3 Filipino teachers honored in Chinese province

MANILA (October 21, 2010)—Three Filipino teachers were recognized as outstanding foreign experts by China's Jilin Province for their contributions to the province’s economic and social development, according to the Philippine embassy in Beijing.

The Filipino teachers, who teach the English language, were Ma. Socorro Rodriguez, Arnel Genzola, and Lileth Mesias Reyes.

They were among 59 foreign experts who received citations on September 28 in ceremonies held in Jilin's capital town Changchun. It is part of the province’s celebration of the 61st founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

They were bestowed “The Outstanding Foreign Experts Award,” which the Jilin Provincial Government confers annually to foreign experts to thank and commend them for their outstanding achievements and dedication to China’s development in various fields such as the economy, technology, education, and culture.

“We are very proud for our Filipino awardees for their achievement. It was recognition of their talent and dedication while practicing their craft in China. More importantly, they continue to serve as ambassadors of goodwill as we continue to strengthen our people-to-people links with the Chinese people,” the Philippine embassy said in a statement.

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Businessmen, educators support adding 2 years to Philippine basic education

MANILA (PNA)—A group composed of the country’s leading businessmen and education personalities championing education reforms has expressed its support to the plan of the Department of Education (DepEd) to add two more years or “senior high school” to the current 10-year basic education curriculum.

In a statement, the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said the plan unveiled by Education Secretary Armin Luistro during the World Teachers Day celebration was long overdue, and they called on education stakeholders, including the business community, to support the plan.

“We at Philippine Business for Education or PBEd welcome the government’s strong resolve to finally put in place a decades-old proposal for a K+12 basic education cycle. PBEd reiterates that the additional years in basic education cannot be separated from the issue of poor quality of the education system,” the group’s statement said.

The PBED added: “Forcing into 10 years a curriculum that is learned by the rest of the world in 12 years has resulted in poor performance by our students. This, over and above the poor quality and lack of teachers, textbooks and workbooks and facilities, continues to make learning a growing challenge for more and more of our students.”

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Philippine government to push for revised Magna Carta for Teachers

MANILA (PNA)—The Aquino administration will continue to push for the revised Magna Carta for Teachers to ensure a better working environment for the mentors and support the continuing capacity-building of teachers.

The Department of Education (DepEd) said it would continue promoting accountability among teachers and encourage them to organize themselves into forming professional learning communities in support of improving student learning approaches.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said in a speech marking the World Teachers’ Day celebration on Tuesday morning that this recognition “has been long in coming.”

“We applaud the move to honor them by dedicating one day each year to teachers and the nobility of purpose and profession that they all stand for,” Luistro said.

He said that the DepEd is striving hard to support the educational efforts of the teachers by making teacher education and development a second key reform thrust of the Basic Education Sector Reform Agency, aimed at improving learning outcomes through improved teaching quality.

According to Luistro, the DepEd is now using the Competency-Based Teacher Standards (CBTS) for recruitment, selection and hiring of teachers to ensure that only the best will mentor the learners.

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English blamed for poor literacy of Filipinos

MANILA—The use of English as a medium of instruction even for starter learners may be the reason why some nine million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 find it difficult to read, write, compute and comprehend, according to an education official.

Education Undersecretary Yolanda Quijano said that the use of a secondary language in classroom instruction inhibits learning among young students, eventually leading to poor literacy skills when they become adults.

“Maybe it’s because our children are taught in English,” Quijano, a veteran educator, said. “They are trained to listen but because they don’t have the facility of the language they cannot answer back what they think and what they’re feeling.”

The 2008 Functional Literacy and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) of the National Statistics Office, released in September this year, found that one out of every 10 Filipinos is functionally illiterate, meaning they have difficulty with basic life skills like reading, writing, calculating and understanding.

The FLEMMS survey, the fourth nationwide literacy study since 1989, found that nine million, or some 13.4 percent of 67 million Filipinos, fell below the literacy gauge pegged on these practical skills.

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Philippines has too many universities, says its Commission on Higher Education

MANILA—The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is zeroing in on the excessive number of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country as one of the major causes of the deteriorating quality of higher education.

Dr. Patricia Licuanan, CHED chair, said the proliferation of colleges and universities offering degree programs is making it hard for CHED to check on the quality of programs offered to students.

“We have too many HEIs offering too many programs,” Licuanan told teachers gathered at the University of Asia and the Pacific auditorium recently for the Metrobank Foundation’s launch of celebrations in connection with World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 5.

Licuanan said as of their latest count, there are 2,180 HEIs nationwide, quite a big number considering the country’s size and population of college students.

Of this number, Licuanan said 88 percent are private institutions while the remaining 12 percent are state colleges and universities.

The CHED chief said they will check on the quality of courses offered by all these HEIs to identify which schools should be encouraged to discontinue certain programs, if not close down altogether.

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After 24 hours of debate, English education bill becomes law

QUEBEC CITY (October 19, 2010)—After a day and night of rowdy, raucous, angry debate, members of the National Assembly voted along party lines early Tuesday morning to pass Bill 115.

