Enactment of mandatory preschool education in Philippines pushed

MANILA (PNA)—The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday asked Malacañang to certify as urgent a bill that seeks a mandatory preschool education in public schools to strengthen academic preparation of children.

Believing there should be equal opportunities for both the poor and the rich children, outgoing DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus pushed for the immediate passage of Senate Bill (SB) 2953, or the Governance of the System of Pre-School Education.

“This bill will greatly increase our students’ readiness for formal schooling,” he said. “Our pupils’ first school experience should be enjoyable, so that this positive experience will motivate them to remain in school and complete their education.”

The DepEd’s proposed quality preschool education involves adoption of a standard curriculum, a training and hiring program for preschool day care’s teachers’ development, a nutrition and health program for students, construction of schoolrooms, and distribution of learning supplements to students.

To encourage parents to send their children to school, the government continues to implement the no collection policy in public schools.

Full story...

Women’s university’s support to Philippine ladderized education lauded

MANILA (PNA)—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, saying that her administration has invested heavily in education, has recognized the support of the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) to her Ladderized Education Program (LEP).

In her visit to the oldest university for women in Asia, the President checked on the implementation of the LEP at the university’s Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) course.

“Congratulations PWU for being a pioneer in many educational endeavors… you are among the first among higher education institutions accredited to offer ladderized education,” she said.

The President stressed that the ladderized program opened pathways of opportunities for career progression to students and even workers.

The LEP allows students to progress between Technical - Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and College, and vice versa.

This is embodied in Executive Order 358 promulgated by the President on September 15, 2004, providing the mandate and legal framework for wider scale and accelerated implementation of Ladderized Education nationwide.

Full story...

English language schools call for change in policy

Enrolments in English language schools have been “flat” despite an overall growth in international student numbers, says a leading industry figure.

The sector is hoping policy changes this year will help revive the industry, says Rob MacKay, chairman of English New Zealand.

Last year, a survey done by the body—which represents private and public English schools—found 55 per cent of member schools had reported forward bookings to be down on the previous year and 30 per cent trading at the same level.

He said the main reason for the “blockage to success” was the previous government’s ban on part-time work for English language student permit holders until they passed an English language test. This ban does not apply to high school or university students.

“Offshore education consultants report up to 25 per cent of students seeking to study English in New Zealand are diverted to competing countries because of this discrimination,” he said. “Removing this anomaly will attract students from existing and emerging markets, particularly from South America and Europe.”

Full story...

New English language institute in Singapore coming up

SINGAPORE—The Republic has a “long way to go in raising English standards.” This was the candid assessment from Education Minister Ng Eng Hen in Parliament yesterday as he announced the setting up of a new English Language Institute of Singapore to spearhead such efforts here.

With English being the lingua franca of international business, science and technology, Dr. Ng said the ability to write and speak the language well remains an essential skill to cultivate in the young.

And there’s a “need to pool much needed expertise and training resources in teaching English to bilingual learners,” hence the plans for the new institute. This was one of several initiatives that Dr Ng announced yesterday.

Another involved providing all students from 2012 with an individual Holistic Development Profile. This will record each student’s progress in developing a list of what the ministry calls “21st century competencies”—among them soft skills and values like creativity, innovation, cross-cultural understanding and rootedness to Singapore.

Full story...

Final chapter: The last English language bookstores in Jimbocho

It’s hard enough trying to sell a Japanese book in Tokyo these days, let alone a secondhand English-language book. The market for English books in Tokyo is dwindling, alongside the rest of the publishing industry. Last year book sales in Japan fell below ¥2 trillion yen for the first time in 20 years. Things are hitting a critical level.

In Jimbocho, Tokyo’s secondhand book district, many of the booksellers are likely to be the last generation of vendors to sell secondhand books in this neighborhood. The danger of extinction, however, only makes these bookshops more valuable. Despite being a land where few actually speak English, the Jimbocho English language book stores are often on par with anything around the world. Bibliophiles and casual readers will find everything they want, as well as books they didn’t know they wanted. And as everyone knows, discovery is the real joy of secondhand book shopping. A joy that the Internet has not managed to replicate—not yet at least.

As an introduction to the neighborhood’s few remaining second-hand English bookshops, here are four notable locations.

Full story...

The New York Times Magazine names Ben Zimmer as “On Language” columnist

NEW YORK—The New York Times Magazine recently announced the appointment of linguist and lexicographer Ben Zimmer as the new “On Language” columnist. Mr. Zimmer succeeds William Safire who was the founding and regular columnist until his death last fall. The column is a fixture in The Times Magazine and features commentary on the many facets—from grammar to usage—of our language. “On Language” will appear bi-weekly beginning March 21.

In making the announcement, Gerald Marzorati, editor of the magazine said, “Ben brings both an academic’s deep knowledge and a maven’s eye, ear and passion to his commentary on the way Americans write and speak now. We welcome him to our roster and know our readers and ‘On Language’ devotees will greatly enjoy his columns.”

“It’s an honor and a privilege to be welcomed in the space that William Safire called home for thirty years,” Mr. Zimmer said. “I look forward to continuing this fine tradition with my own take on how language shapes our past, present and future.”

Mr. Zimmer is the executive producer of VisualThesaurus.com and Vocabulary.com, online destinations for learners and lovers of language. He is the former editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and is a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Full story...

From adieu to hello

By Helen Vesperini, Agence France Presse

The Rwandan government’s move to make English the medium of instruction in schools has been a daunting task for its French-trained teachers.

AT Kacyiru 1 primary school in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, it’s not the pupils who are saying “this is my ear, this is my hair” and pointing to the board as they learn rudimentary English, but the teachers!

They’ve been sent back to school as part of a Rwandan government’s drive to switch to English instead of French as the routine language of instruction for the nation’s schoolchildren.

That’s no easy task for teachers brought up speaking French in this former Belgian colony. They now find themselves having to brush up their English — or in many cases, learn it from scratch.

Critics say the switch to English in Rwanda’s education system has been rushed through, and was politically motivated, but Murigande said it was “a logical choice” given where Rwandans do business—he cited Dubai, Malaysia, China and Japan. Such a change would be a challenge for any country, but it is particularly difficult for Rwanda, which had to virtually start from scratch after the 1994 genocide.

Full story...