September school-year opening urged by group of private school administrators

MANILA (PNA)—A bill seeking to move the opening of classes to September has gotten the support of the country’s largest association of private schools.

Eleazardo Kasilag, president of the Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA), urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to consider moving the regular opening of classes from June to September.

Kasilag said that the rainy season, which starts in the month of June, largely affects the number of school days. He noted that based on the record of previous years, cancellations of classes due to bad weather subtract as much as 25 to 30 days from the school calendar. These cancellations would have not happened if classes start on the later part of the year, he said.

Kasilag said that the summer months have changed due to the looming climate change and it is not as hot and dry as before.

The federation proposed to the DepEd to pilot-test the new schedule in the National Capital Region (NCR), and assured the education agency that they are ready to assist the education agency in the information drive for it.

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Philippine education sector split on 12-year basic curriculum

MANILA—The education community is divided on the proposal to extend the 10-year basic education cycle by two years.

Private schools are in favor of expanding the system to 12 years but with curriculum retention, while teachers’ groups would like the government to focus first on what is lacking in the current system.

The Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA) expressed support for the Aquino administration's plan to place the Philippine education system on a par with international standards but said there is no need to revise the curriculum.

“The Revised Basic Education Curriculum is still in its infancy. It was thoroughly studied under seven [education] secretaries and some of the best minds,” said FAPSA president Eleazardo Kasilag.

The basic education curriculum was last revamped in 2002, a revision that was implemented after a 16-year study.

Kasilag said private schools may implement the new basic education cycle after a year of implementation in the public schools as adjustments—new facilities, additional teachers and teaching materials—would have to be put in place.

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Philippine Science High School opens doors for free secondary education

KALIBO, Aklan—Elementary school pupils are once again given a chance of a lifetime to enjoy free secondary education at the Philippine Science High School (PSHS). First step they have to hurdle to enjoy this privilege is by passing the National Competitive Examination (NCE).

Should these pupils pass the NCE, they will enjoy free tuition fee, free loan of textbooks, monthly stipend, and unfiform, transportation and living allowances to those belonging to low income groups, according to Jairus Lachica, Provincial Science and Technology Officer of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Aklan.

The PSHS, with campuses all over the country, was established through Republic Act 3661. It is mandated to offer on a free scholarship basis a secondary course with emphasis on subjects pertaining to science with the end in view of preparing students for careers in science and technology.

To qualify for the NCE application, a Grade 6 or 7 elementary pupil from a duly recognized school by the DepEd should belong to the upper 10% of the current class and does not have a grade below 80 as certified by the School Principal; a Filipino citizen with no pending application as immigrant to any foreign country; born on or after June 1, 1996; in good health and fit to undergo a rigorous academic program; of good conduct and behavior; and had not taken the PSHS NCE previously.

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Mt. Province school launches automated school library system

BONTOC, Mt. Province—The Xijen College of Mountain Province, Inc. launched its Automated School Library System last August 5.

Bontoc municipal mayor Pascual Sacgaca graced the occasion and did the ceremonial honors of putting the system into action. In attendance were school administrators, school librarians from the elementary and high schools in the town's center and some members of the local media.

Xijen College of Mountain Province, Inc., the lone private institution of higher learning in the province, is one of the schools around the country that adapted the software Infolib.
As described in the application's website, Infolib (http://infolib.alaehweb.com/) is a free integrated library systems designed to provide library and information management solutions for small libraries and non-profit entities with ten thousand or less records. The system is equipped with modules such as book and periodicals cataloging, circulation (lending), reservation, user records, a reporting system and a web based and local search capability.

Infolib was developed by Gerry O. Laroza, systems administrator of the Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila University. As stated in his website, the Infolib software aims “to help libraries to have fully-integrated system for library management and information access free of charge.” Schools shopping for a commercial automated library system could spend several thousands of pesos.

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Business English revives schools
By Akiko Inoue, Yomiuri Shimbun

The recent corporate trend of making English the “official language” within companies has given a tailwind to the formerly faltering English language school business.

As a number of companies aim to establish or maintain a global presence, English language schools are working to develop educational programs more practical than those offered by their rivals for businesspeople who need to use English at work.

Such a move came after companies, including online shopping mall operator Rakuten, Inc. and Fast Retailing Co., the operator of casual clothing chain Uniqlo, required their employees to use English as their official in-house language.

The English education-related industry has striven to capitalize on what it views as a golden opportunity.

During the April-June period, Berlitz Japan, Inc., an operator of foreign language schools, saw the number of its corporate customers and individual regular students who are company employees jump 50 percent from a year earlier. Its summer short program also has attracted about 2-1/2 times as many students as in the previous year.