The bill will allow children who spend three years in an unsubsidized English private school to continue in the public school system if a team of bureaucrats determine that this is part of their “correct educational pathway.”

A special emergency sitting began Monday so the Charest government could force the passage of Bill 115.

In the final vote just after dawn broke Tuesday, 61 MNAs voted in favour of Bill 115, 54 voted against, and there were no abstentions.

The debate throughout the day was very heated, with the Liberal party and the Parti Quebecois making references to the War Measures Act passed 40 years ago.

Premier Jean Charest said Bill 115, which focuses on education and eliminated some language altering the Quebec Charter of Languages contained in Bill 103, is a balanced approach.

“It’s one that respects the primacy of the French language, and even a very close adviser to Rene Levesque describes the PQ position as being radical. And that’s why they’re going to systematically obstruct this piece of legislation,” said Charest.

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“English still a challenge for Korean college students,” say foreign experts

October 16, 2010—Foreign scholars and experts, who were invited by the government to evaluate the quality of the nation’s higher education, have pointed out that a lack of English language proficiency still holds back Korean students from becoming more proactive in classroom.

“Korean students are well-prepared students. But they are more withdrawn from their American counterparts and seldom raise questions during the class,” an American professor, who taught in Korea, told the local Chosun Ilbo newspaper Saturday. “Perhaps it has to do with their fear of having to speak in English.”

The professor was one of the foreign scholars, who participated in the government project, “World Class University,” which was launched in 2008 to enhance the international competitiveness of Korean schools.

According to a recent survey by the National Research Foundation of Korea, which has been tasked to lead the project, 61 percent of foreign professors who taught in South Korea, said Korean college students still lacked in their ability to express their opinions in English.

On the other hand, the foreign scholars believe Korean students are very diligent (53 percent), and well-prepared for class (47 percent).

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Japan teachers may get English training in U.S.

The Japanese and U.S. governments are considering the establishment of a program that would send young Japanese teachers of English to the United States to improve their English ability, it has been learned.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to expand cultural, intellectual and human exchanges between the two countries, in addition to security and economic cooperation as part of the government’s efforts to deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance. The government intends to reach an official agreement that includes the English-teacher plan when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Japan in the middle of next month.

The government envisions training young English-language teachers at primary, middle and high schools in the United State for periods of one to two years.

If 1,000 teachers were dispatched to the United States for one year at an estimated cost of 10 million yen per person, the government would require about 10 billion yen annually to fund the program.

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Program to improve English language skills of expatriates

JEDDAH (October 23, 2010)—The Center for Information and Guidance India (CIGI), Jeddah chapter, has formed an alliance with English Language Service (ELS), a world leader in language training, to conduct English language courses for Indian expatriate workers living in Jeddah.

The program, which will start on Nov. 27, includes classroom instruction and practice in all key language skills — speaking, listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, reading and writing.

“Participants will practice conversation skills and other speaking skills using practical, real-world English, learn to write with accuracy and effectiveness, develop strategic listening skills and improve their use of grammar,” said Abdul Haq Baker, director of the ELS Center at Abdul Latif Plaza along Sitteen Street.

“India is emerging as a superpower mainly because of the abundant availability of skilled manpower. Communicative English is the main factor for success and betterment in jobs. Expatriates can achieve greater heights if they master English,” he said.

The CIGI ELS Intensive English Program will significantly help improve the English skills of those who join the program. “It will also help them achieve greater fluency, and fully prepare them for the challenges of jobs,” said Rasheed Graham, an ELS instructor.

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As China’s students focus on English, grasp on Chinese slipping

October 22, 2010—Currently, a strange phenomenon has appeared on China’s university campuses. Many students are spending a lot of energy learning English, but they have lost the ability to correctly and fluently use the Chinese language.

In the First Academic Session on Life and Chinese Language recently held at Renmin University of China, the vice dean of the University's School of Liberal Arts He Yang expressed his disappointment at the current university students’ Chinese language level. He believes that the education model, insufficient investment as well as outdated and poorly-constructed course content are the key reasons for the decline in education in the mother tongue.

In 2009, He Yang’s students carried out a questionnaire survey among 319 students from Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Foreign Studies University and the Central Academy of Drama to test their ability of distinguishing and properly choosing some Chinese characters and frequently-used phrases. The results astonished all the people, and 68 percent of the respondents scored less than 70 points and 30 percent scored less than 60 points.

He Yang also mentioned another disappointing sampling survey. The target of the survey was part of the homework done by the students of Renmin University's “University Chinese Language” course. The title of the homework is “A Self-Recommendation Letter to a Supervisor.”

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Government officials diligently studying English

BEIJING (October 18, 2010)—Capital government officials are reportedly working on improving their English language skills as a part of a bid to boost Beijing’s push towards achieving “world city” status, and have commissioned a translation center to help them study, Zhao Huimin said at a festival at the Imperial Ancestral Temple Saturday.

