Spanish in selected (Phils.) public high schools ¿TÚ hablas Espanol?
The Department of Education will implement the Spanish language course in selected public high schools to prepare Filipino students in using the widely-used language.
Dubbed ‘Special Program in Foreign Language,’ the program is for schools whose students demonstrated competence in English and are capable of learning another foreign language.
The program aims to develop students’ skills in listening, reading, writing, speaking and viewing skills that students need to acquire communication skills using a second foreign language.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the language program will “prepare the students for meaningful interaction in a linguistically diverse global workplace.”
“It will also develop understanding and appreciation of other people’s culture” he added.
The program shall initially offer Spanish in one school per region. There will be two classes of 35 students per school.
The pilot schools and their teachers shall be selected by the DepEd Regional Office based on the criteria for selection.
In the selection of the pilot schools, only secondary schools with the highest Mean Percentage Score (MPS) in English in the whole region will be selected.
The school should also be able to provide substitute teachers who will take over the classes of the foreign language teachers while on training.
Lapus added that the pilot schools will also be selected based on the availability of classrooms and support facilities and equipment like computer laboratory with at least ten computers and headsets to support speech lessons.
“One of the criteria in selecting the teachers who will handle the teaching of the foreign language is that they must be willing to finish the crash course and participate in teaching Spanish,” Lapus stressed.
The teachers who will be selected to undergo the three-months training will earn units under the continuing education program.
The department wants to make sure that when the teaching of foreign language starts in June 2009, there will be enough teachers who will handle the subjects in the selected pilot schools.
