Educators seek to nullify English as instructional medium

Tutors ask SC not to make English primary education medium

MANILA, Philippines -- Educators, including a retired Supreme Court justice, have asked the high court to nullify an executive order requiring the use of English as the principal medium of instruction beginning with the first grade.

***The problem here is this.  The public school teachers - who do not use English as instructional medium - are the ones asking for the nullification of using English in the primary classroom.  The public school kids in the country do not know enough English already.  And now, this? 

When we asked our students last April to construct a sentence in English, their sentences are very simple.  So simple that I dare say that Andrea at age 3 could have easily defeated their sentences.  "My mother is beautiful".  "The boy is running".  There was even a boy who really can't do it, he ran away without finishing the interview.  This was at the time when we were still looking for thie final list of 30 scholars. 

There is a way out of here.  Why not tell the teachers to teach in Filipino and English?  Make sure that they speak in English - never mind if they have to speak like preschoolers.  The kids have to learn to speak English.  They also need to listen to English being spoken.  No one speaks English at their homes.  Most of them watch Filipino shows and movies.  If the teachers will CONTINUE teaching in Filipino, or worse, Taglish, then our English instruction will go down the drain.

In my former school (DCSR), I also rebelled against the English campaign.  That was at the beginning of my teaching career.  Then, slowly, I realized that there is a good reason for doing this.  There is a good reason for teaching the kids to speak in English, and listen to instructions in English.

One such reason is confidence.  The kids become confident in speaking English.  And this goes on until the time they graduate high school.  Imagine this, a student spends 13 years in preschool, primary and secondary education.  Each year level has about 200 school days.  That is about 2,600 school days.  If a child learns just 20 English words a day (Rizal memorizes 10 nouns and 10 verbs a day in order to learn a new language), by the time s/he graduates, s/he will have learned 52,000 words. 

Enough for him/her to join Mensa International.

Don't drop English as medium of instruction.  For the future of Philippine education.