The CETA tsckles English problems
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- The CETA tsckles English problems
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- English
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- 1952
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- The CETA Tackles English Problems DECRY HALF-BAKED COLLEGE GRADUATES From the MANILA CHRONICLE Nov. 9, 1952 DILIMAN, -Quezon City. Nov. 8 (PNS) — The mass production of half-baked college graduates in the Philippines is due to the in adequacy of students in the knowl edge of the English language as a medium of expression. This was the conclusion reached by members of the College of Eng lish Teachers Associations in this morning’s session of their nation al conference at the Liberal Arts auditorium of the University of the Philippines here. Today is the second and last day of the con ference. Fr. Harry B. Furay, one of three speakers this morning sug gested that the students in order to gain mastery of the English language, should know at least something, “although not every thing,” in the meaning of a word. He said that if it were true that there were “half-baked” graduates, the teachers of the English lan guage should also bear the respon sibility for the situation. Other speakers were Dr. Paul R. Hanna, who spoke on improv ing the curriculum as it affects the teaching of English in the Philippines, and Dr. Josephine Bass-Serrano, who discoursed on improving the pre-service train ing of teachers of English. Dr. Benito F. Reyes of the Far East ern University presided in this morning’s session. TEACHING OF ENGLISH DISCUSSED From the MANILA TIMES, Nov. 8, 1952 A new method of teaching Eng lish which dispenses with most of the standard distinguishing marks in pronunciation was described yesterday by a language teaching authority. Miss Helen Sims, an American expert on language teaching, told the College English Teachers As sociation at the FEU auditorium yesterday that this method, which she called “phonemic,” uses only 38 sounds m the pronunciation key where Webster uses 61, and only 17 vowel sounds where Web ster uses 32. (Phonemic pertains to the va riation of speech sounds all spelled with the same or equivalent let ter or with letters commonly re garded as of the same sound.) For the effective teaching of the language, Miss Sims said: 1. All sounds must be mastered in the first and second years. 2. A child must learn the lan guage step by step. i 3. The teacher must build up a controlled vocabulary. There must be a correlation with other subjects if English is used as the medium of instruction. Dr. Jose M. Hernandez, dean of the University of the East college of liberal arts and president of the C E T A, said the organization should exert all efforts to bring about the effective use of English 21 . THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 22 by Filipinos as a vehicle for con veying Filipino heritage to the rest of the world. In another paper read yester day, Dr. Alfredo T. Morales of the University of the Philippines reviewed the nature and back ground of the English language problem in the Philippines. He suggested: 1. Major vernaculars should be the medium of instruction instead of English up to Grade IV. 2. Tagalog should be taught starting in first year high school and taught more scientifically than by the oral method. 3. English should be taught, as á foreign language starting with Grade I. ; Dr. Jose Villa Pafiganiban of the University of Santo Tomas de clared that “our language prob lem has. remained an involved problem.” He said that though the national language law was passed some 12 years ago, “there are still thousands who oppose it.” He fa vors the use of the vernacular in the teaching of English. He delved into the history of several lan guages to prove his point. CETA URGES CHANGES IN ENGLISH TEACHING From the MANILA TIMES, Nov. 9, 1952 The College English Teachers Association (ÇETA) wants some changes made in the teaching of English in the Philippines. ’ In a resolution passed yester day to end the two-day CETA conference, the teachers urged, the ’ teaching of English as a second language tip to Grade Two, with : instruction in other subjects conducted in the local vernacular. English will be taught exclusive ly after Grade Two, but the pres ent system of teaching English will be discarded in favor of what is known as “the second language teaching” process evolved by Prof. Charles Fries of the University of Michigan and experts of the.Lin guistics Institute in Washington, D.C. The “second language teaching” process places emphasis on an oral approach, a controlled vocabulary, and a mastery of phonemics, or the variation of speech sounds of the same or equivalent letters. Ini tial vocabulary will consist of words found by psychologists to be appropriate for children at differ ent age and mental levels. An experiment now being con ducted among Grade One, the Grade Two pupils in Iloilo pub lic schools uses the vernacular — Hiligaynon — as the medium of instruction, but the teaching of English afterwards goes on by the present method. This experiment is also being done on a limited scale in Bulacan and Bataan. Results in tests conducted with controlled groups which have been taught wholly on the English lan guage show that the pupils in the Iloilo experiment assimilate more knowledge, and while they are at disadvantage at first they soon surpass pupils who have ‘been brought up wholly on the English language. . Dr. Alfredo T. Morales of the University of the Philippines said last night the vernacular as a lan guage of instruction is being used all over the world. The teaching in Grades One and Two in the vernacular would ne cessitate, as it did in the Iloilo ex{)eriment, the translation of Engish textbooks now in use into the nine major vernacular dialects. THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 23 This would involve expense, but the child who would be learning in his own dialect would absorb more knowledge, Dr. Morales said. In yesterday’s morning session, Fr. Harry B. Furay, S.J., of the Ateneo de Manila, said if it were true half-baked graduates were being turned out because of defi cient training in English, the teachers would have to share in the blame. The teachers proposed that ele mentary school teachers, who have first crack at a child’s training in English, attend weekly seminars to improve and maintain their own proficiency in the English lan guage.