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MANILA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has included Mandarin in its special language program for teachers to boost their skills in teaching some of the most widely used foreign languages, a senior official said Tuesday. Education Secretary Armin Luistro said Mandarin was included in the 2012 Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) Summer Training Courses for Teachers that started on April 12 and will end on May 22. This annual program is expected to improve the capability of public school teachers on the diverse aspects of learning and teaching a second or foreign language. "This is also in line with the thrust of K to 12 which is to prepare our future workforce for the global arena," he added, referring to the kindergarten and 12 years of basic education. The SPFL aims to develop students' skills in listening, reading, writing, speaking and viewing as fundamental to acquiring communicative competence in a second foreign language. The program was started in school year 2009-2010 in selected public secondary schools, first with the Spanish, French, and Japanese languages. German and Mandarin were later included in the list. The SPFL was first implemented in public high schools with students that have demonstrated competence in English and are capable of learning other foreign languages, Luistro said. |
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