“Education is the key to a better life,” says Philippine president

MANILA (PNA)—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is urging the country’s young people to value education and avail themselves of it so they can better access more of life’s opportunities later on. “Education is the key to a better life,” she said during a visit to Masbate province last week.

She also said that education will enable young people to help in nation-building. She particularly encouraged Masbate’s youngsters to avail of education so they can contribute to improving the socio-economic conditions in the province, which is among the country’s poorest areas.

Among such possible contributions is enhancing Masbate’s bid to be a major eco-tourism destination. The President believes biodiversity in the dive site off Masbate’s Ticao Island augurs well for making the province a tourist attraction. Authorities have reported manta rays abound in waters off that island.

The Chief Executive is optimistic these manta rays can help put Masbate on the tourism map in the same way that whale sharks have transformed Sorsogon province into a must-see destination for local and foreign visitors.

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Lawmaker cites P7.3-B donations under “Adopt-a-School” program

MANILA (PNA)—A lawmaker has called the Adopt-a-School Program “a huge success,” citing the mobilization of some P7.3 billion in donations and pledges from the private sector in 2009 alone.

Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas credited the Department of Education (DepEd) for aggressively promoting the program as a means to help address the public school system's severe resource shortages.

He also credited last year’s single biggest donor, Knowledge Channel (KCh), which contributed educational television (ETV) infrastructure and facilities to public schools.

KCh began in 1999 as the flagship project of the Knowledge Channel Foundation. It is the first and only all-educational channel on cable TV, broadcasting a wide range of curriculum-based programs for elementary and high school students and instructional shows for adults 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

KCh has emerged as a leading source of ETV programs in the country, providing highly relevant and responsive instructional support to over 2.8 million students in over 1,000 schools.

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New Philippine education department secretary formally assumes post

MANILA (PNA)—Newly designated Education Secretary Mona Valisno formally assumed office following a simple turnover ceremony on Monday held at the Bulwagan Karunungan at the Department of Education (DepEd) Complex in Pasig City.

Outgoing Education Secretary Jesli Lapus led DepEd officials as he formally turned over the post to Valisno, who is a member of the Presidential Task Force on Education (PTFE) in concurrent capacity.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier designated Valisno as the new education secretary after naming Lapus as the new Trade secretary, replacing Peter Favila who was named as member of the Monetary Board, the highest policy making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The latest exodus of government officials under Arroyo administration came after a number of cabinet secretaries resigned from their post to run in the coming May 2010 elections.

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The New York Times announces ESOL Teacher of the Year Award winner

NEW YORK, (Business Wire)—The New York Times announced today that Meg Frost is the winner of the 2010 ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Teacher of the Year Award. Ms. Frost is a lead ESOL teacher at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow. During the selection process, the committee noted her collaborative efforts with civic and volunteer organizations to engage her students as well as her commitment to furthering their professional development.

Now in its fourth year, the ESOL award program recognizes educators who have consistently excelled in helping adult students learn English and develop the skills they need to create successful new lives in the United States. In addition to the winner, The Times is also recognizing four outstanding ESOL professionals.

The honorees are Caryn T. Davis, CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) instructor, College of Staten Island; Thomas A. Miller, teacher and teacher trainer, the Riverside Language Program; and Hsiao-wei Yang, ESOL instruction coordinator, The Door. The Times will give a special acknowledgement to the late Dr. Linda Ann Kunz, adjunct associate professor, The English Language Center, LaGuardia Community College, for the important role she played in the lives of students and her leadership in the ESOL/adult literacy field.

“The New York Times is pleased to present Ms. Frost the 2010 award for her outstanding work in the ESOL adult education field,” said Diane McNulty, executive director, community affairs and media relations, The New York Times. “She and our other honorees represent the extraordinary work ESOL instructors are doing in this field to help students build new lives and become successful contributors to our city and country.”

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Indiaspeak: English is our second language

More Indians speak English than any other language, with the sole exception of Hindi. What’s more, English speakers in India outnumber those in all of western Europe, not counting the United Kingdom. And Indian English-speakers are more than twice the UK's population.

These facts emerge from recently released census 2001 data on bilingualism and trilingualism in India. Indians’ linguistic prowess stood revealed with as many as 255 million speaking at least two languages and 87.5 million speaking three or more. In other words, about a quarter of the population speaks more than one language.

English was the primary language for barely 2.3 lakh Indians at the time of the census, more than 86 million listed it as their second language and another 39 million as their third language. This puts the number of English speakers in India at the time to more than 125 million.

The only language that had more speakers was Hindi with 551.4 million. This includes 422 million, who list it as the primary language, 98.2 million for whom it was a second language and 31.2 million who listed it as their third.

The rise of English puts Bengali, once India’s second largest language in terms of primary speakers, in distant third place. Those who spoke Bengali as their first, second or third language add up to 91.1 million, far behind English.

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US Embassy supports language teaching at Ruhuna University

The US Embassy along with the Ruhuna University launched a two-week training program for the English Teaching Unit staff of the University. The program aims to introduce American TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of other languages) standards which would help improve the new Bachelor of Arts Special Degree syllabus at the University.

Dr. Jill Robbins of George Washington University in Washington, DC is leading the workshop. The program was opened by Deputy Vice Chancellor Senior Professor Gamini Senanayake, Professor R.M. Ranaweera Banda and Dr. E.A. Gamini Fonseka.

Professor Senanayake stressed the importance of English as a communication tool and its role in improving the quality of undergraduate programs in Sri Lanka. Dr. Robbins outlined several contemporary approaches to language learning such as cooperative learning, learner-centered teaching, and constructivist education and emphasized how these techniques are instrumental to achieve long-term goals in English Language Teaching.

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Local language dictionary released

BLANTYRE, (IPS)—The thickest book on secondary school teacher Hellen Ndalama’s desk is her indigenous language dictionary. It is also her most-used book.

The front cover is partly ripped and the upper end of the spine is secured with adhesive tape.

With 35,000 entries, the new book which translates Chichewa to English (CE) and English to Chichewa (EC) is the first comprehensive dictionary of its kind in Malawi. It is new on the shelves of Malawi’s book stores and was published last year.

The 730-paged dictionary is a personal copy but it is not for Ndalama’s use alone. If it is not with her, she said, it is being exchanged among the teachers at her school and even among the learners in her class.

"It is the most used book that I have on this desk. It is the only copy that we have at the school at the moment while we wait for the school to purchase its own. It is also richer in content than the previous dictionaries," Ndalama told IPS.

English is widely spoken in Malawi owing to the country’s British colonial past, and it is the language of official communication. But Chichewa is spoken by all ethnic groups in the country. Government declared Chichewa (also known as Chinyanja) a national language in 1968

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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.

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