One student from Grade V was telling me how he and his classmates were “nose bleeding” because the substitute teacher for their class was using English as medium for instruction. Although it was sort of a joke, I understand that the kid was not really joking at all. Being used to learn using Filipino, the shift in the medium was kind of new and sort of shocking for them.
Looking back when I was still an elementary student, my playmates and I would be watching Japanese cartoons on TV but the characters are speaking in English. (There is Japanese subtitles at the lower part of the TV screen, however). I think I was in Grade I back then. We understood perfectly what was going on with the show.
I also remember that we are taught in public schools using English as medium of instruction and yet we learned what we are supposed to learn and more. The first concern should be to use mother tongue in teaching English and eventually teach using English.
1. Teaching English using the mother tongue.
In day care and preschool, children are taught basic English words such as dog, cat, apple, and the like. They are taught the English alphabet and counting in English. Easily, the pupils learn these simple English words. Creativity, which is one of the pressing issues why English is being questioned on being used as medium of instruction, should be encouraged by the teacher during this stage. During this level, there are so many activities where a child can utilize his or creativity regardless of the medium used. What a teacher can do is to guide the child in exploring an activity while using English and translating it to the mother tongue or vice versa. This way, the child becomes familiar with the terminologies used and with repeated usage will eventually uses the words on his her own.Children learn easily. They can learn many languages at an earlier age than adults. So, starting early can be very advantageous for them and teachers and parents should grab this opportunity of teaching them. Daily conversation, repetition, and exercises can help students learn the language easier and simpler.
2. Teaching using the English language.
As the student level up and begin to understand and use basic English words, it is now simpler to teach him or her sentence structures and writing paragraphs. Of course, daily conversational English is a must for them to practice their speaking skills. There is a method used in the old school in teaching English grammar. It is called sentence dissection. A student is given a sentence, short at the start, and is asked to dissect the words one by one as to which part of speech the word belongs. This helps the student in identifying parts of speech, how it is used or placed in a sentence, and how the sentence is constructed placing the words properly in its place.
As a teacher, one should be mindful on how to effectively teach the language and use it in teaching. It is basically on how we utilize it to enhance student learning.
By: Mirasol M. Llamzon | Teacher I | Sta. Rosa Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan
