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Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Mayor suggests using karaoke in classrooms
By Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Karaoke machines, often associated with drinking, could soon be a common sight in public schools, this time to help students speak English properly.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants to use karaoke machines as a medium of instruction, if only to teach public school students to learn English words and pronounce them right.
Karaoke, he said, can complement videotapes so the students can compare their pronunciation with that of the actual singer.
Osmeña raised this possibility during his meeting with Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Florencio Abad last Monday morning, after the latter revealed that the best students are found in the rural areas, and not in the cities.
Singing it right
“I’ve come up with so many crazy ideas just to teach them English. I know some people make fun of it but I even suggested karaoke machines so they can sing in English, they love to sing anyway.
They can see the original singer and they can also hear themselves,” he said.
Osmeña lamented that since the teachers mispronounce some words in class, the students also end up mispronouncing them.
If he had his way, the mayor also wants to replace incompetent teachers who belong to the lowest two percent to give chance to other education graduates who can perform better.
That way, he said, the quality of education will improve since all teachers will try harder.
The mayor said the major factor in developing quality students is when the teacher spends more time with the students and when the parents-teachers community association is active in addressing the concerns of the students.
Teacher screening
While he wants to improve the English proficiency of teachers and students, Osmeña said he is not in favor of extending elementary and secondary education from 10 to 13 years.
The DepEd, he added, should set a standard way of teaching English such as the use of videotapes, “because if the teachers can’t pronounce it right, the students also won’t pronounce it the right way.”
“I told Secretary Abad that unless DepEd is willing to kick out poorly performing teachers, we can only improve so much. How can it be that in several hundreds of teachers, not one in the previous years is dismissed for incompetence? You mean everybody is qualified?” he said.
Aside from the licensure examination for teachers, DepEd should also assess the skills of the educators and how they can relate with the students, Osmeña suggested.
(December 8, 2004 issue)
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