Monday, February 2, 2009

no habla español!

I can't believe that the bigwigs at Dep Ed and CHED are proposing that Spanish will be added to the school curriculum of selected public schools. While I think the intention is good, I don't think that there is a need to do this as of yet.

Why?

I think there is a need for the government to improve on teaching ENGLISH in public and private schools. English teachers may be quite fluent with the language, (they have to be otherwise they shouldn't teach it right?), but other teachers who teach other subjects, like history or mathematics for example, aren't. Lets not talk about the regional intonations that some teachers have because they grew up in the provinces because to me, its quite understandable. What's very bothersome is, there are some teachers who can't even construct a simple sentence in English.

Its funny how schools implement an "English speaking policy" when there are teachers who can't speak the language correctly. I can't blame these teachers because obviously, they were learning with the same environment as the students in elementary and high-school now.

I think what the government should do is train teachers to speak English in the correct manner first before adding another language to the curriculum. English is spoken in most countries and economically speaking, it will good for our children's to learn the language well, especially if they decide to explore the western world for greener pastures. Call centers are booming right now because we know how to speak in English and I think this skill should be invested upon and improved for more investors to come in.

English can also be used as a tool for Filipinos to communicate, especially in areas where people do not know how to speak Tagalog (of Filipino, out national language, by the way). Yes, sadly there are still some areas where people hardly speak Filipino.

There's also an issue of increasing school tuition fees because of this additional subject. With today's hard times, parents may no longer afford additional subjects for their kids because they simply cannot. This is something that should really be considered and addressed.

And why Spanish? Not that I hate the language because I certainly had a blast when I studied it back in college, but there are other languages that may be useful, especially in terms of commerce, here in our own country. Japanese and Chinese comes to mind. As a country, we do a lot of business with China and Japan and learning Niponggo, Mandarin or Fukien may be better.

Ultimately, because of globalization, it would be better for us to learn another language. But I think that we should put priorities in order before taking on something that isn't really needed as of now. Lets educate our children properly. After all, with good education, they will have a better chance of having a bright future.

:-)

14 comments:

eMPi said...

nice article dre... so true!!!

BAM! said...

Marco:

Thanks!

shengmarie said...

Bam! Ang ganda mg post na ito. I think the government should prioritize English as it is the Universal language, and not the 1 more year extension for college. This came as a shock to me, the added year means added gastos! Why can't they realize that?

BAM! said...

Shengmarie:

Thanks! I hope that people in our government realizes this. Not only are they wasting the people's money, they're wasting our precious time as well. :-)

[vayie] said...

DepEd, CHED or whoever it is trying to pass this is just galactically stupid. I don't see the need for students to learn Spanish when some of them don't even have a good command in English.

Another thing, the 1-year extension in College is a baloney too. Kawawa naman yung mga parents who were hoping to see their children graduate and work after four years. Dagdag gastos lang talaga. Sayang lang. Dapat ang gawin nila, maging maganda yung basics especially nung Elementary and Highschool. Adding a year in College is useless if not too late.

~~m$. DoNNA~~ said...

yeah right
dapat talaga mas pag tuunan ng pansin ang pagtuturo ng english lalong lalo na sa public schools..
kasi pinaka importanteng language yan and medium of communication hindi lang sa ibang bansa kundi pati na rin dito sa pilipinas..
kailangan kailangan yan lalo na sa paghahanap ng work, minsan nosebleed ang mga aplikante pag inenglish na ng nag iinterview...


nakiki epal lang po dito :)

Jes said...

I don't think learning Spanish is a necessity. It's up to the student if he/she wants to learn more than 2 languages or so. And yea, prioritize! That's what they should learn. DepEd and CHED should just focus on English.

Ambisyoso sila. Ni hindi nga nila ma`solve ang isang maliit na bagay, magdadagdag pa sila.

PS: Sasakupin nanaman ba tayo ng mga Espanyol kaya dapat natin yung matutunan? LOL! :D

BAM! said...

Vayie: "galactically stupid" is an understatement hehe

m$ Donna: I agree

Jes: no! que horror! basta may dala silang spanish bread ok lang hehehe

just another wife said...

linked you up to! thanks!

Jules said...

u have a point pero feeling ko ok din i dagdag talaga ang spanish sa curriculum. dpat nga i introduce na ang multilingual education sa bansa at isama na ang german, arabic, spanish at french as an elective. schools nid to evolve and change direction,too. pero galing nang insight mo ha :)

BAM! said...

summer:

agree din ako na dapat may option na matuto ang mga students ng ibang language. tama ka. dapat elective lang.

sana lang ayusin mun nila ang basic education (tulad ng english) bago mag dagdag. baka mamaya carabao-spanish ang matutunan ng mga estudyante. sin verguenza! hehe

Anonymous said...

Como esta mi amigo! ehehe

Oo nga naman, why spanish? They should focus more onto what really is necessary. English is a worldwide laguage. What the heck?
Anu bang halaga ng Spanish language compared to English...

Anyway, you can be a writer in a newspaper column Sir Bam..Nicely written.
cheers!

Anonymous said...

And! Oo nga..
Why not Chinese and Japanese? Ugh!

BAM! said...

Dylan:

muchas gracias mi amiga. muchas gracias! :-)