A Program of National Language Instruction

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Part of Philippine Educator

Title: A Program of National Language Instruction
Language: English
Year: 1952
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Fulltext: A Program of National Language Instruction (lnclosure to Nueva Ecija Bulletin No. 2, s. 1952) I. Basic Considerations: The national !anguage, of all school subjects, has the distinct advantage of being spoken and understood by the people in the community. This fact should be exploited to the maximum if the sohool is to ensure child growth and development, and improve comnumity living. The power of t:he national language as an instru .. ment of education. can be fully realized under the following considerations: -1. Never before has the school; through the teaching of · the · nationd language, identified· itself with· the community. This is 8o · because the school and the community have now a common medium of communication. Interaction therefore becomes direct,· intimate, and is on the basis of mutual understanding. 2. The education of "the. childten becomes also the educatiOn of the adult, a condition that ensures greater Cihllncies of· behavior changes ~o~ th~ ittiRro~ement ·ofltv'ing. s: The Jearmng of the children in the school has a ready reception at home and in the community because ·such 'learning. :ii:i identified with- home and . comrnunity . conditions, needs~ and problems. · 4. Learning for the children becomes. meaningful, hence effective . . ; ; '.: ' ; . , ' . ~ ' : ' ' . . . 48 and functional not only because the barrier of language has been removed but because the subject matter of instruction is the life the chfildren and their parents live. II. Guiding Principles: In the light of the foregoing considerations, the following principles become rnanif est: 1. The scope of national language instruction should include . the home and the community life. 2. The subject matter of instruction shou.ld be geared to educate also the people. 3. The subject matter. of instruction · shou-ld be drawn from the life of the children ·and of the people in the home and in the corn-· munity. 4. The subject matter of instruction shou1d be directed to the improvement of personal and soeud- 'behavior to the end that life may "be improved. • 5,__:...l'~: kno'Yledge of the l~n guage, the ·skills, . the mechanics, and. the .. like should be ,achieved and .. mastered through actiVities and projeCts arising froin the foregoing items. III. Implementation of the Objeetives~ The foregoing principles can be· resolved into two inter-related :r;najor objectiy~ _namely: THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 49 1. The development of the child With respect to the second catein terms of knowledge, informa- gory, the subject matter of intion, ski'lls, and attitudes within struction should be consciously the framework of the principles and determinedly geared to reach listed above; and the home and the community. Since the units are of high func2. The projection of the educa- tional value and are taught in the tion of the child from the school language the home can underto the home and the community, stand, teachers should enable the and vice versa, to the end that children to communicate their the adults may share in that edu- learning to their parents. The· cation as learners and as contrib- new understanding between the uting agents. school and the home, through comAs regards the development of munity school activities, makes the the child, Curriculum Project No. knowledge which the children 1 NL (Resource Units in National bring home readily acceptable to Language), Division Bulletin No. the parents. This is not only for 2, s. 1951 should be used as the their benefit but also for the chiloasic curriculum guide. It is to dren whose new behavior patterns oe noted that the core of this ma- and modes of thinking thrive best terial is the social studies, which with sanction and cooperation of has been chosen for its functional their· parents. va1ue, its interest, and flexibility for purposes of correlation.. The new project which teachers. are ~lled · upo:p to undertake is· to distribute among the units the purely language skills, such as conversation, composition, dictation, kinds . (}f letters, letter forms, punctuation, abbreviation, con.traction, sentence eonstrilction, fanctional gTammar, and· .the, like. The 'Dew textbooks in ll&nguag.e for Grades Ill and IV, which may soon .become ·available; indicate the : language skills more comprehensively, which should serve .Ute. t.ea.chers, as their gi,rlde in . ~eaeh ing skills in the grades. Much as teachers want the pupils to· learn the necessary language skills, it should be observed that these are learned best through . the study of the units in the basic curriculum guide for Nationai Language. Available texts and references are to be tied up with this guide. The fallowing specific activities are suggested to satisfy the two major objectives: 1. Starting poinm <>f interest for conversation, study, and the like may begin in the cfassroom and/or from the observati&n or report of some children on house activities. 2. · Plans for study, observation, mapual activities, etc. should be worked out· by the pupils within the .framework of the , curriculum ~uide. . . .. 