English In Filipinos Colleges And Universities

[nigelmac]

 

I had  a similar problem in France and it is ongoing my daughter who speaks English quite well corrected her school teachers from the age of 6-7 with their pronunciation (those French can really tear the English language to threads with their accents) and not only was she NOT thanked and recognized she was scolded and accused of being insolent I personally find this kind of situation scandalous!!!  :th_unfair:

 

hahaha You are so funny talking about the French. I couldn't stop laughing.

 

If a teacher treated my small child like that I would have to do something and it wouldn't be pretty. The students want be saying, teacher what happened to your face?

 

Believe me I have ripped them 2nd holes on many occasions :bash: , they will be more than happy to know that I am 8,000 Kms away in Cebu  :)

[Papa Carl]

This article is in today's Manila Times. As I had posted earlier, you have to want to speak English to be able to speak it. You can study grammar but will not be able to speak English until you can think in English, not translate Tagalog sentences into English. You have to try and practice to be efficient.

 

http://manilatimes.net/how-to-improve-your-written-and-spoken-english-by-really-trying/77414/

Having spent the last 7 years either working in the Call Centre/BPO industry, or the Education system, working with Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese etc. I can honestly say that until my students start "thinking" in English they struggle to improve. However once they do start thinking in English they make vast jumps of improvement quickly. 

The other misconception is that if the watch English TV, or listen to English Radio, or read English Books they will improve, however listening and reading English does not work until you start to speak it, reading out loud to yourself or others helps.

As my father always said "practice (noun) makes perfect" and with out practising (verb) your English you will not improve, or should I say "not improve as quickly".

 

My spell check keeps telling me the work Practise is incorrect, however just like advice and advise, one is used as a noun, the other as a verb and therefore is spelled differently.

 

It helps when teaching English pronunciation to work Phonetically, and not Grammatically, after all we are talking about how people who do not use English as their first language speak, not write.

 

Papa Carl

[MacBubba]

I'm not sure what you mean but click the little button on the top left - "BBCcodemode" and see if that corrects it. If not click it back.

Thanks...that did the trick!

[jpbago]

A friend of my daughter went to Manchester 4 years ago at age 11. I spoke with him yesterday and was amazed at his strong Mancunian accent with perfect English. He was here for a week or so and the first few days they all spoke Illongo but then he was having troubles understanding some of the words that he had forgotten so he asked them to speak English only. His parents, who have since split up, did not pick up the accent. He and his sister live with his father.

[davewe]

There are many countries today who do not speak "the Queen's English"... Including our own countries! And I don't mean places like the Canadian francophone province of Quebec...

Slip into downtown Toronto, New York or even Surfers Paradise... Within 5 minutes, I guarantee you'll be shaking your head and muttering "What the flippin' firetruck...?". Even London is like this note!

Sent by using a very long piece of string, a couple tin cans, 2 gaseous monkeys, Tapatalk and my Nexus 4

Agreed. I am still shocked by the number of Filipinos who speak English at a more than passable level. To assume that it's merely a failing of the educational system that a teacher who has never been outside of the Philippines cannot teach American English or the Queens English, strikes me as bizarre. American English means more than a textbook, it means understanding the context of how we speak. And it's a moving target. Just read how young people text.

 

My wife is a provincial girl, college educated and speaks English well. But that doesn't mean she understands all of American English. Invariably when we have a communication problem there is an expression I used or a reference I made that she does not understand. But one of the cultural stumbling blocks in the Philippines, is that she rarely will embarrass herself by admitting she doesn't know. Usually I have to review the conversation and ask her whether she understood it when I said "dollars to donuts." Of course she didn't. For that matter, I don't know what the hell it means either.

 

I studied Spanish for 4 years in school, meaning that I know a smattering of words. Why would I know more after 40 years of not using it? And I certainly never knew expressions or differences between Mexican and Columbian Spanish.

 

Bottom line is if you want a girl to learn American (or Australian or British) English, you are her best resource. A textbook isn't enough, nor is a teacher who has never been to the US.

