Teacher education

In UNESCO’s “ Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education: Including the Excluded “, the question was posed: “Can quality education for all be achieved when education is packaged in a language that some learners neither speak nor understand? This is the situation faced by many children from ethnic minority groups when they enter formal school systems-the official school language is very different from the language they speak at home. Forcing children to learn in a language they do not understand creates an educational handicap that should not exist.” The document concludes that “…understanding the true panorama of providing education in learners’ mother tongue is one of the crucial steps towards achieving quality education for all.”It is therefore disappointing to note that, after going through the “ Full Report for the Policy Recommendations for the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda for the National Language and Literacy Learning Strategies for the Filipino and English Languages ” submitted to the Department of Education on Sept. 30, 2006, there isn’t any doubt which among the 170 or so Philippine languages BESRA is “strategizing” for under its Key Reform Thrust #3.Of course there is widespread agreement to use the indigenous languages as medium of instruction in preschool through elementary school in the areas where they are spoken as a bridge to learning Filipino and English plus other areas of learning using either Filipino or English as medium of instruction. But BESRA does not have any KEY REFORM THRUST to keep our non-dominant non-Tagalog languages from dying. All this BESRA strategizing to make Filipino and English so dominant will eventually make the case for the other indigenous languages as bridges or stepping stones simply irrelevant, dead. The socio-economic and political prowess of a dominant language as Tagalog/Filipino and English as they are now aggressively being promoted by the government to be so dominant will simply eviscerate all reasons for anyone to want to stick with any indigenous non-Tagalog language any longer.What’s the real incentive to cultivate our own indigenous non-Tagalog languages if BESRA is there to make sure Tagalog/Filipino and English are going to be the only ones that matter ultimately and that these are the only languages every Filipino needs? The decreasing ranks through natural causes of the elderly population who are the remaining mainstays of our indigenous languages all but insure that many of these languages will be wiped out soon. And so does the varied cultures associated with them unless there is a conscious effort–like a BESRA type KEY REFORM THRUST– woven into a multilingual education policy designed specifically to save them, at least the ones that still manifest the dynamics of surviving. Those languages with, say 30 or so remaining speakers will understandably be difficult to save with any type of intervention.Those who have the power to institutionalize mother tongue-based multilingual education in our schools are urged to NOT water down the recommendations of UNESCO’s “Education in a Multilingual World”. UNESCO’s recommendations on multilingual education are based on years of research so that to tinker with them, such as radically shortening the length of immersion of the child in his mother tongue from the ideal 6 to 8 years, would be the height of myopia. DepEd Order No. 60 s. 2008, the first department order to recognize and recommend the use of mother tongue-based multilingual education, requires Filipino and English to be introduced in grade 1 and that renders UNESCO’s recommendations virtually ineffective. I think we just don’t get it.Those of us in power who make language policy, especially one through our educational system, please watch the above video and the one below and understand their implications. If at first you don’t get the message, pretend you’re one of those who don’t speak Tagalog/Filipino.[Click here to view the movie, " The Linguists ".]Posted in DepED Order No 60 s. 2008 , Education policy , K. David Harrison , Language of instruction , Mother tongue , Multilingualism , UNESCO’s Education in a Multilingual World , When Languages Die , mother tongue as language of instruction , multilingual education | Tags: Languages Do Work! , Lubuagan Experiment , medium of instruction (MOI) , MLE , MLE training , mother tongue as MOI , multilingual education

East Anglian Daily Times the story:

survey of students from 77 schools was carried Essex County Council in an effort to learn more about what kids want, because it shapes policy.

It also revealed a quarter of students from secondary schools in Essex have been offered illegal drugs, with nearly 20% of them are trying.

At Yearly Review pupils across England asked similar questions found:

In 2005, 39% of students have never been offered drugs, an increase of 36% in 2004. This ratio remained broadly stable since 2001, between 36% and 42%. In 2005, as well as in the previous survey years, boys were more likely than girls to have ever been offered drugs (41%, compared to 38%).

EADTU – Teens tell of bullying and drug use

Filed under: illegal drugs , Essex

Ex-users provides drugnbsp;education .

Last week All Party Parliamentary Group on substance abuse one of its members suggested that it would be good if the school children to hear more from ex-users about their experiences. He clearly felt that it would salatory lesson on how to avoid the pitfalls that ex-users may have experienced of; and provide information in a way that would instinctively be authoritative for the audience.

In some ways I understand, young people often ask to hear from ex-users, probably share the same hopes as an MP. Ex-users who go to school, are those for

best of intentions and feel that a story can help some of experiencing the same problems that they face.

I’ve thinking about how I’ve recently read Stuart; life backwards , Story of Stuart Shorter chaotic, homeless, violence, self-mutilating people with mental health problems.

