Cambodia Workshop on Bilingual Education: FINAL REPORT

Organized by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), International Cooperation Cambodia (ICC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, a Workshop on Bilingual Education was held at the Imperial Garden Villa and Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 17-18, 2011.

Dr. Rosalina J. Villaneza

Dr. Rosalina J. Villaneza, MTB MLE Focal Person and National Coordinator and Head of the Philippines National English Proficiency Program, Office of the Undersecretary for Programs and Projects, Department of Education, was one of the workshop presenters. She spoke on “The Philippine Model of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education.“

Here’s the FINAL REPORT: Cambodia Workshop on Bilingual Education FINAL Eng with Photos Dec 22 pdf.

World Data on Education Seventh edition 2010/11

For the folks, especially those interested in a more fact-filled dialog on the K+12 basic education cycle, the following world data on education may prove extremely useful. Please watch out for the next post showing how some of the participating countries from the list below performed in the TIMSS 2007 International Mathematics Report and the TIMSS 2007 International Science Report. [The latest TIMSS 2011 International Reports are "forthcoming" according to TIMMS 2011.]. It is interesting to note that Singapore [a country whose basic education cycle consists of pre-school/kindergarten, 6 years of elementary school plus a choice of 4 or 5  or 6 years of secondary school] was among the top 3 performers for both 4th graders (Grade 4 in the Philippines) and 8th graders (2nd year high school in the Philippines), outperforming some countries, including the United States. with a basic education cycle of K+12.

Here’s what we found out about Singapore’s educational system in an earlier post here:

MTBMLE Conference in Iloilo: Final Updates

As of Jan. 22, 2012, here are the final updates from 170+ Talaytayan MLE on the forthcoming 2nd Philippine Conference-Workshop on MTBMLE in Iloilo City on Feb. 16, 17, 18, 2012:

The Conference will feature gains and prospects of MTBMLE in the Philippines. It will demonstrate concretely how MTBMLE can be incorporated in the new K-12 curriculum and teacher education curriculum

Let’s get real and stop dishing out platitudes

Preciosa S. Soliven

In her column, A Point of Awareness, Ms. Preciosa S. Soliven surprises us with a blanket generalization that “uneducated poor parents have no idea what… a balanced, integrated development” for their children means. In fact, most Filipino parents who, traditionally, are intent on living their lives through their children, already have, in varying levels of intensity, sophistication and/or commitment, some “integrated” plans of development which sometimes surpass their ability to carry them out. Oh, some succeed, however, most come out a bit disenchanted, albeit, feeling a certain degree of accomplishment for even trying.

“As early as the age of three,” Ms. Soliven writes, “given a choice of playing with a toy tea set or setting the family table, the child will prefer the latter.” Well, a large number of Filipino children don’t even have what would normally be considered three decent square meals a day, so the option of playing with a toy tea set is far-fetched, if not an altogether foreign concept, and arguably a poor option. Besides, the average Filipino child is typically beset with varying levels of malnutrition so you can’t blame the child if he/she opts for setting the family table as that is, realistically, a prelude to a much-needed meal! Please read on…