English and the nation's memory

Sitting at my desk at the Ortigas Foundation Library in Pasig, surrounded by 16,000 books and periodicals relating to Philippine history, culture and the arts, I realize over 90% are in English with maybe another 500 vintage titles in Spanish and very few in Filipino. This breakdown is probably not unlike many other major reference libraries in Manila.

Amid all the discussion in the press, academic circles and the political sector, as to whether or not English should be the primary language for education in this country, one of the greatest advantages of an English language education for Filipinos is almost always overlooked. The ability to read and comprehend English makes vast amounts of Philippine history and heritage, along with East Asian and world history, accessible to Filipinos. Constantly promoting English, as a means for contract workers to find jobs abroad or in domestic call centers, perpetuates a colonial mentality and degrades an important academic discipline.

Citigroup and AmCham sponsor English training in public high schools

SWS survey: Filipinos' proficiency in English shows "substantial recover"

Filipinos' self-assessed proficiency in the English language has recovered in the last two years after a decline over the previous twelve years, according to the April 2008 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS). The SWS interviewed 1,200 respondents nationwide for the survey, which has a margin of error of +-3%.

UP Diliman Receives English Proficiency Training from UPS-PEP Project

Some of the nation's best and brightest students and teachers at the University of the Philippines in Diliman can now take advantage of an award-winning language courseware and an internationally recognized test as they work toward academic excellence. They received computer-assisted English proficiency training and testing program under the United Parcel Services-Promoting English Proficiency (UPS-PEP) project.