Cebu eyed as English learning hub destination

CEBU CITY (PNA)—Cebu is being eyed as the Philippines prime destination for English learning.

Organizers of an international Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Tesol) conference said positioning of Cebu as a prime destination for English learning will not only help produce English-proficient Cebuanos but spur economic activities in the island.

Roy Lotzof , vice president of Cebu Hub of English Language Excellence (Chele), said this strategy will also attract more international students to study in Cebu and at the same time provide a venue to improve the proficiency of Cebuanos.

Lotzof said demand for workers keeps rising in call centers and related outsourced service providers.

Chele oversees the international students’ well-being and safety while studying in Cebu. It accredits professional service providers and provides a list of professional language providers.

Promoting Cebu as a global English learning hub will open job opportunities and increase spending and investments in the city, Lotzof added.

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Negros Oriental elementary schools pilot areas in multi-lingual education program

DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA)—A total of 46 elementary schools in Negros Oriental are piloted on the implementation of the Mother Tongue Based–Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) program. The MTB-MLE is program aims to improved reading, comprehension and learning skills of the pupils.

According to Dr. Catalina Credo, Education Program Supervisor, the MTB-MLE program is implemented using the first language of the child or mother tongue.

The program was first tested in three pilot elementary schools in the province that includes Lutuban Elementary School in Zamboanguita, Lomintok Elementary School in Ayungon and Sibulan Central Elementary School in Sibulan, Negros Oriental.

Dr. Credo said the pupils’ performance showed positive improvement although there are other factors that it can be attributed to, like the Free Noon Meal feeding program.

Recently, Negros Oriental Dep Ed Division Superintendent Dr. Milagros Velez ordered to increase the number of pilot schools from three to 46 selected schools.

At least two schools for every school district will be included among the pilot schools under the MTB-MLE program. Negros Oriental Division has a total of 23 school districts.

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Beijing steps up English-language drive

BEIJING—Authorities in Beijing plan to make most residents—from hairdressers to policemen—learn English under a drive to convert the Chinese capital into a “world city,” state media said Monday.

The government programme—first launched in 2002 in preparation for the Beijing Olympics and recently renewed—calls for all kindergartens in the city to introduce English courses within five years, the Global Times said.

A minimum of 60 percent of shop assistants, receptionists and hairdressers under 40 will also be required to pass English tests by 2015, as will 80 percent of police officers, the report said.

Every civil servant under the age of 40 with a bachelor’s degree will also be required to master a minimum of 1,000 English sentences.

The programme aims to bring “greater convenience to foreigners working or studying in the capital and enhance international relations and cooperation,” the report said.

It also comes amid a campaign to transform Beijing from a "city well-known for its culture" into a modern "world city," it added.

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English spelling “too difficult for children”
By Graeme Paton, Education Editor, The Telegraph.co.uk

A high number of “inconsistencies” in the way basic words are spelt makes it much harder for children to read and write at a young age, it is claimed.

Masha Bell, author and literacy researcher, was scheduled to tell a conference of English teachers last week that sweeping reforms are needed to the spelling system to improve children’s linguistic skills.

She will say that English employs 185 “unreliable” spellings for just 44 speech sounds. Words such as “too,” “true,” “who,” “flew,” “shoe,” and “you” all employ different letters to represent the same sound, she will say.

According to academics, children in Britain normally take three years to read to a decent standard.

But in Finland – where words are more likely to be pronounced as they look – children can read fluently within three months.

Her comments will be made to the annual conference of the National Association for Teachers of English in Leicestershire.

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English language schools win visa reprieve

LONDON (Reuters)—English language schools have won a High Court battle against tighter visa regulations for foreign students introduced by the Labour government to clamp down on illegal immigration.

English UK, which represents 440 schools and colleges across Britain, believes Friday’s ruling has saved an estimated “3,000 jobs and over 600 million pounds a year in foreign earnings.”

On Friday, High Court judge David Foskett referred the matter back to Parliament and said the restrictions had been achieved through altering guidelines where there should have been a formal change to the rules, Britain's Press Association reported.

“This ruling confirms that Parliament must be included in decisions which will significantly change the immigration system,” said English UK’s legal representative Nichola Carter.