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Nursing students win deportation reprieve
By Sarah-Jane Collins, The Sydney Morning Herald

International nursing students who feared they would be deported at the end of the month because of changes to nursing registration rules have won a reprieve, after a breakthrough in negotiations last week.

The Australian Nurses Federation estimated that about 400 international nursing students who graduated midyear were caught by changes to registration rules that took effect on July 1, and were no longer eligible for registration.

Under the newly established Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia all international students from non-English-speaking backgrounds were required to achieve level 7 English language competency as part of the registration process. Under the old Victorian standard, there was no requirement to achieve level 7.

The nurses caught by the change studied nursing at Australian universities, in English, alongside local students, and had been required to successfully complete Australian clinical placements.

Those nurses - including many offered jobs in rural and regional areas desperate for more health professionals - would have been forced to leave Australia when their student visas expired at the end of August.

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English professor thrown out of Starbucks after objecting to corporate language

An English professor claims she was thrown out of Starbucks after refusing to use the chain’s corporate language, in a dispute that will strike a chord with anyone who has balked at ordering a “grande” or “venti” coffee.

Lynne Rosenthal was ejected by three police officers after clashing with a barista about the firm’s ordering rules, which require customers to adopt marketing speak that many find artificial and cloying.
The academic, who is in her early 60s, particularly resented being to forced to state that she did not want butter or cheese on her bagel.

Many cafes ask customers whether they would like such extras with their orders in an attempt to boost takings.

She told the New York Post newspaper: “I refused to say ‘without butter or cheese.’ When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want.
“Linguistically, it’s stupid, and I’m a stickler for correct English.”

Prof. Rosenthal added: “The barista said, ‘You’re not going to get anything unless you say butter or cheese!’”

She claims the manager of the Starbucks on the Upper West Side of Manhattan called the police as the spat escalated. Officers threatened the customer with arrest unless she left the shop and agreed not to return.

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Groups oppose English-language measure

EDMOND—The consequences of potentially becoming the 31st state in the nation to declare English as its official state language is dividing politicians, cultural advocates and other interest groups.

Voters will make their choice on State Question 751 this November to decide whether to add a new article to Oklahoma’s Constitution that would mandate English only be used in official state actions when there is an option to do so.

Although lawmakers overwhelming approved legislation in 2009 that led to the state question in hopes that it would save money and remove cultural barriers, others call the ballot measure a “political shenanigan” and a hindrance to embracing diversity.

“It is a form of oppression,” said Brenda L. Morales, a coordinator with the Oklahoma State University Hispanic Student Association. “Nearly every (state) document is in English already so I don’t see the point. In a sense, like or it or not, language is part of our culture.”

However, Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, said passage of the measure could create savings across the state by eliminating the need to create, translate and print forms and other state actions into a different language. But, the greatest benefit, he said is that it would help assimilate immigrants into the American culture and economy.

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Parents fed up with the business attitude of English language institutes
By Sarah Abdullah, Arab News

JEDDAH—Parents who cannot afford to take their kids to the US, UK or other native English-speaking countries but are in search of an educative way for their children to spend the summer say they are frustrated with the lack of institutes offering real learning experiences.

“It has become well known that institutes and schools in the Kingdom claiming to teach English and other skills are purely a business, gaining students with empty promises, in turn taking the student’s money and leaving them the same way they entered: without the skills they were promised by the institute,” said Amal Badwulan, a Saudi mother of five.

“The director of the center blames the teacher who says that the children do not pay attention in class or study for tests when really the bottom line is that the institute has purchased a cheap English program from abroad, employed unqualified teachers, and are just looking to make money.”

Other parents say they’ve been promised government-approved education certificates, job placement upon course completion and other perks, such as laptop computers and smart phones for signing up for a typical four-week or eight-week course. However, they say that they have recognized that all of these tactics are just marketing ploys to sell more courses.

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English-language pulp fiction translates to success in India
By Emily Wax, Washington Post Foreign Service

CHENNAI, INDIA—Hindi and Tamil paperbacks, the gaudy equivalent of American dime novels and British penny dreadfuls, were a staple of old India, sold at the country’s railway stations, bus depots and chai stands. Now, a push to translate them into English is creating new fans for the genre among middle- and upper-class Indians.

Thousands of such titles were published starting in the 1920s. Many are household names. They include campy vampire serials, supernatural thrillers, and a slew of Hindi crime novels featuring fast-talking detectives, multiple murders and crowds of prostitutes. Pulp fiction written in Tamil, a major language of South India, is peopled with Hindu sorcerers, overblown evil scientists and tortured inter-caste lovers.

