National achievement test for Philippine students set in March

MANILA (PNA)—The Department of Education announced this week that it is set to administer the National Achievement Test (NAT) for Grade Three, Grade Six and Second Year high school students in March 2010. The annual NAT is used to determine what the students know, understand and can do at their grade level.

The NAT for Grade Six and Second Year shall be administered in both public and private schools nationwide, while the test for Grade Three shall be given to public schools only.

The NAT for Grade Three includes Grammar and Reading Comprehension in English and Filipino, Science and Mathematics. The test for Grade Six focuses on five basic subjects, namely, Mathematics, English, Science, Filipino and HEKASI. On the other hand, the NAT for Second Year High School includes Mathematics, English, Science, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan.

“By measuring our students’ strengths, weaknesses and achievement levels, we can derive ways on how the present education system can be further improved,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said.

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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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Studying how a teacher’s language affects learning

VANCOUVER—Professor Gisela Ernst-Slavit, who teaches at WSU Vancouver, has been named the Floyd and Judy Huie-Rogers Faculty Fellow in Diversity by the WSU College of Education.

Ernst-Slavit will use her two-year, $20,000 fellowship to build upon her recent research into the ways that teachers’ language use affects content-area learning for fourth- and fifth-grade students—especially English language learners, students in poverty and minority students.

In her recent studies, Ernst-Slavit has discovered that even teachers well-schooled in English language learning (ELL) techniques used figurative language and expressions that confused their ELL students. For example, they used sports expressions, such as “touchdown,” or talked about “Uncle Sam.”

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U.S. Muslims debate over holding services in English

Associated Press

Sana Rahim was born in the cowboy country of southeastern Wyoming, to Pakistani parents who had emigrated so her father could earn a doctorate.

She speaks Urdu with her family but can't read or write the language. She recites prayers in Arabic but doesn't know exactly what each word means.

Now a 20-year-old junior at Northwestern University, she, like many other American-born Muslims, is most comfortable with sermons and lectures in English, although they can't always find U.S. mosques that offer them.

"I don't really get the time to study Arabic," Rahim said. "With all the different groups in America, English is a unifying thing that ties us together."

Like Jewish immigrants who fought over English-language prayer and Roman Catholics who resisted the new Mass in English, U.S. Muslims are waging their own debate about how much English they can use inside mosques without violating Islamic law and abandoning their culture.

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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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“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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