DepEd to dedicate Fridays to reading starting 2024

[Tommy T.]

I will add to my already voluminous remarks (sorry for all the syllables) .... I have a friend - a Filipina - who moved to the USA to get married (not to me). Her English skills are astounding and she is now working as a nurse earning somewhere around US$100k annually. This is just an illustration of what learning and reading English can do for Filipinos.

I will add to this that my step-daughter has moved to Australia on a student visa/work program. Her English, although not perfect, is very good. She is having a few problems at times speaking "Stralian....

Edited November 22, 2023 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

Well, Mike, you started this post so I am going to push it a bit and it may cause us to change the topic?

My college degree is Geography (I can already hear the yawns). It is more than just learning where USA, Canada, Zimbabwe, etc. are located. It is also mostly about the people and their relationship to their environment.

I am very disappointed with L (who I love very much) because she does not know where anything is or anything about the earth in general. Maybe I am beating on a dead horse here, but knowledge about our total environment is important to me - probably not to everyone.

In the daily news online - or even Facebook - the current news is about wars in Ukraine and Gaza/Israel. L knows about these but has not a clue about where they are located on this planet..... and she's a high school teacher! She also doesn't know about or understand why there is conflict in either place. Maybe it is just me and my keen interest in current events and how long before, maybe, the first nuke will be launched to the USA or Russia.?

I guess my main point in this  strange post is that history, geography, economics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and on and on.... are not taught here . The main things I see taught here are local songs, , dances and cooking.... 

I guess also that that's okay, but it bothers me when L asks me why the people are fighting in Ukraine (plus, where is it?) or the middle east....(where is that?).

Sorry.... that turned into a small rant....

[Jack Peterson]

30 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Sorry.... that turned into a small rant....

 Small Rant or not you have hit it on the head; When is a Teacher not a Teacher. Once they are qualified springs to mind, Now there is Food for thought.

Let's now define Qualified 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Jack Peterson

[Tommy T.]

27 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Small Rant or not you have hit it on the head; When is a Teacher not a Teacher. Once they are qualified springs to mind, Now there is Food for thought.

Let's now define Qualified 

Okay Jack.... I will give you a bit regarding qualified. You are correct that many teachers here are not qualified.

I will make an excuse for L, however. She teaches MAPEH - Music, Art, Physical Education, Health. So, no, she is not qualified to teach other subjects. However, I will add that she is a great teacher in those many subjects, does lots of online research and presents it well. Another problem that this brings up is that DepEd provides virtually no support to teachers. The kids have no books, computers are limited or not available. And the classes are huge - 50-60 students in a classroom! L actually spent her own money to buy a computer monitor to use in her classrooms. Much of her teaching comes from topics she researches online, so then she can present - using a 36 inch monitor - her information that DepEd does not provide.

However, you are also correct that all the teachers do not seem to be qualified. In my mind, a teacher should have learning and teaching skills - even minimal- in most subjects. Sure a MAPEH teacher cannot teach math, but he/she should at least be educated in math to at least a minimal degree. When I was in high school  - decades ago - all teachers in my high school had at least some knowledge in almost all subjects. Sure, the English teacher could not teach chemistry, but she at least knew something about it.

Here, the teachers seem to be taught straight line subjects and nothing outside of that.

I guess that was the point of my mini-rant. And your comment about being qualified is right on point.

And so now I did another mini-rant! Sorry!

Edited November 22, 2023 by Tommy T.

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, Tommy T. said:

Okay Jack.... I will give you a bit regarding qualified. You are correct that many teachers here are not qualified.

I will make an excuse for L, however. She teaches MAPEH - Music, Art, Physical Education, Health. So, no, she is not qualified to teach other subjects.

However, you are also correct that all the teachers do not seem to be qualified. In my mind, a teacher should have learning and teaching skills - even minimal- in most subjects. Sure a MAPEH teacher cannot teach math, but he/she should at least be educated in math to at least a minimal degree. When I was in high school  - decades ago - all teachers in my high school had at least some knowledge in almost all subjects. Sure, the English teacher could not teach chemistry, but she at least knew something about it.

Here, the teachers seem to be taught straight line subjects and nothing outside of that.

I guess that was the point of my mini-rant. And your comment about being qualified is right on point.

I'm not sure whether I'm agreeing with you or not, Tommy! 

My own opinion is that a Math (Maths in proper English ) teacher doesn't need any knowledge of Chemistry, for example, any more than a plumber needs to know about electrical work BUT as part of their education and training they would have/should have picked up at least basic knowledge on other loosely related subjects.  

