Spanish to be taught in public high schools

The Spanish language will be taught in selected public high schools starting school year 2009-2010, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the Spanish language is being pursued under its “Special Program in Foreign Language” to introduce Filipino students to a second language widely used globally.

Lapus said the language program will “prepare students for meaningful interaction in a linguistically diverse global workplace.”

“It will also develop understanding and appreciation of other people’s culture,” he said.

The program will only be implemented in schools whose students have demonstrated high competence in English and are capable of learning another foreign language, he added.

The program aims to develop students’ skills in listening, reading, writing, speaking and viewing necessary to acquire communication skills using a second foreign language.

The program shall initially offer Spanish in one school per region, with two classes of 35 students each.

The pilot schools and their teachers have yet to be identified, however.

DepEd said that only secondary schools with the highest Mean Percentage Score (MPS) in academic diagnostic tests in English in the region would be selected. – Rainier Allan Ronda