3. Children visit places in the community· ,under :weN-developed plans in which the children participate under the. guidance of the teacher. Such places are the home, the church,. the market, the municipal building, not as they are but as they are used by men. The purpose is to se~'' what people do, what they 1ay,. how they behave or interact so that ·children may 50 THE. P~ILIPPINE EDUCATOR not only know life activities in the family and in a social organization but also understand the various uses of language and its various forms as a medium of communication. 4. Language projects such as programs, broadcasts, simulated or real, making posters, preparing invitations, letters, corresponding with pupi'ls in other schools or abroad, organizing clubs, holding debates, declamation, balagtasan, dupluhan, etc.~ are rich sources of knowledge and off er opportunities for developing skills and personality. 5. Classes or schools should put up programs for special days according to the patriotic calendar, and participate in community programs. 6. Social clubs and class organizations should practice and study how to conduct meetings; follow the order of business, how to make a motion, how to second it, how to put it to debate, to vote, etc. The proper behavior, the manner of talking-, the use of appropriate language should be studied, including how to conduct nominations, eiectio:ns; how to debate, how to campaign not only for elections but also for certain movements like to :build a school, a plaza, a reading center, irrigation system; for better health and sanitation, for literacy,: peace and order, for better municipal administration, etc. IV. Grade Allocation: This is a · unitarY" program of National Language instruction and, for this reason, teachers should not be found by the speci.; fie allocations of the units to the different grades. This view is adopted because of the considerable overlapping of the units. The secondary schools are not listed in the curriculum guide, but it will not be difficuat to extend the difficulty and the scope of the elementary units to meet the maturity, interest and social needs of secondary school students. Out of this experience the secondary school teachers should be able to evolve a curriculum guide of their own. In fact the secondary schools should take the necessary steps toward this end. V. Evaluation: Since evaluation is a continuing · process, it will onJy be necessary here to suggest· some criteria for judging the progress of child development in terms of knowledge, skills, and social usefullness. Evaluation should embrace two . important .phases of language instruction, :namely: (a) An understanding•and command of the.content of things which interest children and adult, and for which language plays an important role; (b) A command of the skills, forms~ usages, mechanics used in oral and written language. Teachers should be able to work out specific criteria for the grades they. teach within the framework of the two major phases of language instruction. The Secret of JCL GENOVEVA D~ EDROZA Philippine Normal College "Come over. I shall help you transfer to my school even if I have to see the Superintendent myself about it." Thus wrote Juan C. Laya, Principal of Arellano High School, in answer to my letter of inquiry, Very stiffly, in the most formal language that would hide hesitation and timidity and lack of self-confidence,. I had written to the Principal of Arellano High School, without ever having met him before. I had inquired how an elementary school teacher about to finish her B.S.E. course should go about for a teaching position in the high school. Perhaps he saw through the stiffness and the formality and discovered the hesitation and the timidity and the lack of self-confidence and so wrote me the above reply. It was with some nervousness that I approached a clerk in the school and asked who . Mr: Laya was. But it was with trepidation that I introduced myself to the stern~looking school official pointed out to me by the clerk. However, when: he spoke to me, I knew at once he was a kindly man who understood people, especially timid people. It was later, while working with him in the same school, that I wou:ld discover why he had a knack for drawing shy people out of their shells, often going out· of his way to do so: He was Qnce timid himself, retiring within his shell. It 'must have been a long, lonely ftght before fulfillment. And he had never forgotten that fight in spite of the successes arid the affluence that came later. He was patient in the process, perhaps because he remembered so well the pain and the anguish before he could break the wall and exterid a hand to a friendly world -which is, after all, really kind and friendly, inspite of what timid people think. He told me I would demonstrate lessons on the Tagalog translation of the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam. He had barely finished saying that when I grew pale and began feeling faint. He asked why and I told him in all candidness of my unholy terror of observers entering my room, let alone demonstrate; I begged and implored and even thought of absenting myself from school, but he kept on smiling his easy smile and repeated slowly and calmly but firmly that I would demonstrate. And demonstrate I did - for three successive ·days. How I did it is still a wonder to me now. But survive it I did and with the experience came a knowing: one must not fail the faith entrusted ; one must 61