“We want to build a friendly international environment for expatriates in Beijing,” said Zhao, who served as director general of the foreign affairs office during the 2010 Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages campaign.

Zhao’s remarks were part of his opening speech, given in both Chinese and English, before he accepted a personal interview at the Beijing Foreign Language Festival 2010, held over the past weekend at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Dongcheng district.

The event included a “flowing fragrance” red wine exhibition and an exhibit of artwork by Chinese and foreign artists.

In his speech, Zhao revealed that “many Beijing government officials are currently studying English in order to better understand foreign cultures and to enhance outside communications.”

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A for ability, C for confidence

NEW DELHI (October 16, 2010)—Henna has a new work language and will soon be looking for her dream job. She hopes to use her newly acquired English language skills to work in the services sector and become part of India's new economy.

Henna was one of the lucky few who were chosen to take part in the Teach India 2010 pilot project that ended here on Wednesday. The initiative, “The ABC of Jobs,” is meant to make young people more employable by teaching them how to speak English.

The programme, which The Times Group devised in collaboration with the British Council, will teach spoken English to young, ambitious boys and girls in the Capital’s urban slums.

The two-month pilot project trained roughly 1,000 pupils from Giri Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Madangir and other poor parts of the city. Most students, who learnt how to speak English fluently, said they wanted to work in the services sector.

Most young learners belonged to households that earned less than Rs 8,000 a month. Most said their parents were barely literate. All of them confessed to being ambitions and wanting to improve their prospects, say, as front-office executives or even as tourist guides.

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Singapore government developing a series of grammar books
            
SINGAPORE (October 20, 2010)—The Ministry of Education and National Institute of Education are developing a series of books on grammar.

Speaking at the Inspiring Teacher of English Award ceremony on Tuesday, Senior Minister of State for Education, S. Iswaran, said the books aim to help students learn grammar in a structured and engaging way.

They are characterised by their extensive use of visuals, illustrations and simple, age-appropriate language to explain complex grammatical concepts.

Mr. Iswaran said examples are drawn from everyday life that students can relate to and humour is incorporated to make learning fun.

He said the “About Grammar” series will be an important resource to complement the extensive reading and exposure to good English that all learners need.

The first in the series, “About Grammar – Basic” for Primary 3-4 students, will be available next month.

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Schools lag in language education
By Paris Achen, Mail Tribune

As soon as eighth-grader Breanna Cwiklinski heard Mandarin Chinese would be offered at Central Point’s Scenic Middle School this year, she was eager to sign up for the class.

“There was nothing else like it,” Breanna says. “It’s the first time ever there was another language to learn (at school), and it was a good opportunity.”

After about a month of instruction from teacher Qi Jing, of Xuchang, China, Breanna and her 36 classmates, divided between two sections, can understand simple sentences in Mandarin and have learned about China and its culture.

Breanna says one of the differences she noticed between U.S. and Chinese societies is that all Chinese students learn English at a young age.

Ordinarily, Chinese students begin studying English in the third grade, says Lin Lin, a Mandarin teacher at Medford’s St. Mary's School. (St. Mary's provides the Mandarin instructor at Scenic free of charge as part of its role as a Confucius Classroom designated and funded by the Chinese government-affiliated Hanban Chinese Language Council.)

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Using TV to teach English in Bangladesh

October 2010—BBC World Service Trust’s English in Action project aims to use a supernatural detective drama and a comedy game show to help millions of people to learn English.

English in Action is a major nine-year initiative in Bangladesh with an ambition to raise the English language skills of 25 million people by 2017.

In a landmark for the BBC World Service Trust project, children and adults will be brought together to learn English for the first time.

The ambition is to use the most widely adopted and affordable media available – television – to reach out to the many millions of ordinary people who have poor or nonexistent English language skills and lack the confidence to learn.

From 16 October, children and adults of all ages will be able to watch the brand-new drama series Bishaash, accompanied by a linked English-language learning show BBC Janala: Mojay Mojay Shekha (Learning is Fun), created by the trust.

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Hard times for English magazines

October 18-24, 2010—Myanmar once had a number of quality English language magazines, yet despite efforts to revive the ailing market, declining readerships and advertising revenues spell out a bleak future for the industry.

“To the best of my knowledge, literary magazines in English cannot survive in this country because of lack of readers and contributors, insufficient contacts [in the international publishing industry] and the problem of distribution,” says U Nyunt Wai Moe, an editor at Educator, a monthly academic magazine published in Myanmar language.

Myanmar once had quite a few magazines published in English, the most popular being The Guardian (1953-2004), Spectrum (1968-1975), Open Mind (1959-1972) and The Cry (1952).

Currently there is only one magazine still published in English. The monthly Today magazine has a circulation of 15,000 and is targeted at English learners. It publishes mostly on cultural themes.

With high print and distribution costs, combined with the limited size of the market, some publishers are looking at digital editions as a way to cut costs and potentially reach more people.

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