DepEd to send 200 teachers every year to teach English in Spain

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) confirmed recently its plan to send 200 Filipino teachers to Spain annually to become English language teachers.
DepEd plans to send 200 Filipino teachers to Spain annually to teach English

Last month, Education Secretary Leonor Briones met with Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Moragas in a courtesy call. Among those discussed is the promotion and teaching of each country's languages.

Moragas expressed Spain’s interest to continue their Language Assistance Program (LAP) with the Philippine government. Spain’s LAP aims to enhance collaboration between the two countries on teacher training.

DepEd explained, through this program, “Spain shall hire around 200 teachers every year to teach the English language in Spain.”

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The Spanish government had long been conducting seminars for LAP participants but this time they want to choose public school teachers and partner with DepEd. They said that through this partnership, their seminars will be more organized and certified by the Philippine education agency.

DepEd added that the Spanish government is looking at initially sending 10 individuals from 2020 to 2021 for a pilot test of the program. A memorandum of understanding on the partnership is also being proposed.

The Spanish government also suggested that the teacher exchanges is truly beneficial to both countries, especially because the Philippines is already offering Spanish as a foreign language subject.

Briones welcomed Spain’s proposal and said, “We appreciate you for taking the initiative in visiting us and sharing the state of Spanish language teaching.”

The education secretary also mentioned how the program will help boost DepEd’s Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL). Briones said they are considering to add Spanish to the special program.

She said, “We are here to talk about the teaching of Spanish as one of the seven languages for our high school students. I’ve read the MOU and I would be very happy to sign it now because it’s an extension of what we have done before.”

DepEd’s SPFL is a program designed for Grade 7 to 10 students who are already recognized to be competent in Filipino and Language. The program allows them to take extra subjects and learn another foreign language.

Apart from Spanish, the other foreign languages being offered are French, German, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese in select public schools.

— Sally, The Summit Express



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