Messages

1

Use and Misuse / Poisoning the minds of children is ok?

« on: June 29, 2010, 12:10:07 PM »

I don't get it.

Why was Mr. Calipjo Go subjected to libel suits by publishers, authors and the DepEd?  He was wrong?

I saw for myself the Grade 5 English book being used by public schools which is labelled not for sale and is mandated for use by the DepEd.  The book says the following words are homonyms:  gripe/grip;eat/it, three/tree, branch/brunch, for/fur.  Duh?!  The last pair can only be homonyms if "for" is uttered in rapid speech but generally "for" should be partnered with "fore" and "four." 

The same book has this scientific statement: Birds sing for the joy of it.  Birds sing for other purposes but such songs are not used for communication.  I'm still trying to process this and I happen to be a Biology graduate.  Oh, another statement is "turtles are slow but sure animals."   Ooookay. Yes, in the context of Aesop's but as a general statement it sounds stupid.  I saw a list compiled by Mr. Go and I must say if people in the education industry do not see the mistakes can we just boycott local textbooks?   They don't see the errors?  Really??? I only learned recently libel suits were filed against Mr. Go.  I also read that for DepEd, 3 major errors in textbooks still deserve a rating of excellent.  What a load of crock! This isn't like getting 97 out of 100 is still okay psycobabble so kids don't think they have to be perfect all the time.

They are poisoning our children's minds.   We are breeding a population of imbeciles and idiots who will think that all fish have lungs, plants are self-planters, dreams make the world go around, animals sacrifice their lives for peopleand, bring peace to the world or create color and harmony to humankind.

I am going to be sick.

If anyone says to me, well, there's such a thing now as World Englishes and this is part of what is Philippine English...  I'm gonna beat the livin' daylights out of him!  Do not use this as an excuse.

Boycott local textbooks.  Instead, let us find a way to ask for rights to locally print imported books.  There are many good ones out there because I have seen them.

Adding years to our educational system isn't worth squat if our textbooks are garbage and our teachers are lousy and also products of the same trashy instructional materials!

Back to my question.  Why the libel suit?  They really really didn't think they were wrong?   This country is so doomed...

2

Lounge / A is not for Atis

« on: May 15, 2010, 10:12:52 AM »

I am a huge fan of Mr. Carillo and wish schools make his books their formal English textbook!  Of course, that would entail training teachers how to teach it.

I am desperate so I have turned to FB and yahoogroups and writing to people I idolize but who don't know me from Eve.   I do this for my nephew, who like most children, will believe school teachers more than me, an English teacher myself.   I simply cannot accept these dang errors in our local textbooks!

I apologize since my ranting about this issue is so trivial compared to life's more pressing needs.  But if I don't stand up for this, who will? Maybe someday someone with authority who is as passionate about uplifting our country's standard of English education will see my point.  It starts with the little things.  We can't keep teaching what’s wrong and pass it down from generation to generation.

Either authors and publishers get their act together or I’m calling for a boycott of all local Phonics books including ABC coloring books.   To think the authors are from institutions like PNU, UP, Ateneo, etc.  I don’t blame them though.  They are writing books based on what they themselves learned before.

I just went through my nephew's Phonics textbook for the next school year and I am absolutely livid at what I saw, although I had already expected it.  It just never fails to send me into a rage.

Every English book will always start with the vowels and the star of them all is the letter A.   The “miseducation” of Filipinos in English has its roots right here.

The short sound of A as heard in “ant" and "alligator" is not the sound you hear in "America," "aquarium" or "atis."   Reread this statement and digest it well… authors, teachers and publishers!

First let me tackle atis.  The A is pronounced "ah" which rhymes with the A in "father."  It's a totally different sound from the short  A in “apple”.  The letter A is pronounced in different ways. There’s the short A in alligator, long A in apron, ah sound sa in father, schwa sound as in assignment,  A as in fall, and silent in cocoa (this is not pronounced "kokwa" please).

Is it so hard to understand that “atis” is not even an English word???  Based on my asking around and checking with Google, atis is sugar apple or custard apple or sweet sop.  I have seen so many local books, some even finding their way in other countries where Filipino teachers are employed, that say A is for Atis.   Nooooooo!
 
Then there’s “aquarium.”   We do not teach Filipinos one of the most important and vital features of English pronunciation – the SCHWA.   It is a neutral vowel that sounds something like a quick “uh” found in unstressed syllables.   This fish tank is pronounced “uh-kweh-ree-yium” because the first syllable composed of a single letter A is unstressed.

All vowels can represent the schwa sound.  Examples: A in about, O in lemon,  E in listen, I in pencil and U in supply.  So essentially, they are pronounced as if the vowel is not there (lemn, lisn...)
 
To make it less technical, listen to how native speakers of English pronounce “America” and “apple.”  The two letter A’s in America are never pronounced like the A in apple.   
 
In the world of Linguistics, there is now such a thing as World Englishes.   Philippine English is what educated Filipinos speak.  (Sorry jejemons, you are not included ok?)  It includes words like  “CR” (never use this abroad to mean the toilet because nobody outside of us says that) “presidentiable” and “holdupper” which are not words that exist in the vocabulary of native English speakers.
 
Well, I cannot accept ATIS as Philippine English because it’s not an English word at all.  And to say that the beginning sound of “aquarium, assimilate, accordion, amazing” is the same as that of  “animal, abdomen, anthill, amnesty” is going against a strong pronunciation rule in English.  Time for a trip to the ENT for a hearing test, hello?
 
Hey, so what?  Pronouncing America like “ahh meh ree kah” with all the letter A’s sounding like the “aaaah” you utter for the dentist doesn’t change the meaning and you are still able to communicate properly, right?  Sure, I get that.
 
How we do things in our daily lives to establish contact and make ourselves understood is a practical act we perform.  We are free to prefer fluency over accuracy.   In the end, it’s really all about getting the message across and I am all for that.
 
However, books are formal records of knowledge and teaching is a profession that should label as blasphemous incorrect information being passed on to the succeeding generations. 

Last semester I was asked to evaluate a textbook.  My groupmates chose a book DepEd has mandated for use in public schools. What I saw made all the blood go against gravity and rush to my brain like boiling lava about to be spit out by an awakened volcano.  I can forgive the minor errors but the following I cannot:
 
These word pairs are labeled as homonyms, santisima!
 
grip/gripe                              eat/it               three/tree
branch/brunch                       for/fur              are/hour

Two pairs need explanation:

 -  In rapid speech, “for” does sound like “fur” which is a homonym of “fir” and rhymes with “sir” but strictly speaking, “for” is a homonym of “four” and “fore” more than “fur.”

- strictly speaking it should be “our” and “hour” that are homonyms not with “are.”    “Our” and “hour” can be pronounced as two syllables sometimes in extended pronunciation while “are” is not.
 
Nobody cares, I know.   But I’ll continue to write about this.  In a country with a population like ours, someone, for one reason or the other, may see the point I’m making.  We cannot take on such a casual attitude when it comes to publications.  We just CAN’T!

At least, please get the word out that ATIS IS NOT AN ENGLISH WORD and does NOT have the same sound as the A in APPLE!!!