While Stuart may not be representative of those with drug problems he seems to have many problems in his life that would have some friends. He was abused by a member of his family, ran away from home many times, had a difficult relationship with the school, and when taken into care, they face abuse and there. He responded with violence and using drugs; glue, cannabis, alcohol and cannabis.

In and out of prison as a young adult, homeless people sleeping rough and a lot of his time wasn’t. It seems that wasn’t able to maintain close relations, but he became a father as a teenager.

I thought the book was brilliant and moving without sentimentalising or minimize problems or difficulties that people face as Stuart cause.

But I’m sure that Stuart visited the ex-users in the school / s would have made the difference take decisions about drugs. In fact, I can’t see how each drug education could reduce risk factors that Stuart is facing or protective factors to promote ways that would change his circumstances.

Others thought that there were

Yesterday my head was so that one young man I met earlier this year talked about ex-user who’d visited the school. He told me that he thought he was brave to come to school and talk about his life story, but at the same time he was small, but contempt for him. Although it is rather anecdotal evidence, it is something, Howard Parker wrote Drink and Drugs News Recently:

An important symbolic measure, this is a cultural view of the emerging young drug users, who sees the

sphyrnatude
August 10, 2007 at 10:18 am

I absolutley agree with the luddite ballpoint-pen grief. No reason for that!
However, I have to disagree with the “nice” evaluations – lableing them as borderline instead of failing. All it is going to take is one nasty student to point out that when they hadn’t done any work you ranked them as borderline – now (at the end of the semester) when you give them the “f”, you’re going to have to jsutify why their work was “borderline” at mideterm, but the same work is “failing” at end of semester….

To me, this is a CYA situation, and in all honesty, I don’t think you’re doing the kids any favours by giving them the impression that non-performance is borderline. In the real world (at leastiof they were working for me), thier evaluation would be: “time for you to go find another job – and by the way, non-performance does NOT qualify you for unemployment. Here’s you last paycheck, good luck, and don’t bother trying to use me for a reference.”
By giving them the false inplression that what they are doing is “borderline” instead of unacceptable, you are continuing the grade inflation myths that most high schools currently use – it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re almost ensured a D (or in some cases a C) as long as you show up at least once…..

Mke your evaluations honest – the kids that have any chance of actually responding to the evaluation may be pissed, but they’ll ge ttheir ducks ina row. The kids that aren’t going to respond are a lost cause anyway, so who really cares what they think.
The one or two that feel that they are entitled to the passing grade just for being there will use your generosity as a method to force you to justify your change in standards…..

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HomeFireBlue
August 16, 2006 at 9:31 am

LOVE the stickers!

If you ever think of something you’d like to have on a bumpersticker (or magnet) just let me know and I’ll whip you one up in my store.

For free, of course, cuz I luv U.

Be patient about the job … it’s coming.

-Blue

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2 Comments.
Suzanne
August 10, 2006 at 9:16 am

I can understand believing that the Universe is sending you a message, but here’s my take on this. If you want to TEACH, then you should be TEACHING. Sign up as a substitute teacher to several schools, and get some great experience along the way. You said that in a couple of cases, teaching jobs went to people who have been subs in the district. If that’s one way to get a job, then go for it.

I’m sure you would enjoy working at the mechanic’s place. They sound like good people, and it would be an easy thing for you to get into. Perhaps too easy? Too tempting?

Girl, if you are serious about teaching, get out there and TEACH! And maybe this is just the Universe’s way of testing your commitment….

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2 Comments.
Mrs.Chili
August 5, 2006 at 8:42 pm

Really, BoDog? Why not? I think movies are a GREAT way to teach. There are a lot of really fantastic films out there that span a staggering bredth of subject, concept and emotion. Besides, who needs an excuse to show something as amazing as Glory?–>

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Lara
December 2, 2009 at 11:53 pm

Okay, I’m going to take a moment to not be modest at all and say that vocab is one of the parts of my job I do really well. And most of the reason why I do it well is because I make my kids understand those words inside and out, mostly by assessing them in lots of ways. They have to be able to match it to synonyms, match it to antonyms, define it, use it in a sentence, and/or recognize whether it is being used correctly in someone else’s sentence. I had numerous students (and parents of students) who had me last year come thank me because of how much their vocab scores improved on SATs and other standardized tests.

All that to say that I totally agree with you – memorizing a nonsense (to them) definition is useless if they don’t actually know what the word means. Oh those dumb teenagers. How we love them anyway.

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3 Comments.
Edward Carson
November 17, 2009 at 9:00 am

I keep a file of old letters, notes, cards, emails, etc in my desk for those tough days. I pull it out when I am having one to remind me that I love this. For me, its usually not students that make my days tough. You are a great teacher. That is clear.

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1 Comment.
Edward Carson
October 12, 2009 at 9:02 am

I have heard of a number of progressive schools that do this. I assume you still assign a letter, right? Man, I have a hard enough time getting letter grades turned in on time. I do think your method is a more reliable one.

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