SECONDARY public school teachers are complaining that there are public elementary school graduates going to first year high school who are very slow learners and non-English readers. Is this the fault of some public elementary school teachers or is there something wrong with the system?
We cannot afford to play a “blame game”. There is a remediation program in the public secondary school for slow learners and non-readers. Who will handle this program? Do we have specialists to take care of this? Is there a separate budget to buy facilities and other needs? We want to hear honest-to-goodness answer.
It is admitted that DepEd does not have enough books. Some teachers in the public elementary schools “alleged” that the new K to 12 textbooks are “hard” to teach. We do not know who or what is hard here...the books or some teachers. If both are hard, then we will be producing more slow learners and non-readers.
My friend from the non-government sector made a “special exploration”. Through his magical way, he was able to convince many elementary public school teachers to write a whole-page essay on a given topic. He was frustrated to see the results. Many teachers (around 65 percent) did not pass his expectations.
Common faults are in grammar...subject-verb agreement, the use of tenses, identification of the parts of speech, kinds of sentences, coherence in paragraph construction, and even in the spelling of some words. He said, “If these teachers have many lapses in their written English, can we expect them to teach well their children in reading articles in English?”
English is a secondary language for Filipinos. Learning English starts with reading and writing it correctly. Your correct reading should be followed with comprehension. How can you comprehend the language if your English grammar is faulty? At this point my friend continued, “We know where the fault is.”
Our DepEd VIPs should zero in at the root cause. If we have remediation classes for slow learners and non-readers, can we have refresher course in English grammar and speech for identified public elementary school teachers and possibly for our public secondary school teachers who are in turmoil?
There is Executive Order No. 210 that establishes the policy to strengthen the use of English language as a medium of instruction in all public and private institutions of learning in the secondary and tertiary levels. Good English speaker students are better prepared for the job opportunities in the new, technology driven sectors of the economy.
It is common observation that even English teachers do not speak straight English in their classrooms. Teachers outside the classroom converse in Hiligaynon while students are listening to them (as models). If you want to master English you have to know what you know, and know also what you do not know.
If teachers want their pupils and students to be good readers, good speakers and good listeners in English, they have to teach them to think in English, speak in English, feel in English, laugh in English, cough in English and sneeze in English.
To the teachers, students and pupils, you can only be consistent in your English if you will be consistently consistent in all your English consistencies. No offense is meant.