I have no idea what a teaching course here involves, but certainly in the UK it is more about the skills needed to teach than the specialism itself which would normally have been covered elsewhere.  

In defence of some schools here, my son is getting a standard of education comparable more or less to what I had (albeit I was in state school and he private) and is given supplementary lessons in weaker subjects free of charge (he's doing Filipino language) and they are required to join 1 club as well as being offered after-school sports free of charge.  They also have a library and my son in an avid reader albeit much less than an avid gamer.  Sure, they do have more off-days than I'd like and a little bit too much time on what I consider unnecessary activities so It's not all good.  I am fully aware that this is the exception more than the norm but I'm pretty confident that there are another 4 or 5 schools in my city offering similar or better levels of education.  And, we're not paying school fees much in excess of $1,000 a year.  In short, the issue here is much more with public than 'real' private schools.  I won't get into a debate of what I mean by 'real' private as that's for another day.

Just to finish, I think the reading Fridays is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the ship's going down unless it's approached in a much more professional way than many things are here.

[Tommy T.]

11 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Just to finish, I think the reading Fridays is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the ship's going down unless it's approached in a much more professional way than many things are here.

Well, I disagree with you. No, this "Reading Fridays" is not the end all. But, "if if is implemented properly" it might make a bit of a good start. Certainly better than what is going on for the current so-called English teaching at public schools, where L happens to teach.

There are also a lot of variables that we have not even touched. How's the environment at home? What about the kids' friends. How about neighbours and other family? - Do they speak English?

Edited November 22, 2023 by Tommy T.

[hk blues]

8 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Well, I disagree with you. No, this "Reading Fridays" is not the end all. But, "if if is implemented properly" it might make a bit of a good start. Certainly better than what is going on for the current so-called English teaching at public schools, where L happens to teach.

There are also a lot of variables that we have not even touched. How's the environment at home? What about the kids' friends. How about neighbours and other family? - Do they speak English?

17 minutes ago, hk blues said:

unless it's approached in a much more professional way than many things are here.

[Lee]

45 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

There are also a lot of variables that we have not even touched. How's the environment at home? What about the kids' friends. How about neighbours and other family? - Do they speak English?

I used to tell the HS students that I tutored, that your mother language is great but English is the language of money. Top earners usually are pretty good at English and have a chance of working overseas depending on their job.

With a HS diploma and poor English skills most can expect at best a job at Robinsons where they get swept out every 6 months.

[Gator]

8 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Maybe this is a small but positive first step to teach Filipinos English

Although I agree more emphasis should be put into teaching students English, no where in the article does it mention that teaching English would be the primary focus of the plan. 

The article actually doesn’t mention any specific language at all. It makes me wonder if they mean their own national language “Filipino” (which I take to mean Tagalog) or whatever dialect that’s spoken where the school is located. Hopefully once the final directive is passed on it’ll be clearer.

My wife teaches at a high school / junior high school in Cebu. They have already gotten word about the directive and reworked their class schedules to implement the plan in January. Classes on Monday to Thursday will shortened from one hour to 45-50 minutes per subject. That allows them to cram in subjects previously taught on Fridays. They also added remedial classes for math and science for the students who are behind. 

Only social studies, values education and Filipino subjects are taught in Tagalog; the rest are taught in English. Part of the problem (at least at her school) is that many students can’t read either English or Tagalog (some can’t even read their own native language- Bisaya). So unless otherwise directed their focus for Fridays will be on English, Tagalog, health and values education. 

But (and it’s a big but) a potential problem for many schools, the wife’s school included, will be the lack of teachers qualified to teach English. Supposedly only those teachers who majored in English are allowed to teach English. Obviously there will be a shortage of them. What I see happening will be the focus on the other subjects and less so on English. 

[OnMyWay]

12 hours ago, Mike J said:

All schools will be required to hold whole-day reading programs every Friday starting January

Including PRIVATE?

My 7 and 9 year old go to the same private school that my step-daughter went to from grades 3-10.  They are all very good readers.  I was studying English with my 7 yo yesterday, for exam this week, and she is amazing with reading, pronunciation and comprehension.  My 9 year old is finally reading some books, which very few do here in the Philippines.  My stepdaughter is often mistaken for American because of her accent, which I guess she got from me.  Her English speaking and knowledge of grammar is probably better than mine.  She is very good at writing and wrote for the school newspaper in grades 11-12.

Proud daddy rant over. 

Another factor is, at our school and others, Friday is designated PE day.  No more PE?