Training teachers

Cristina L. Pamintuan

ADMIT it or not, there is a need to train teachers as the country shifts to distance learning modalities.

This is why the Department of Education may enlist the help of the country’s journalists, the likes of Jessica Soho, Karen Davila, Arnold Clavio, among others, to train educators about facing the camera.

As TV personalities – and journalists, at that – these celebrities know how to engage an audience. Teachers, as well, should be able to do engage their audience, who are the students, in the learning process.

Under the “Teacher-Broadcaster Training Program”, the DepEd said a select group of teachers will undergo training to become effective presenters on television. The training will also allow them to understand the elements of video production.

There are also plans to build broadcast-ready studios nationwide, according to the DepEd.

These are just among the measures the DepEd has in store for the digital shift, which may go even beyond the pandemic.

The agency is eyeing to produce 130 episodes a week, covering major subject areas under the most essential learning competencies.

Schools all over the country are now preparing for the Oct. 5 school opening, after conducting successful dry-run simulations.

Records show that 70 percent of schools nationwide have conducted dry-runs and that preparations are “right on target”.

The move to extend the school opening has given the DepEd extra time to polish some of the problems earlier encountered by schools during their initial dry runs.

Students, as soon as the school year starts, will be learning from home either through printed and digital modules, online classes, or television and radio.

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The author is Teacher III at Magliman Integrated School