“These stories are from the heart of India,” said Kaveri Lalchand, co-director of Chennai’s Blaft Publications, which has issued several popular English-language anthologies of Tamil yarns rounded up from household cupboards and coffeehouses. “What’s great about them is that they’re not being written abroad or by people sitting in universities.”

The healthy sales of the nostalgia-infused collections show how big India’s English-language book industry has grown and how willing it is to take risks with more avant-garde publications, according to Pritham Chakravarthy, who translated the 17 stories in “The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction.”

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Fadeout for a culture that’s neither Indian nor British
By Mian Ridge, International Herald Tribune

CALCUTTA—Entering the crumbling mansion of the Lawrence D’Souza Old Age Home here is a visit to a vanishing world.

Breakfast tea from a cup and saucer, Agatha Christie murder mysteries and Mills & Boon romances, a weekly visit from the hairdresser, who sets a dowager’s delicate hair in a 1940s-style wave. Sometimes, a tailor comes to make the old-style garments beloved by Anglo-Indian women of a certain age. Floral tea dresses, for example.

“On Sundays, we listen to jive, although we don’t dance much anymore,” Sybil Martyr, a 96-year-old retired schoolteacher, said with a crisp English accent.

“We’re museum pieces,” she said.

The definition has varied over time, but under the Indian Constitution the term Anglo-Indian means an Indian citizen whose paternal line can be traced to Europe. Both of Mrs. Martyr’s grandfathers were Scots.

Like most Anglo-Indian women of her generation, she has lived all her life in India and has never been to Britain. But she converses only in English. At school, she said, she learned a little Latin and French and enough “kitchen Bengali” to speak to servants.

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High court in India raps the government for its language policy

BANGALORE—Pulling up the state government for not obeying the full Bench verdict on the language policy, the Karnataka High Court has asked it to consider a fresh application filed by Rashtrotthana Parishat, seeking permission to start an English-medium school, purely in terms of the July 2, 2008 verdict.

“How can you do this? What you have done is unconstitutional. I remember having quashed 500 such endorsements. The verdict of the full Bench is the law of the land,” Justice S Abdul Nazeer observed while allowing the petition.

The Rashtrotthana Parishat, a wing of the RSS in the state, filed the petition seeking direction to the authorities to consider its application for starting an English-medium school in the city.

The organization, which is running around 30 educational institutions in the state, has challenged the endorsement of the February 27, 2009 order issued by the DDPI, Bangalore South, rejecting its application. The authorities had rejected the proposal on the ground that the SLP filed by the state is yet to be decided by the apex court, with regard to the 1994 language policy.

The high court ordered issuance of notice to the vice-chancellor of Mysore University, with regard to a petition filed by 22 students who studied in the affiliated colleges of the University between 2002 to 2009. The petitioners have challenged the withdrawal of degrees conferred by the University on grounds of a controversy regarding obtaining marks card through fraudulent means.

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English as Morocco’s second language
By Nabila Taj, Global Voices Online

In a recent interview with African Writing Online, Laila Lalami, a Moroccan-American author, elaborates on her educational upbringing. Lalami grew up speaking Moroccan Arabic, but it was not until she was a teenager that she “finally came across Moroccan novels, written by Moroccan authors, and featuring Moroccan characters.” This is primarily because Lalami attended a French school as a child. She says:

“French was the language in which I was first exposed to literature, beginning with children’s comics like Tintin and Asterix, through young adult novels like those of Alexandre Dumas, all the way to classics like those of Victor Hugo.”

Nonetheless, Lalami published her first novel, Secret Son, in English after earning a Ph.D in linguistics from the University of Southern California.

Lalami’s experience is quite common for a student in Morocco. Said Bellari, a writer for Moroccoboard.com, advocates the gradual eradication of the dependence on the French language, and the introduction of English as the official second language of Morocco. In his essay, he introduces a newfangled concept known as “disliteracy:”

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Building bridges through the English language in Hungary

BUDAPEST—A total of 45 English-language students and their teachers from Hungary and six other countries participated in a U.S. Embassy-sponsored summer camp on the theme “Teaching Tolerance through English” at Lake Balaton from July 31 to August 14.

The students and teachers engaged in a variety of athletic, theatrical, artistic and educational activities designed to promote tolerance and an appreciation of each other’s cultures while enhancing their English language skills.

After the two-week program, students will continue their joint projects via e-mail and exchange visits. The program is fully sponsored by the American Embassy in Budapest, and the U.S. Embassies in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Lithuania, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.

Visiting the camp on August 12, Ambassador Kounalakis said that a real strength of the camp was in facilitating communication. He encouraged all of the students to continue the work they have begun at camp and to be leaders in building understanding and cohesion in their communities and across peoples.

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