To alert all of those who care about good English and sound education for the Filipino people, I am reproducing the editorial of The Manila Times
for today, June 6, 2009, about the grammar errors found in six locally produced textbooks teaching English:EDITORIAL
News about textbook errors In the gloom and doom brought on by the bad weather, the threat of a recession and the House of Representatives majority’s immoral House Resolution 1109 to form a Constituent Assembly, we must thank God for a piece of good news.
The Department of Education, yesterday’s
Star reported (in the page one story by Rainier Allain Ronda), has admitted that the heroic watchdog of error-filled textbooks, Mr. Antonio Calipjo Go, is right again. DepEd admits that the Grade 1 to Grade 6 series of books all titled “English for You and Me” are filled with the errors exposed by former school administrator Go.
These books, authored by Elodie Cada and published by Book Wise Publishing House, are used nationwide by public elementary students.
To remedy the problem, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced, a “teacher’s guide” pointing out the errors and correcting them is now being printed and would soon be issued.
Secretary Lapus said his department studied the textbooks last February and confirmed the presence of the errors Mr. Go had exposed earlier. Mr. Go said he found more than 500 errors in the books.
This is a happy event. Before, the DepEd’s reaction to Mr. Go’s exposes was to find excuses and to claim, wrongly and unjustly, that he had taken the sentences out of context.
Mr. Go said in his expose that these six books “were published by Book Wise as part of the National Program Support for Basic Education [Loan Number 7393-PH] of the Department of Education under an agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.” The government, Mr. Go said, paid P383 million for these six books.
DepEd had given these books sterling credentials. On February 2, 2009 a department official said in an article in the Inquirer that these books were passed by an editorial board from the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) and “passed with flying colors a rigid, multistage screening process, going through four areas of evaluation.” Academicians from prestigious universities had also evaluated and approved the books for accuracy of content and grammar.
Have a laugh, courtesy of Book Wise We had a lot of laughs going through all the passages with grammatical, conceptual, vocabulary and idiomatic errors. The comic high is greater when all the errors pile up and one that is monumentally ridiculous stands out. Here are some of them:
From the Language textbook for Grade 6: •The rain and storm are needed to snuff out the heat in the air. Enjoy the frolicking sun with the refreshing air around! Good weather is here to perk up the mind. •Heidi’s family went on a vacation to the province of Paoay.•In interviewing people, use questions that begin with who, what, when, where, how and did. •Just remember this acronym—DOCSiShQACNMN to make it easy for you to remember the order of adjectives in a series. •If you lose your keys, don’t fuss. If you lose your face, don’t wince. •Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novels “The Treasure Island” and “The Kidnapper.” •Listen to this comic strip as your teacher reads the lines. •My sister is old. She can accompany me to the outing.
From the Reading textbook for Grade 4 •After sunset, that is the time Muslims eat and drink much until midnight. Then they start fasting again the next day. • “Is what this man say true?” asked the judge. •Strong winds blow the rain inside the clouds. Bits of water break up causing electricity and lightning. •When the tamaraw is full-grown, it measures about 120 centimeters. •Juan Luna’s painting Spoliarium represents several circus slaves dragging dead bodies. There is also a young woman with her hair in disorder. •When an enemy comes, the porcupine releases some spines from its body. To be hit by these spines is like getting hit by arrows. The people of Palawan call this animal durian. •The eyes of a person who has rabies become very sharp. His mouth bubbles. •A handcuff is usually worn around the wrist. •He had stable horses.
From the Language textbook for Grade 4 •The baby winked her eyes. •If the message is not for you and you are going to call the person say, please hold your line. • The horse’s feet (used three times) •Monkeys use their tails as an extra hand. Don’t you think it would be funny to see a monkey pick guava with its tail? How funny! The monkey uses its tail to get its food. •Most Eskimos live in the snow most of the time.•Reading a road map is a proof that you are a good reader.
From Reading textbook for Grade 3 •The walls of the pupa case break. What do you think comes out from it? A baby butterfly comes out. The caterpillar will be a baby moth. •Ants have long hairs on their front legs. They use their hair like a brush. They clean their bodies with their tongue. When they cannot wash with their tongue, they clean with their feet. Why Do Ants Like to Clean? •Nurses going around the hospital injecting the patients. •Wind: If you see it, it makes the air move. •Sometimes the moon was only a half size like half of a cake.•There in a stable, they found Joseph who led them to the manger where Mary lay with the Child Jesus in her arms.
•Nibble: take in small bite •Sip: drink in small drop
From Language textbook for Grade 3 •What words that have the same sound? •The Chinese came to the Philippines many years ago. They rode on small boats. •To make the balloons round, I blew and blew. •Listen to your teacher reads the following poem. •This is Mentong. His family lived in a small cave thousands of years ago.
Check out
this editorial in The Manila Times----
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