NEWS
FEBRUARY 21, 2003

Two Romblomanons Back Improved Language Teaching

Late last month, President Gloria Arroyo ordered the Department of Education (DepEd) to make English as the primary medium of instruction in all schools.

The change in instruction mode is necessary, according to the President, to make our workers especially those in overseas worksites competitive in such fields as information and communications technology.

Two Romblomanon educators backed the President's prescription but not for the use of English alone as medium of teaching but for improved language instruction in both English and Filipino.

DepEd Director Dinah F. Mindo and writer and English teaching Specialist Butch Dalisay are for more effective teaching of both English and Filipino languages.

Dinah Mindo is Regional Director of DepEd Region III in San Fernando, Pampanga. Butch Dalisay is writer-columnist of the Philippine Star (PenMan) chair of the Department of English, University of the Philippines.

Dinah Mindo is author of a soon to be released book, The Development of English in the Philippines. This is the book form of her doctoral dissertation at the Philippine Norma University.

The idea, says Mindo, is for English and Filipino to exist side by side, but with English as the second language.

She adds: "English will stay with us for a long time. The programs for Filipino are not as strong as compared to English.

Mindo notes that English is the current language in internation business including information and communication technology.

Master English Teacher Butch says: "I have no doubt that our student's English skills have declined. They don't know their tenses; their singular subjects take plural verbs."

The President's order, according to Butch, won't do much to cure the real problems of Philippine education and economy.

The better prescription would have been a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of our language teaching in both English and Filipino.
On a personal note, Butch admits that he wouldn't be where he is now without English, and all the years, which he put into studying and using it in his work and art.

Dr. Mindo and Butch Dalisay can be reached through their respective e-mail addresses: decs-ro3@digetelone.com and penmanila@yahoo.com

/Rinzi Fadrilan

Ed's Note: Last May 2002, at the first Cornelio Faigao Writer's workshop, Dr. Dalisay served as one of panelists.