chArONIMOUS

And so it seems that the English speaking capacity of Filipinos is now staggering at the verge of extinction. After years of dominating the world with our fiery tongues peppered with expertise, the level of English proficiency here in the Philippines came crashing to a meager, hardly swanking, level.
According to surveys conducted over the past years, the level of English literacy of Filipinos had its downfall almost two years ago. We are now being outranked by neighboring Asian countries desperately paving their way to a fast-paced development. Many cite insufficient facilities in school, as well as the apparent “Brain Drain” of highly competent teachers as some of the reasons why there is slow learning when it comes to getting into the premises of the English language.
To address this growing paranoia, the Department of Education spearheaded programs that can augment the current state of the country’s English proficiency. Since 2003, the DepEd has launched courses such as the National English Proficiency Program which aims to further develop the skills of teachers for the ultimate gain of students themselves.
In complement to this, Tabaco National High School is taking the first step towards betterment. Conducting mentoring programs to teachers majoring either in English or other subjects is one of the lights to this issue. Mr. Marcial Bellen, one of the mentees of the so-called mentoring program conducts English classes to teachers so that they will have the continuous process of learning even if they are already professionals in their field and thus, become more competent in the sense that they have sufficient skills in the medium they use in teaching.
In this way, students can learn the proper and correct manner of using the language inside the classroom and during daily conversations and not when they want to exclaim or utter foul English words just for the sake of speaking the language.
Moreover, the imposition of speaking English when at the Ziga building is a decent way to get students to practice their skills. However, since no strict punishment applies to being caught talking in the vernacular, students seem not to bother at all to follow the rule. This simply implies that the drive from the students themselves to harness the craft have gone astray instead of fueling them to learn more.
The very reason why there is a collapse of the strong pillars of the English proficiency is the student’s negligence coupled with lack of discipline. Surveys point to this fact because basically those who make up the economically active percentage of the country, those who make use of the English language more dominantly developed their skills when they were still, of course, students as well.
In the end, it all boils down to one’s own awareness and self-discipline. Attaining our former towering level of the English language skills needs collaborative work and not a single- effort. Do what you can do to contribute. Practice your English speaking prowess before your English speaking tongue becomes tongue-tied.