The Language Teacher
06 - 2001
An Interview with JALT Asian Scholar Raul C. Laborte of the Philippines
David McMurray
This year's JALT Asian scholar article is written as an interview focused on the issues and topics that will be presented at the conference.
In this interview we have the opportunity to hear from Raul C. Laborte, a well respected and energetic English language teacher at Emilio Ramos National High School in Davao City in the Philippines. Students there refer to their teachers as Sir or Madam. David McMurray visited Sir Laborte on location to record an interview with him and followed up the interview by e-mail, asking him to share his opinions on second language education in the Philippines. Eighty-six million Filipinos live on some 2,000 islands (of the 7,000 that make up the country) where they have developed their own unique cultures and languages. In all, there are over 100 regional languages and the national language, Filipino, is derived from the Tagalog. English is the most widely spoken second language and most business, governmental, and legal transactions are conducted in English.
McMurray: What is it like being a high school teacher of English in the Philippines?
Laborte: I am so busy right now because we just finished giving achievement examinations to our students. We are very busy computing the test results because achievement exams are the basis of judging our performance in teaching. Hopefully I will reach the outstanding rating for this school year. We are very proud of our students since our school ranks number four in the national examination tests in this region. The content of the subject materials matters more than the grammar activities and that helps the students to aim for definite accomplishments. It facilitates their concentration on essentials. The students in our school nowadays are very good when it comes to communicating with one another using the English language. Their finals are next week.
McMurray: What are final examinations like in your school?
Laborte: The final examinations require students to be able to recall those lessons and discussions that were introduced by the teacher during the year. In my class this year I conducted four tests after every study unit and conducted oral discussions. At the end of term the students will take four different kinds of exams (listening, speaking, grammar, and reading), and I ask students to submit a term paper based on readings done at home. Their report has to be defended during face-to-face interviews with myself or the school principal. It's just like a thesis and is often quite elaborate. The report is also shared by the whole class.
The types of questions asked during the four final examinations include a listening exercise where the students listen to me read an essay twice and then they are asked to answer several questions about the content. A speaking test is administered with multiple-choice type answers. A grammar and structures test involves the identifying of errors found in short phrases; the filling-in of blanks with the word or pair of words which would complete the thought of the sentence; and changing reported speech in given sentences to direct forms of speech. The reading test includes comprehension questions; fill in the blanks with the appropriate vocabulary word or idiomatic expression; and a cloze test.
McMurray: How do students in the Philippines study for international tests like the TOEFL?
Laborte: Students prepare themselves before taking those examinations. They focus on listening activities more than on comprehension practice. Aside from that they read about current events. They do their own research on topics and build their own vocabulary lists.
McMurray: A familiar motto that was coined by former Philippine Secretary of Education Ricardo T. Gloria and is painted on the side of your school is "Be proud you are a teacher, the future of our students depends on you." Yet I understand from reading the popular press and The Philippine Journal of Education that teachers, schools, and the Ministry of Education are often held to criticism by parents and the public alike in a love-hate relationship.
Laborte: That motto has been adopted by teachers as their mission. Being an English language teacher is not an easy task. Students depend on us to prepare them for future careers, while school administrators hold us to task to make sure our students are achieving standard levels. As teachers with limited access to funding for reference books and conferences we struggle to gain sufficient current background knowledge on topics to entertain fruitful discussions with our students. We, therefore, likely spend more time than teachers in more affluent countries to prepare for lessons, test, and to keep abreast of changes in the English language used as an international language.
During the past two decades, Filipino domestics, engineers, and construction workers have been hired by employers in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe partly because of their ease with the English language. Therefore, teachers of English are sometimes praised and respected. We are constantly kept on our toes; however, most daily newspaper editorials mirror the general public opinion that the study of English would be highly artificial and wasteful if a genuine need for English weren't felt by the students toward the work they will be required to do in their future careers.
Many Filipinos have not found economic salvation through English, however, and some haven't even found adequate general education. One of every ten Filipinos in the labor force is unemployed; 3.1 million Filipino workers lost their jobs during the year 2000 and 5.5 million or more are underemployed workers. Because of wide-economic disparity among the peoples of the Philippines, maintaining fair access to language education is a prime objective and constant challenge.
McMurray: What are your English language classrooms like?
Laborte: Emilio Ramos National High School is an old building that was donated by the Philippine Government. Classrooms lack sufficient chairs for the 1,000 students, and it has neither a language laboratory nor a library. Teachers do have a telephone in the office and a mini-library, but they are not accessible to the students. Students are advised to do their research in the city library to learn more on their research subject and access reference books. Quality education will fail if our students continue to suffer from the lack of classrooms, teachers, and textbooks. Many textbooks are written by teachers and copied. Portable telephones with e-mail have become commonplace among workers in the Philippines, language teachers included, and many users now have access to the Internet. Internet cafes are popular and cost about 45 pesos an hour (100 yen).
McMurray: What advice do you give new students entering your class?
Laborte: I advise my students to learn to love the English subject because in the near future they can use it to reach their aspirations in life. They need to study quickly, however, because at 15 years of age, the average Filipino high school graduate is two and half years short of schooling compared to most other countries.
McMurray: Thank you, Sir Laborte, for your time spent participating in this interview during your busy teaching schedule. I understand that you were selected as the JALT2001 Asian Scholar and have been invited to speak to teachers located in several cities throughout Japan before going to Kitakyushu to attend the PAC3 at JALT2001 conference.
Laborte: Praise be Jesus and Mary! Yes, I am available from November 15 to 25, 2001. My two speeches focus on the language education system in the Philippines and are entitled "Measuring School Achievement as part of the Development of the Educational System of the Philippines in the 21st Century," and "Second Language Education in the Philippines."
Raul C. Laborte is an English teacher at Emilio Ramos National High School in the Department of Education in Davao City, Region XI, of the Republic of the Philippines. He is the winner of the JALT2001 Asian Scholarship and is touring several chapters from November 15 - 22. He presents "Student Achievement Exam Results Impact Teacher Performance Evaluations in the Philippines" at PAC3 at 11:00 on Nov. 25.
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