Beside the many conferences, trainings, seminars, and continuous education an educator can participate in, how else a teacher can be equipped with knowledge and confidence in his or her teaching profession?
Teachers are known to be creative and resilient individuals who know what they are doing and what should be done in any given situation. The first and foremost ability a teacher should have is to learn to act on things appropriately. For one, in cases when there are educational issues that are needed to be addressed in a teacher’s point of view, he or she should have the confidence to speak up or write his or her opinions on paper or publications.
No, this is not being an activist. Activism is when you seem to contradict each and every issue despite you not really having the authority or the right to say something about it. For example, if the issue is about teacher’s rights to continuing education. Here comes a situation where you are discouraged to pursue higher learning for whatever reason you think is not valid, you should take action to find the means to pursue your goal.
Taking a clear stand on issues can help your advocacy. Remember that if you yourself is not sure where you stand, the concerned individuals and offices may take that against you and would have reasons not to listen to your to your opinions and ideas. Research well and take the appropriate steps in presenting your advocacy.
Of course, it is not always easy to stand up and “fight” those in position. The main thing you should keep in mind, however, is that you are not “fighting“in the sense of fighting, rather, you are voicing your opinion to things that are relevant and helpful to the improvement of your profession and education in general.
The conventional ways of empowering yourself are not only genuine and real until today. They are indeed helpful to improving your knowledge, confidence, and self-reliance. You should be open, however, to more radical methods of learning more and developing yourself as an educator. This is vital not only for yourself but for those students who are learning from you.
In the constantly changing times, being able to adapt yourself to changes is one important skill you should learn. Be open to new ideas. Do more research. Join educators’ groups and forums. Participate actively in trainings and seminars. Widen your network. Read more and ask more.
Be observant as well of what is going on in the community and see what you can do to help as a teacher. Also, being aware of local and national issues and news can widen your knowledge and give your fresh insights which you can use in your teaching modalities.
There are many essential means of empowering yourself as an educator and as a person. Be open and receive the many wonderful opportunities around you to learn more so you can teach more. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have. So, fill your learning tanks and empower the students in your care as you empower yourself.
English as Medium of Instruction: How It Works Best
By: Mirasol M. LlamzonSta. Rosa Elementary School
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

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