Cebuano teachers were encouraged by the representatives of the US Embassy to encourage and facilitate extensive reading to their students.
One of which is Dr. Thomas Robb, professor emeritus of Kyoto Sangyo University.
“Reading is the best way to improve your ability,” he said during a seminar-workshop he conducted for the faculty on September 4.
He expressed that extensive reading is important to improve one’s general language ability. Meaning, a student must read a lot of books. With this premise in mind, Cebu-based teachers were chosen by the US Embassy to be trained. Hence, the Regional English Language Office from the United States Embassy organized a two-day seminar-workshop at the University of San Jose-Recoletos. The purpose of the seminar is to teach educators how to encourage students to do extensive reading.
He added that through learning how to read extensively, a student can enjoy reading without using a dictionary.
Robb was hired by the US Embassy to be the speaker of the seminars. Last year, he conducted the same training series in Vietnam and Indonesia. This time in Cebu, he was joined by Harold Samuels and Connie Chico, both are part of English Language Enthusiasts.
With the assistance of the USJ-R dean of College of Arts and Sciences, the seminar went smoothly. Robb conveyed that he enjoyed himself conducting the two-day training workshop. He remarked that everyone in the university is friendly and accommodating. He also saw the enthusiasm of the participants who enjoyed the books he brought. He added that USJ-R is a nice place because of the accessible materials in each facility.
The linguist voiced out that compared to the other countries he visited, English speaking in the Philippines is “way more advanced”. This after observing that foreign people would visit the Philippines just to be taught how to speak in English. This realization prompted him to adjust the learning materials he brought for the participants.
He brought books that contained seventy-five different words to tell the story. He also let the teachers take the online quizzes he prepared which they could access from phone and desktop. Lastly, he felt good he knew that people would perform the immense reading with literary works and that his hard work in supervising a training program was paid off.
The US Embassy promotes English literacy in different places in the country.
Written by Cyde Obrero (LIACOM intern)
