Someone sent me a FORWARD of pictures of popular, well-traveled places in the Philippines.  Rather than scroll through the lovely images, I strung them together, chose a Raul Sunico piece as accompaniment and voilà, the following YouTube item. If someone should dare con you to believe it’s the next best thing to being there, think NOT!

By Tom Colls
Today programme

An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?

In 1992 a prominent US linguist stunned the academic world by predicting that by the year 2100, 90% of the world’s languages would have ceased to exist.

Far from inspiring the world to act, the issue is still on the margins, according to prominent French linguist Claude Hagege.

“Most people are not at all interested in the death of languages,” he says. “If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages.”

According to Ethnologue, a US organisation owned by Christian group SIL International that compiles a global database of languages, 473 languages are currently classified as endangered.

Among the ranks are the two known speakers of Lipan Apache alive in the US, four speakers of Totoro in Colombia and the single Bikya speaker in Cameroon.

“It is difficult to provide an accurate count,” says Ethnologue editor Paul Lewis. “But we are at a tipping point. From here on we are going to increasingly see the number of languages going down.”

10/01/09

Rep. Speier signs onto Resolution recognizing October
as Filipino American History Month

Rep. J. Speier

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (San Francisco/San Mateo County) has signed on as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 780 celebrating Filipino American History Month.

“The 12th Congressional District is home to more Filipino Americans than any other in the country. As a resident here all my life, I know about the invaluable contributions Filipino Americans make to the very fabric of our society. I am proud to sign my name onto legislation that recognizes the richness of the culture and its role in the history of America.” said Congresswoman Speier.

“While I am thrilled we are acknowledging the Filipinos here in the United States, I can’t help but remain concerned about their family and friends in the Philippines and American Samoa. I ask that we keep them in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the United States with a population over 3 million.

H.Res. 780 acknowledges the important role Filipino Americans have played in the Armed Services, health care, business, and many other fields since the first Filipinos came to the continental United States in 1587. Resolution 780 designates October as a time to reflect on the accomplishments of the community and increase education for all people in the United States.

Spier authors resolution supporting Philippine disaster relief — urges President to continue aid

October 7, 2009

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Jackie Speier (San Francisco/San Mateo County) introduced House Resolution 800 on Tuesday “Expressing sympathy for the citizens of the Philippines dealing with Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma.”

“While herculean efforts are under way to alleviate the suffering of Philippine residents, the United Nations has made an urgent appeal for help,” Rep. Speier said. “Estimates are that local relief organizations need an additional $101 million to cope with the disaster.  Hopefully, this resolution will raise awareness and encourage Americans to give generously to relief efforts.”

Speier’s resolution, which has garnered 39 co-sponsors from both parties as of Wednesday, also urges President Obama to continue to support the Philippines in their time of need.  “I applaud President Obama for responding quickly and generously upon receiving news of the disaster and I will continue to monitor the relief effort to make sure that we are doing all we can to help, ” Speier said. “The special relationship that the United States has long shared with the Philippines is even stronger in San Francisco and on the Peninsula.  I’m extremely proud – but not at all surprised – of the extent to which my constituents, from every ethnic background, are coming together to help their neighbors in the Filipino community.”

Filipinos make up the second largest population of Asian descent in the United States and Speier’s congressional district (California 12) is home to more residents of Filipino ancestry than any other in the continental United States.

A list of aid organizations helping those affected by the tragedies in the Philippines and American Samoa can be found at Rep. Speier’s official website:  www.speier.house.gov.

Here’s the most recent development on H.R. 800 and cosponsors arranged by the date of cosponsorship:

Jimple Borlagdan

Dear MLE-Philippines@yahoogroups.com,

Allow me to take this opportunity to thank everyone behind MLE. I think it is an effective (and perhaps the only effective) solution to prevent the near extinction of ethnic and native languages in the Philippines.

I’ve read the DepEd order, too, and am equally elated that this is going somewhere. I’m wondering when will MLE be actually adopted in our schools? I know I may be too excited, or that the restructuring of the educational programs may take a while. But I’m just really curious what is being done as of this time, or are there things being done to help speed up its implementation, etc.?

Please be patient with my impatience.

I’m actually on the brink of marching to our DepEd office to inquire about it. But I guess I can still restrain myself.

Just sharing my gladness,

Jaime Jesus Borlagdan
Tabaco City, Albay

Jaime Jesus Borlagdan, popularly known as Jimple Borlagdan, is a multilingual Filipino writer, song-writer, graphics artist and musician. Born on March 6, 1979, in Tabaco City, Albay, Philippines, he is better known in the Tabaco underground scene as the front man and guitarist of the band, Krear Bathala.  On July 14, 2000, Borlagdan released his collection of poems in Filipino, Maynila: Libro ng Pobya, which is now considered by his young followers as an important and influential collection.

