounce English words as spoken by native speakers,” he said.

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Envoys ashamed of their English skip foreign meetings

JAKARTA—Some Indonesian envoys based in embassies abroad are so weak in English language skills that they take sick leave to avoid meeting foreign officials, a senior Indonesian official said.

Mr. Imron Cotan, the No 2 Foreign Ministry official, told a parliamentary committee that the problem lies not with his own diplomats, but with attachés sent to embassies by other ministries including defense, trade, and finance.

“I found that a number of our attaches are not fluent in English,” The Jakarta Post newspaper reported Mr. Cotan telling the committee investigating the performance of Indonesian diplomats. “Every time their counterparts from the home government want to meet them, they freak out and seek ways to avoid the meetings.”

Sick leave was the favorite excuse for missing such meetings, Mr. Cotan said. He did not give an estimate of how many attachés had substandard English.

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Extensive reading crucial for English acquisition, says education expert

Voluntary extensive reading is an effective way for Koreans to acquire English fluency, an English education expert believes.

Shin Kyu-cheol, professor in the department of English language at Far East University, feels it can expose them not only to the language but also to culture and material that would motivate them to study.

“Koreans are learning English as a foreign language (not a second language) in an environment where exposure to the language and culture is rare. Reading would help increase the exposure,” Shin said. “Through reading books that are rich in linguistic and cultural elements, one can learn how words are used in specific contexts, and enhance critical and creative thinking skills and cultural understanding.”

Shin, who has headed the Korea Association of English Reading Education, a group of some 100 English education experts, since its inception in April 2008, underscored that starting with books that are interesting and easy to read is important.

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Now, road to English language to begin with mother tongue

What is common between “pencil,” “railway station,” “programme,” and “machine”?

These are English words used in Hindi, Punjabi and other languages. And a professor has found a novel way to use these words in teaching of the English language.

Professor Anil Sarwal, linguistics expert and faculty member at DAV College, Sector 10, has identified 12,000 such words.

The aim behind compiling these words, according to Professor Sarwal, was to use one’s mother tongue to teach the English language.

“If encouraged to learn English by beginning with words that are known to them, the ice between learners and the English language will start thawing,” Professor Sarwal says.

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Want to pick up English faster?

If you are facing difficulties learning the English language while you read or speak with your peers, ask your parents to read the text aloud to you. It will not only help you learn the language but also enable in speaking correctly.

According to George Georgiou, University of Alberta (U-A) professor in educational psychology, it is instrumental for English-speaking children if they are to acquire the language skills, particularly comprehension, essential to their future reading ability.

Georgiou and his colleagues recently published a study in learning and instruction examining the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may predict future reading ability in English and Greek. “We have found that in English, you need a rich home literacy environment. It’s absolutely necessary,” said Georgiou.

Since the study was published, Georgiou has expanded his research to Finland and China, with the same outcomes. He said that in the home literacy environment, what parents do at home in terms of literacy, and motivation predict children’s various initial literacy skills, such as letter knowledge and vocabulary, differently across languages. These skills, in turn, ultimately predict future reading ability.

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Is the English language hard to learn?

IDAHO—There are some bills being kicked around in the 2010 Idaho legislature that push the exclusive use of the English language more. For example, one bill wants to eliminate interpreters for driver's license tests.

It got us wondering about the English language and just how difficult it is to learn. We thought the best source to answer that question might be found at the Missionary Training Center in Provo.

Young men and women from other countries come to the U.S. to learn English, and then they serve a mission somewhere in this country.

Stephen Graham is in charge of foreign students learning English. He says they’ve actually done a study to rate the difficulty of the English language.

“We created a scale from zero to 60, and, um, an English speaker learning Spanish would be a 9,” explained Graham. “For a Spanish speaker to learn English would be a 19. So, English is much more complex than Spanish.”

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“Text speak” confuses English students

By Katie Wiedemann, reporter, KCRG-TV News

CASCADE—LOL means laugh out loud. IDK stands for I don’t know. That’s common “text speak” for many high school students who send dozens of text messages each day. But a growing number of students are apparently confusing text language with the English language

In addition to Shakespeare and American Literature, Language Arts Teacher Jacob Brindle has a whole new lesson to teach.

Brindle said, “I have to write when I am proof reading, no text speak, no abbreviations. Write words, write in proper English.”

But Brindle says his students are not being lazy. Text speak is what they know. Many of these 15 and 16-year-olds grew up with cell phones.

Melissa Huff said, “A lot of times it's like I'm going to write the paper and I have to sit down and think before I write it. Ok, there is no texting lingo. There are no smiling faces. No LOL.”

Spencer Coyle said, “I never catch it until I print it out and the teacher is like, ‘what is this?’ And I am like, ‘oh sorry’.”

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