[JJReyes]

Agreed. I am still shocked by the number of Filipinos who speak English at a more than passable level. To assume that it's merely a failing of the educational system that a teacher who has never been outside of the Philippines cannot teach American English or the Queens English, strikes me as bizarre. American English means more than a textbook, it means understanding the context of how we speak. And it's a moving target. Just read how young people text.   My wife is a provincial girl, college educated and speaks English well. But that doesn't mean she understands all of American English. Invariably when we have a communication problem there is an expression I used or a reference I made that she does not understand. But one of the cultural stumbling blocks in the Philippines, is that she rarely will embarrass herself by admitting she doesn't know. Usually I have to review the conversation and ask her whether she understood it when I said "dollars to donuts." Of course she didn't. For that matter, I don't know what the hell it means either.   I studied Spanish for 4 years in school, meaning that I know a smattering of words. Why would I know more after 40 years of not using it? And I certainly never knew expressions or differences between Mexican and Columbian Spanish.   Bottom line is if you want a girl to learn American (or Australian or British) English, you are her best resource. A textbook isn't enough, nor is a teacher who has never been to the US.

 

The sequence to achieve language proficiency, whether it's primary or secondary, is to Listen, Speak, Read, and Write. More than 40 years ago, the spoken language was based on Standard American English. Children listened and learned through daily exposure. Now it's Philippine English and Taglish (Tagalog-English).

 

The deviation from the standard is all over. Radio and television commentators are guilty. It's the same with newspapers. Watch some of the old Hollywood films. The grammar and syntax are correct. The actors and actresses spoke complete sentences. Today, it's the Sylvester Stallone method. Just mumble a few incoherent words. There is actually financial logic behind the change. Significant revenues are made in international film distribution. One big expense was dubbing or captioned translations in multiple language. If there is little dialogue or if it is an all action movie, there is no need to translate. The viewer in Saudi Arabia or China will know the story for the visual imagery. Cheaper and more profitable. Lots of explosions. Helicopters going over and under bridges. Sound effects. Visual trickery. Who needs dialogue?

 

The reason we lament the departure from Standard American English or the Queen's English or Australian English is because we were educated during a different time period.

[expatpaulinmy]

I'd still have to say that the top universities are the best ones to choose to get good quality education in the Philippines. English, Math, Science is still well covered and proper/hands-on training is very much encouraged. You can't go wrong with University of the Philippines (U.P. - State University), De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University, and University of Sto. Tomas.

[MacBubba]

I'd still have to say that the top universities are the best ones to choose to get good quality education in the Philippines. English, Math, Science is still well covered and proper/hands-on training is very much encouraged. You can't go wrong with University of the Philippines (U.P. - State University), De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University, and University of Sto. Tomas.

 

I concur!

[Thomas]

You can't go wrong with University of the Philippines

But can get broke?  :)

[WordsandMusic]

The best way to think and speak english is to read in english. I have asked a lot of Filipinos if they read english novels or newspapers, the answer is always no. Reading requires visualization, Visualization stretches the mind to understand and comprehend. This makes thinking in english easier and improves comprehension over time. I knew some folks, about twenty of them, that we started out with comic books. Batman and Robin, The Green Hornet, The Archies. Within 2 months they had moved on to bigger and better books. They improved slightly in english speaking but the Comprehension is where they made strides.  You must read read and read. Try reading to the children at night or anytime. Set up story time with some kids, but get them to read. Have them pay attention to correct punctuation, where the periods are and why, where the commas are and why. Little things will produce eventual strides in their english. Have them get in the habit of looking up words they don't know or understand. Only asked questions after they have looked the word up. Find ways to make learning fun. like puppet shows with kids where they have to read Que. cards in english.  I have witnessed many times the hang ups the Filipinos have with getting into schools, 90% of the time it's the english. Then the school wants to charge them some ridicules amount to take ESL classes. The classes teach basics and they get a passing grade most of time for showing up. Many times they come out more confused, lets face it english is difficult. Read read read in english.