European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Launches English Is Cool
By Paul Catiang

On April 18, 2006, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Stakeholder Relations Firm EON, Inc., launched English Is Cool, a five-year program designed to counter the “fast erosion of the younger Filipino generation’s English language skills.” The program’s champions aim to inspire a positive mindset change about English and encourage self-empowerment and self-confidence in every Filipino youth.

They plan to achieve this through three steps.

This begins with reversing the decline in national English proficiency by re-popularizing the English language among the youth and among youth influencers; by showing them the opportunities that come with having a good command of the language; by portraying English as accessible, desirable, and fun; and by promoting English proficiency as a value-adding skill that is accessible to everyone. The program aims to impress upon the youth that English is not just a tool that will enhance and further their careers, but also as the language of entertainment, friendship, and globalization.

Second, English Is Cool aims to bring about a mindset change by advocating constructive values such as volunteerism, self-correction and peer tutoring as positive and doable means of complementing regular formal channels of language education. Through the English Camps, a cooperative effort between the Far Eastern University and Hands On Manila, English is Cool will encourage participation as a means of learning the language and aims to reduce apprehension and the fear of making mistakes.

Lastly, the program’s end objectives are to inspire the youth to practice and improve their handling of the language, build up their employability and marketability, and re-strengthen and maintain the Philippines’ English language competitive advantage. Given the government’s aim to provide six to 10 million jobs by 2010 in the Business Process Outsourcing, Software Development, Tourism and Manufacturing industries, more competent English speakers will be needed to fill the requirements of those jobs. English Is Cool seeks to contribute to this by encouraging the use of English as a means of enhancing one’s career. One of the steps towards achieving this goal is the joint-chambers’ job fair, which will showcase the professions and careers that require a high level of English proficiency.

It is also important to note that while English Is Cool promotes English as the language of globalization and business, the program also encourages bilingualism. Speaking both pure Filipino and pure English taps into the richness of both languages without sacrificing the much-needed proficiency in either. This is the reason the program gives the following encouragement: “Be proud. Be bilingual.”

To gain a picture of the level of English proficiency in the Philippines, here is a survey from the Social Weather Stations conducted in March 2006, compared with the findings of earlier studies, which were conducted in December 1993 and September 2000.

http://www.sws.org.ph/pr060418.htm

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Rina Tanchoco
Project Manager
info@english-is-cool.org