Pacquiao supports English as medium of instruction in schools

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By Alexander Villafania, loQal.ph
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia


QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – Boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao has a “quirky” way of speaking English and he’s not one to deny the need to learn the language. Unknown to most, the record-holding pugilist is supporting a bill for the development of the English language in schools.

A profile of Representative Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (of the lone district of Sarangani) in Congress shows that he has “co-authored” several measures, including House Bill 93, which seeks to make English as the medium of instruction in schools.

Pacquiao has been known to use English in many of his interviews despite having been a high school dropout and having no formal training in public speaking.

His accent and, in many cases, his grammar has been the subject of jokes. One fan has even put up a Facebook fan page parody highlighting his English-speaking skills or lack thereof.

The proposal was originally authored by Rep. Eduardo Gullas, who has been lobbying since 2009 to make English the primary method of teaching for all academic subjects.

Several members of the House of Congress and Senate have also supported such a measure, citing the need to improve the English-speaking capabilities of Filipino students.

But some sectors still argue that Filipino is still the most effective language for medium of instruction.

Former Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Maza pushed for the use of Filipino, citing that the Philippine Constitution sets Filipino as the national language.

The 2010 report by the National Statistics Office (NSO), citing collated reports from several education agencies in the Philippines, showed that the 2007 English proficiency achievement rate of elementary students is 60.78 percent. High school students have achievement rate of 51.78 percent.

The business process outsourcing in the Philippines is also a growing industry and demands mostly English-speaking employees. Officials from the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) said that the hiring rate among contact centers is about two out of 100 interviewees.

Photo by AP/Pat Roque

Source: Fit to Post – Yahoo! Philippines News 2011 January 20 ... n-schools/

[masakiton]

pero naka daut usahay labi na sa mga public schools... ang teacher mismo carabo english

[*sludge*]

pacquiao is very brave to speak like this now because, you know, he is very good now in speaking english very much

[erwin_rommel]

manny realized the importance of english you know. and tagalog is rarely used in work anyway.

[kit_cebu]

english gives an edge when it comes to getting a job.... not tagalog....
not being un-nationalistic here though....

[stew_griff]

english gives an edge when it comes to getting a job.... not tagalog....
not being un-nationalistic here though....

of course, hehe

[erwin_rommel]

we could learn tagalog in telenovelas anyway

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

Uhm ... ahh ... uhm ....

Locked .