Davao City call center school trains teachers in English

The JIB e-Academy, a school established originally for call center agents, has started training public teachers in English proficiency in coordination with the Department of Education. Joji Ilagan Bian, chairwoman of the Joji Ilagan Foundation, which runs the school, said improving teachers’ communication skills is a "highly critical factor in the students’ learning process." "The teachers will now have better teaching methodologies in the English language. The education of our youth greatly depends on our teachers. It is only apt that they undergo this special training because communications is integral in their work. They should serve as role models by being good and effective communicators," she said. An initial batch of around 70 teachers from public schools in the city are being trained under a 144-hour intensive Internet-based English course. The training, dubbed "English Language Proficiency-Power Accent Training," is a 20-day program whose goal is to improve the skills of teachers in spoken English. "Not only will teachers be able to teach the subject better to their students, but having a better grasp of English will give them confidence to use it outside the school," the press statement from the call center school said. The public school teachers will have to complete lessons in mastering 52 unique sounds of the English language, grammar, English exercises, and educational games. Teachers are expected to become proficient in spoken English, a skill they can transfer to their students, it added. The English language training is part of a collaboration between Ms. Bian’s school and the Department of Education after a 2004 self-assessment conducted by the department on public school teachers showed that only one of every five is proficient in English. In March this year, the agency released a memorandum asking 3,400 elementary teachers to assess their English proficiency as part of the agency’s National English Proficiency Program. As this will benefit Mindanao in the long run, Ms. Bian’s school decided to link with the government agency to look into how it can help teachers in public schools master spoken English. The school, which has units in Manila, Iloilo, General Santos, Butuan, Surigao and Marawi, uses a specialized English proficiency software in training its students for call center jobs. It is using the same software in training English teachers in public schools, Ms. Bian said.