Tony Milns, chief executive of English UK, said Friday’s judgment offered schools and colleges “some immediate help since many of them faced losing a damaging number of students this summer and autumn.”

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“No English, no job” for some Japanese office workers

TOKYO—In a bid to plug dwindling domestic consumption by tapping into overseas markets, some of Japan's big-name retailers are telling their employees to start speaking English—or find another job. As Japan’s population shrinks, the country’s retailers are increasingly looking to boost sales by expanding abroad and some firms are waking up to the necessity of being able to speak the global language of business in order to succeed overseas.

Rakuten, Japan’s biggest online retailer, plans to make English the firm’s official language, while Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo apparel chain, wants to make English more common in its offices by 2012 and plans to test its employees for proficiency. “It’s about stopping being a Japanese company. We will become a world company,” Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said last week at a news conference in Tokyo—conducted almost entirely in English.

Employees at Rakuten, which hopes overseas sales will eventually account for 70 percent of all transactions made through its websites, will need to master English by 2012 to avoid facing the sack. “No English, no job,” Mikitani told the Asahi newspaper.

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Walt Disney to expand English language training schools in China

The Walt Disney Company announced that it is going ahead with plans to expand their English language training programs in China. The company, which currently operates 11 schools throughout the country, hopes to open 140 more over the next five years.

Russell Hampton, the president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, said that the language schools are part of a broader initiative to expand the company’s presence in one of the world’s most rapidly growing economies, a plan that will also include the opening of the first Disney theme park in mainland China. He estimates that by 2015 the program will generate over $100 million in revenue while teaching English to 150,000 students.

However, he also recognized that the nature of the schools present a unique opportunity to help the company gain exposure with Chinese consumers. In a recent interview he was quoted as saying that, “We wouldn’t enter this business just to use it as a marketing tool…But there’s no doubt that a side benefit is broader exposure (for) the rich heritage of Disney story-telling.”

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Looking at Sri Lankan English with hindsight
By Rohana R. Wasala, Island.lk

As an ordinary citizen and an English language teaching (ELT) professional with some experience, I have no quarrel with the notion of Sri Lankan English/es or the idea of a standard form of it being advocated for teaching in our country, provided that the two basic questions of what Sri Lankan English is, and why it should be promoted, are answered to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, authorities, and the general public), and the move supported on a principled basis. Unless and until this is done, the current debate will prove to be much ado about nothing.

It is not that these questions have already been dealt with by those competent to do so; what is identified by linguists as Sri Lankan English is even being codified it is claimed. However, apparently, it is only now that public discussion of the matter with a real sense of seriousness is taking shape. This is the time that the future course of the whole exercise (i.e., the implementation of the Standard Sri Lankan English proposal) is to be charted.

My sincere wish is not to tread on the toes of scholars who are known to have done much painstaking research in the field, or challenge their conclusions, but to explain, for what it’s worth, a commonsense opinion that I have had for a long time regarding the matter, something that may have been implicit in my earlier articles about ELT in Sri Lanka.

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Technology is affecting the English language in schools

ACCRA (GNA)—Some teachers have complained about the poor performance of students in English Language examinations due to technology.

A GNA survey in some schools in Accra indicated that the poor performance in the English Language was due to the influx of various forms of technology especially mobile phones and the Internet.

The teachers contended that this had rather boosted brisk business for remedial classes because English is one of the core subjects a student must pass to gain admission into higher educational institutions.

Mr Gabriel Ajavon, Assistant Headmaster and English Tutor of New Life Fellowship Institute at Mallam, an Accra suburb, said he had taught English Language for the past 15 years but had observed a massive difference in the performance of students for the past four years compared to 10 years ago.

He noted that some students speak Pidgin English Language, which also affected oral English.

Mr Ajavon, therefore, recommended that students should read more books to enhance their performance in English Language both academically and orally, adding that “technology has come to stay and since the world is now a global village, technology is inevitable.”

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English: Merit for job-seeking Naga youths

KOHIMA—The Naga youths’ ability to speak fluent English is assumed as an advantage for them to serve outside the state and elsewhere. This is evident as a large number of Naga youths are engaging themselves in various private firms today in different parts of the country and even abroad. 

