Creating a New Normal at Home: Language Skills Development for All

The author is Teacher III at Talavera National High School Gemma M. Tan

We are now in the second year of implementing distance education in the country. These are the years when learners have not been able to go to school and see their teachers in front of them discussing their lessons. It has been two years of not expressing themselves, of not putting their voices on their ideas, of not sharing them with others for a meaningful debate or discussion, and of not practicing their language skills and their abilities. Despite these educational restrictions, the language skills of learners should still be developed. Teachers, with the help of learners’ parents or guardians, should be able to design activities that could enhance their language skills and abilities. Reading poems, stories, or passages aloud with proper enunciation and pronunciation could be of great help in developing their language skills. Writing poems, essays, journals, diaries, news or even stories could be an interesting strategy a teacher or parent can use. Learners can also be asked to watch a movie that fits their level and write some reactions to what they observed in the film. Just be sure that the teacher gives some guidelines on how the learners should do it at home. Orienting parents and guardians about such activities to be done at home could also help facilitate a better watching experience. Encouraging learners and other members of the family who can relate to the activities required for language skills development could be done, as well. Simple conversations reflecting the day-to-day life and experiences of the learners can be held to augment their abilities to express themselves. Reading books and other learning materials of the learner’s interest is also one of the best ways to improve themselves linguistically. We know that these things would be in some ways difficult to implement, especially given that almost everyone is having struggles due to the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases. However, with everyone’s support and concern for providing quality education among the youth, all these plans can be realized. Through practice and exposure of the learners to different interesting and capturing language skills development activities, their goals of becoming a linguistically inclined person can be achieved.