Messages

1

My Media English Watch / Re: The English of some Aquino cabinet members verges on gobbledygook

« on: July 05, 2010, 04:36:52 PM »

You know how it is with Filipinos; they love to use big words to sound smart and perhaps credible. I agree with you that statements, especially from the President, and with the intent of letting most people understand, should be stated simply.

However, often, the simplest sentence is the most difficult thing to write!

2

Site Announcements / Re: Let’s not be duped into delivering speeches with plagiarized material

« on: April 07, 2010, 01:37:59 AM »

What happened to MVP was really really sad. It was the height of irresponsibility!Whoever his speech writer(s) was(were) ought to be shot!

I read the full speech and if not for those undocumented parts, it would have been a good speech. My golly! How difficult is it to acknowledge your sources?!... See More

Well, it's a lesson learned for all of us. Next time, careful careful! Better yet, let's have respect for other people's ideas, other people's accomplishments.

3

Education and Teaching / We need comprehensive, honest-to-goodness teachers' training all across levels

« on: September 04, 2009, 06:19:08 PM »

I'm sorry to say this but the state of education and teaching in the country today has gotten worse. The graduates are not armed with the right and sufficient tools for work. So, we shouldn't be surprised if there are many out there who are unemployable.

I had taught in the University for five years, and the common problem with my students was that they lacked comprehension skills. They could not understand even the basic instructions. I couldn't blame them. Why? When I asked them, how they were taught in high school/grade school, they would go, "our teachers were just mouthing the words written on our textbooks. There was no effort to help us understand or teach us how to understand the lessons."

Can we blame the teachers? Not really. It's actually a vicious cycle. The teachers were not taught how to teach nor they had the knowledge to impart. How can they teach what they do not know in the first place?

To remedy this, I believe in a comprehensive, honest-to-goodness teachers' training all across levels. I even think that a more vigorous training is needed for pre-school, grade school, and high school teachers. The re-training, as others put it, should start with a needs analysis, of course. But if I had to give my two cents on this training, it should be grounded heavily on comprehension skills (What do they know? Do they understand what they know?), then on to the communication skills (How are they going to impart what they know effectively?).