TEACHING THE TEACHERS HOW TO TEACH SUGBOANON BISAYAWritten By Jes Tirol ProemThe present Constitution in Article XIV, Section 7 says, "The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein."
In Region 7 where we belong, the regional language is the Sugboanon Bisayan. It ought to be an auxiliary medium of instruction in our schools. We ought to study our first language, which is Sugboanon Bisayan.
The paradox of the situation is, we study English as a second language in school and Filipino as a third language but we do not study our first language, which is Sugboanon Bisayan.
Correcting the Anomaly
As an educator and an advocate of Sugboanon Bisayan, I have tried to correct this anomalous situation. After searching for a solution, I was able to salvage one subject in college that could be taught using the Sugboanon Bisayan language. A CHED Memorandum allowed the teaching of the subject in local literature using the local language. So, since the year 1998 I have been teaching this subject in the Department of Engineering in the University of Bohol using the standardized Sugboanon Bisayan.
In our desire to increase the capability of teaching the Sugboanon Bisayan, the CHED Region 7 allowed the offering of one subject in the Graduate School devoted to the study of the Sugboanon Bisayan language. However, it is sad to note that nobody would enroll in the subject.
Cordova, Cebu
Last May 8, 2007 local election, Atty. Adelino Sitoy was elected Mayor of the town of Cordova, Cebu. He is the same Adelino Sitoy who is the prime mover of Lubas Sa Dagang Bisaya (LUDABI). His first project as a Mayor was to ask permission from the Department of Education to allow the teaching of Sugboanon Bisayan in the Elementary Grades. The permission was granted.
The TeachersThe basic principle is – you could not teach what you do not know. In order to properly teach the Sugboanon Bisayan language, the teachers must be taught the correct grammatical use of the language.
The University of Bohol Graduate School has already the subject in its Master in Education program. So what we are doing now is that the teachers in Cordova, Cebu are enrolled at the University of Bohol and I, as the teacher will be the one to go to Cordova, Cebu every Sunday in order to teach the subject in Sugboanon Bisayan. In this manner, the teachers in Cordova have the incentive to study because they earn units in the Master's degree. As a further incentive, Mayor Sitoy agreed to subsidize the tuition fees of the teachers.
Teacher's ReactionI have already tried to gather some teachers in the University of Bohol to teach them the grammatical Sugboanon Bisayan. I started from the easy topics going to the difficult. However, the teaching strategy failed. Along the way the teachers would always compare the Sugboanon Bisayan to the English language. No amount of information that Sugboanon Bisayan is a different language with a different grammar can make the teachers let go of their mind set in the English grammar.
In Cordova, Cebu, I tried a different strategy. I started from the higher intricacies of the Sugboanon language. I discussed the philosophy, psychology, paradigm, syntax, etc. of the Sugboanon language. I started from a level not usually encountered by Elementary School teachers in their study of the English language, and tend to go down to the easier level.
The strategy was successful. The school teachers of Cordova, Cebu are convinced that Sugboanon is a language worth studying because its complexities, even though different from English, is comparable to the English language.
The RequestThe teachers in Cordova, Cebu are now convinced that there are many aspects of Sugboanon that they must learn. They now request that a regular Master's Degree program be offered so that they can have a Master's Degreein Sugboanon Bisayan. I am now trying to develop that program, which I temporarily call Master of Arts in Teaching Sugboanon Bisayan.
In the province of Cebu, this project of Mayor Sitoy has caught the attention of almost anybody of consequence in the province including the Provincial Governor. It is envisioned that this project would cause the revival of the Sugboanon language.
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