“ The afternoon session featured five teachers who described their favorite devices in teaching Eng lish. Miss Lilia Villa of the University of the Philippines said her fa vorite device is to bring her stu dents to an informal gathering where they are given experience in speaking the language. Mrs. Helen C. Leyden of the University of Santo Tomas asks her students to look up meanings of words in the dictionary, and assign them to use those words correctly. Waldo Perfecto of the De la Salle College urged the body to ask teachers from other faculties to cooperate with the English de partment by insisting that their pupils speak correct English all the time. He said there is a tendenéy for some teachers in other departments to overlook grammar and pronunciation mistakes. Other teachers who described their methods were Miss Lourdes del Rosario of the Far Eastern University, and Miss Paulina Acuña of Baguio Colleges. ENGLISH TEACHERS THRESH OUT PROBLEMS IN CONFERENCE From the MANÏLÀ CHRONICLE, Nov. 8, 1952 The “sterility of thought” among college teachers was blam ed yesterday on the current lack of instructional materials fit for Filipino students in higher schools of learning. The charge was made by Dr; . Charles Houston, JJr., deán of the school of foreign Service of the University of Manila, during the afternoon session of the third na tional conference of College Eng lish Teachers association at the University of the East auditorium. The conference was opened at 8 o’clock yesterday morning at the Far Eastern University audito rium by Jose M. Hernandez, pres ident of' the GETA and dean of the college of ìibéral arts, Universjty of the East. A great number of local teach ers; according to Houston, who make important discoveries in the teaching of English in college do not bother at all to publish their findings. Those who spoke at the open ing session were Dr. Rufino Ale jandro, linguistic assistant at the Institute of National Language, bil “The Position of thé INL on the Language Problem,”, Dr. Al fredo T. Morales of the Universi ty of the Philippines,- on “Thé Position of the CETA on the Lan guage Problem,” Dr. Jose Villa Pafiganiban on “Teaching in the Vernacular ■— the Local Scene,” and Helen Sims, cultural officer at the US embassy, on “A New Ap proach to the Teaching of a Sec ond Language.” 24 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR The other two speakers in the afternoon session were Martin Aguilar, administrative officer of the bureau of public schools, who dwelt on “The Lack of Profession ally Trained Teachers” and Deme trio Andres, chief of- the instruc tion division, bureau of public schools, who expounded on “The Lack of Instructional Material in the High School.” A new method of teaching Eng lish to Filipino students, called the “phonemic method,” which does away with complicated markings was bared during the morning ses sion by Miss Sims. She suggested that English be taught “only as a second lan guage” next to the accepted na tional language. She said that the best way would be to teach the pupils as Filipinos, and not as if they were Americans. Dr. Houston enumerated other reasons for the lack of instruction al materials in local colleges, name ly: 1) lack of knowledge on the part of the teachers on the right instructional materials, 2) reluc tance of teachers to require stu dents to buy their own books, and 3) inadequate facilities provided by school libraries. • The schedule of activities for today, the closing day, includes: leading of papers by Dr. Paul R. Hanna, Fr. Harry B. Furay, S.J., and Dr. Josephine Bas-Serrano, and business meetings. The site of today’s meeting will be the Uni versity of the Philippines audito rium in Diliman. The Swiss Educating For Work And Defense CAMILO OSIAS After my third visit to Switzer land and seeing more of the coun try, its people, and its institutions 1 am thoroughly convinced that we have much to learn and we can de rive a great deal of inspiration from this nation which is success fully educating its citizens for work and for defense. It has long been my belief that we can get more encouragement from a study of countries rela tively small and poor than from those which are large and rich. Of course, a nation like America has much to. offer, but at times it is discouraging to see there a great many things to envy but which can not be duplicated because we do not have millions to finance large projects and we do not live under an economy of abundance. The experience and achieve ments of the Swiss are decidedly encouraging. Switzerland is small, its total area being only 16,000 square miles while that of the Phil ippines is 115,000 square miles. The population of Switzerland is only four million and a-half, while that of the Philippines is twenty million. The Swiss climate is se vere, ours is benign. The soil of Switzerland is not naturally fer