In one way, the development can be attributed to declaration of the past years as “Year of Youth Empowerment” or “Capacity Building” and so on by the state government where many educated unemployed youths got opportunity to upgrade their skills by attending trainings and got job-placements with various firms.

Nagaland’s literacy rate now stands at 67. 11 %. English is the official language of Nagaland, which is accepted by all sections of the people of Nagaland. “The youth of Nagaland are also gradually catching up with the process of globalization and liberalization,” Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was quoted as saying in an official programme in Kohima.

Rio asserted that a number of Naga youths are finding gainful employment, not only in the metropolitan cities of India but even abroad. A good number of English-speaking people in Nagaland are also another advantage for the state to flourish in the tourism industry. There is no denying fact that tourists are comfortable in communicating with the people here.

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Police control room staff take lessons in Queen’s language  

The staff at the Pune police control room, located on the first floor of the police commissionerate, will now be trained to effectively communicate in English. Preparing themselves for the increasing number of complaints and enquiry calls in English, especially those from foreign nationals, 35 out of 116 staffers have been taking English lessons for the last three months.

S G Thombare, assistant police commissioner, in-charge, control room, says, “We had recently undergone modernisation drive. We wanted to increase the efficiency of the staff and reduce response time to the calls that we get. Training our staff for better communication skills was the first step towards it.”

“We wanted to bring in attitudinal change among the staff members. How they respond to irate citizens in trouble, asking for police help. The police commissioner had urged various agencies in a statement to come forward and train control room staffers. Vishwakarma Institute responded to our request and offered help in this regard,” Thombare explains.

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Minister calls English language learning key

JAKARTA—Countries in the Asia-Pacific region must promote English proficiency as a way to deal with globalization, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono said on Tuesday.

Agung said that to keep pace with the rest of the world, educators in developing Asia-Pacific countries were faced with the challenge to shape graduates to be competent citizens of an inter­national community.

“Schools and universities are expected to produce graduates who are familiar with other cultural values and histories, languages and institutions,” he said.

Agung was speaking at the opening of the first general assembly of the Forum of Asia Pacific Parliamentarians for Education (FASPPED) in Jakarta.

Indonesia, Agung said, had been facing a debate concerning English as one of the main requirements for students.

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Education summit to tackle challenges in Africa
    
JOHANNESBURG—FIFA hopes to use an education summit organized by President Jacob Zuma next week to gather support for its “1 Goal education for all” campaign.

Zuma has called the global education summit to tackle education challenges in Africa at the time the attention of the entire world is on South Africa. “1 Goal” is a coalition of 100 organizations from 100 countries established last year to raise awareness about the millions of children who are not in school. The initiative, chaired by Queen Rania of Jordan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and FIFA President Sepp Blatter, aims to get all children across the world to school by 2015.

Director of the campaign Owain James says “1 Goal” had already attracted more than 12 million signatories and has the support of many international players. “We are delighted that president Zuma has shown his support for this and called this summit, we see this as a strong opportunity to bring together politicians and the soccer family to tackle this very important issue of education,” James said.

“The summit will afford the world’s leaders a critical opportunity to highlight challenges and accelerate achievements in the global education sector and we are delighted it taking place at the time South Africa is organizing its first FIFA World Cup,” he said.

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Never a dull moment
By Kang Soon Chen, TheStar.com.my

The teaching of the English language can be challenging but it does not mean there should be no fun.

This is what was discussed at the 19th Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) International Conference 2010.

Themed “Transformations in English Language Education: Vision, Innovation, Implementation,” the conference drew academics and teachers alike to a roundtable on ways to bring English Language Teaching (ELT) to a whole new level.

The conference brought together around 300 educators from around the world.
Officiated by Raja Zarith Sofiah Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah, the conference was set to the right precedent with the Johor Ruler’s consort putting her faith in teachers to increase students’ proficiency in the language.

“When I studied English at pre-school and primary school, my English teachers were all Malaysians. “They taught me well, because even before I went to secondary school in England, I could speak, read and write in English quite fluently,” said Raja Zarith, who is also the patron of Melta, in her royal lecture.

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