By Fr. Ron Rolheiser “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly (Mk 7:34b-35). Hans Urs Von Baltasar once wrote: “After a Mother has smiled for a long time at her child, the child will begin to smile back; she has awakened love in its heart, and in awakening love in its heart, she awakes also recognition.” Awakening love and recognition within a child’s heart is a result of more than just the mother’s smile, her voice is also important. Mothers don’t just cuddle babies and smile at them, they also speak to them. It’s this, hearing the mother’s voice beckoning the child to come outwards towards a bigger world even when there isn’t yet any real understanding of what’s being said, that’s vital in bringing a child to self-awareness and speech. We come out of the darkness and chaos of infancy precisely to the extent that we are called out by voices that cajole, caress, reassure, and keep forever luring us beyond ourselves.

The following article is reprinted here to help us clarify the issues in the current dialog on the implementation of DO 74 s.2009:

Commissioned study for EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005
Carol Benson, Ph.D.
Centre for Research on Bilingualism Stockholm University
14 April 2004

Part A: Overview

While there are many factors involved in delivering quality basic education, language is clearly the key to communication and understanding in the classroom. Many developing countries are characterized by individual as well as societal multilingualism, yet continue to allow a single foreign language to dominate the education sector. Instruction through a language that learners do not speak has been called “submersion” (Skutnabb-Kangas 2000) because it is analogous to holding learners under water without teaching them how to swim. Compounded by chronic difficulties such as low levels of teacher education, poorly designed, inappropriate curricula and lack of adequate school facilities, submersion makes both learning and teaching extremely difficult, particularly when the language of instruction is also foreign to the teacher.

Mother tongue-based bilingual programs use the learner’s first language, known as the L1, to teach beginning reading and writing skills along with academic content. The second or foreign language, known as the L2, should be taught systematically so that learners can gradually transfer skills from the familiar language to the unfamiliar one. Bilingual models and practices vary as do their results, but what they have in common is their use of the mother tongue at least in the early years so that students can acquire and develop literacy skills in addition to understanding and participating in the classroom.

Distinguished members of the Loop:

This is a long-overdue posting that should have accompanied the signing of DO 74.

One of the biggest sources of apprehension and the chief reason for objection of officials (and even the general public) in mandating MLE is the gargantuan expenditure for producing materials.

Does MLE always mean having to translate?

Most people then thought that beside the cost of translating MLE learning materials which would have to come from the central office of the DepEd, the cost of producing and distributing textbooks and other related materials would be so enormous.  One party list congressman who was sent to the House of Reps for education causes voted for the Gullas Bill because his impression was that by going MLE, the entire basic education budget would have to be doubled.  He further reasoned out that we cannot afford this even with small gradual budgetary increments.

We need to clarify this aspect of the MLE policy in our social advocacy efforts.

The above video is the presentation I made in at least 3 MLE Fora in Bicol for the Loopers’ information and comments.  The basic policy rationale of the proposed  all-out implementation is lifted from the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-10 (MTPDP). This is why one of the distinct features of DO 74 is the provision on localization and school/community-based initiatives.   This was in turn patterned after the Papua New Guinea model which launched its MLE without substantial additional Ministry of Education budget increase, even as the country  has 800 plus languages.  How could they have done this? Please see the video.

Happy reading!

Nap B. Imperial

Abraham I. Felipe
abefelipe@yahoo.com

Background

Nap Imperial’s suggestion to examine the meanings and practices of assessment in education in the Philippines is very timely. The Presidential Task Force for Education (PTFE) has just finished its work, a legislative agenda on its recommendations adopted, and one agenda item related to assessment is being fleshed out.

This item is about the establishment of NEETS (National Educational Evaluation and Testing System, also called NERETS lately for National Educational Research, Evaluation and Testing System). The idea was for NEETS to be an autonomous body concerned with quality at the basic, vocational-technical and higher education levels which it was mandated to assess, “coordinate” and “harmonize”.

Consistent with its proposed name, NEETS made known its plan to use test data as its main raw materials for conducting assessment. From NEETS viewpoint, the tests to be so used would have to be centrally or nationally developed, not just loaned from this or that source. For this reason, NEETS initially proposed to develop many kinds of tests — achievement, diagnostic, aptitude, creativity and other kinds, for children and students at different levels of education, in the hope of being relevant to their varied needs.

EDUCATION PIONEER and Ramon Magsaysay awardee for Government Service in 1959, Jose Vasquez Aguilar was born on 23 March 1900 in barrio Caduhaan, Cadiz, Negros Occidental. Upon completing his secondary education in 1920, he left for the United States, where he worked his way through college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degree from the Denison University in Ohio in 1925.

Despite being a working student, Aguilar found time to be active in the university debating team, which competed with other colleges. In 1924, he was elected to the Tau Kappa alpha debating fraternity. Upon his return to the Philippines in 1925, he was appointed teacher of English at the Negros Occidental High School. The following year, he was promoted to academic supervisor of the division of Masbate. He transferred to Cebu in the same capacity in 1927. In the same year, he took the division superintendents examination, which he topped. He was appointed division superintendent of Camarines Norte in 1928. He subsequently served in the same capacity in the provinces of Antique, Samar, Capiz and Iloilo up to 1954.