Seminar on error-riddled textbooks set by Philippine education department

MANILA—The Philippine Department of Education has invited education officials, authors, publishing houses, and a long-time crusader against error-riddled books to a seminar on August 5 on how to avoid errors in public-school textbooks.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Antonio Calipjo-Go, an outspoken critic of public-school textbooks, would be talking the whole morning of that day as a resource person. It will be recalled that Go, academic supervisor of Marian School of Quezon City, had been slapped with libel suits because of his long-running campaign against error-riddled books being used in the Philippine public school system.

“I’m hoping that the people who organized the seminar are really sincere. I’ve been saying before that I am ready to help and I don’t consider these people as my enemies,” Go said, according to the Inquirer report.

Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador had invited Go to the seminar organized by the Instructional Materials Council Secretariat (IMCS), with which Go has long been at odds because of the error-riddled books.

Authors, publishers and education officials had previously sought to discredit Go, who had spent P1 million out of his own pocket to publish articles pointing out mistakes and items lost in translation in textbooks.

Full story...

Filipino students in Korea increase to four times the 2005 figure

MANILA—Filipinos studying in South Korea has increased four times to about 400 this year from 108 in June 2005. This is according to a news release from Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Luis T. Cruz, quoting Korean Immigration Service figures.

“South Korea is our top source of foreign students, retirees, and tourists,” Cruz said. “It is no wonder that mutual awareness between our peoples is high. This knowledge has naturally led to situations that allow the transfer of ideas and sharing of experiences in both the school setting and beyond.”

Most of the Filipino students in South Korea are beneficiaries of both short-term and long-term international scholarship programs. They are studying in the fields of international relations, business, and the sciences.

The Catholic University of Korea alone has accepted around 50 Filipino students pursuing higher education since it launched an international program in 2009. In 2005, some 10 students from the Seoul National University started a group called Pinoy Iskolars in Korea (Piko) to provide a support system and serve as a forum for its members.

Full story...

All immigrants face mandatory language test
By Nicholas Keung, TheStar.com

Dodi Robbins, a Harvard-educated corporate lawyer whose first language is English, says she is insulted at having to take Immigration Canada’s language test in order to prove she speaks English well enough to settle here. She has been working as a lawyer in Toronto on a work permit since 2006.

Born and raised in New York, Dodi Robbins graduated from Harvard University and has been practising law for 13 years.

Her first language is English. Yet like all other skilled immigrants applying to settle in Canada, the American corporate lawyer must now take a language test to prove her English is good enough to settle here.

“I was outraged, insulted and floored,” said Robbins, who obtained her law degree at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School in New York. A mother of two, she has been working in Toronto on a work permit for four years as compliance and regulations counsel for an international financial services company.

“I almost fell off the chair. I’ve been practising law here for years and I have to prove my proficiency in English?”

Last month Ottawa made its language proficiency test mandatory for all skilled immigrant applicants, including native English and French speakers. The so-called “ministerial instructions” stipulate officials are not to process applications without language test results, starting June 26.

Full story...

Standardized English tests are halted in Iran

WASHINGTON—The Educational Testing Service has announced that it is temporarily suspending registration for its tests in Iran, including the popular Test of English as a Foreign Language, in what may be one of the first tangible effects of the new sanctions levied against the country by the international community.

Experts and Iranian expatriates were appalled, saying that if the sanctions prohibited Iranians from studying abroad, they would hurt precisely the kind of outward-looking young Iranians the West would like to help.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL, is a widely recognized measure of English proficiency and is often used by Western universities in evaluating international students for admission.

The statement posted on the E.T.S. Web site on Wednesday cited the United Nations Security Council resolution “affecting banks and financial institutions that conduct business in Iran.

“As a result of this resolution, E.T.S. is currently unable to process payments from Iran,” the statement said.

Full story...

Phase Two of “English as a life skill” initiative launched

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is launching on July 26 the second phase of the Presidential initiative on “English as a Life Skill,” the national road map to take spoken communicative English skills across the country, following the successful conclusion of the program’s first phase.

During the commencement of the expanded Phase 2 at Temple Trees, officials will unveil a 100-hour curriculum with teaching aids for a Certificate Course in Basic English for the general public produced by a team of Sri Lankan ELT trainers.

The President will also launch a public examination for a certificate in Basic English to be conducted by the Commissioner General of Examinations.

While Phase 1 of the Presidential Initiative was focused on the public school system, Phase two will also reach out to the general public desiring to learn to speak English. One of the salient features of the program is its intent to promote spoken English, the Sri Lankan way, with its own unique accent and manner of pronunciation.

Full story...

Breaking the language barrier

KARACHI—One of the biggest challenges our country faces with regard to our participation in the global economy is the language barrier. It hinders not only business dialogue but also limits our ability to consume knowledge, offer global services and alleviate our professional standards.

Bowker, a leading provider of global bibliographic data, reports that nearly 300,000 book titles were produced in the US alone in 2009 and a further 750,000 “non-traditional” books were introduced on the web and electronic formats.

The English language produces the largest volume of literature pertaining to everything from mastering the culinary arts to the physics of internal combustion jet-engines; furthermore, acclaimed foreign language titles usually get translated into English first.
A lack of English fluency keeps this knowledge locked away and out of reach from most Pakistanis.

Participation in the global economy, particularly in the services sector requires a certain level of English proficiency. Call centers are the simplest of such industries requiring just a verbal command of the language. Outsourced electronic and paper filing work required for back-office operations across most industries also requires just a basic grasp of the language and the ability to follow written instruction.

If Pakistan does not tap into the global services sector; it risks limiting itself to factory line work, farming, construction and odd jobs.

Full story...

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.

Full story...

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.”

Full story...

“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.

Full story...

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.”

Full story...

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.

Full story...

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.

Full story...

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.

Full story...

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.

Full story...