Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Speak out: Bridge language
By Ted Lugtu
THE reported Cebu Provincial Board resolution to make Cebuano the “bridge language” in our elementary and secondary schools is the last thing our current educational system needs.
In fact, it will go the exact opposite of a bill authored by Rep. Luis Villafuerte that is meant to reverse our deteriorating proficiency with the English language, the main cause of which is the needless multiplicity of language mediums used in our schools.
Instead of concentrating on English as medium of instruction, with Tagalog used “only when taught as a subject,” too many others like Social Studies, Character Education, Industrial Arts, History etc. use Tagalog.
Or worse, “Taglish,” a mix of Tagalog and English.
The resulting lack of focus is the recognized main cause for our ever-worsening problem with English, the acknowledged “universal language of today.”
If, as is now proposed by the Cebu Provincial Board, Cebuano is thrown in as additional medium in the form of a “bridge language” for young learners in Cebu areas, imagine the resulting confusion that will result.
(No way, of course, to eliminate Tagalog entirely from the elementary curricula.)
What will then prevent other regions in the country like Pampanga, Ilocos, Pangasinan, etc. from implementing the same “bridge language” policy in their own areas, using their own dialects?
Realism, not sectionalism, is the real need of today if we must reverse our downward plunge from English proficiency as a nation.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 23, 2008 issue)
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