Sunday, 11 January 2009

Snippets of UPLB History: The Humanities (Part 3)

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES
(Last of three parts)


by Edelwina Cu-Legaspi


Earlier, in 1953, the English courses were revised to give the students as much as was possible and profitable in the few English courses they had to attend. Accordingly, English 1a and 1b, both three-unit courses, gave way to English 1 (two units), English 2 (two units), and English 3 (three units), thereby affording the English instructor additional hours in which to try to develop communication skills, disseminate information, stimulate independent thinking, and mold character. After finishing these three subjects, the honors curriculum students were required to take English 10 (Scientific Reporting); those in the general curriculum, English 4 (Literature in English); and those in agricultural education, English 11 (Public Speaking). To most members of the staff, English 4 has been the most “fulfilling” subject. One of the few courses in the College that are less concerned with technical skills, it seeks to bring out the individual who can live and work healthily and happily with himself and with others.


The extracurricular work of the Department of Languages has increased even though it no longer proofreads for the Philippine Agriculturist. Its members still read for English theses and other manuscripts of students and faculty members. Some are members of college standing committees, others are resource persons on communication skills for the Community Development Training Center . A few are advisers of student organizations and the College organ, Aggie Green and Gold.  Others direct student plays and sit as moderators and judges in student forums and contests. Half a dozen serve during registrations in various capacities. The foreign students who come to the College inadequately prepared to take up work in English attend special tutorial classes held by Languages instructors. For the Department of Agricultural Education, the Language staff edited and proofread high school teaching materials prepared by the Department in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Schools. In addition to this, a couple of English instructors are detailed every now and then to handle high school classes, reversing the situation in the earlier days when the Department of Languages had borrowed from other departments to reinforce its staff.  One instructor handles Philippine Institutions 1, a newly instituted course, while the Department of Agricultural Education searched for a qualified staff to teach it.  Another conducts research for the Philippine Historical Association of which he is a charter member and gives language examinations for prospective candidates for advanced degrees. Another member has been supervisor of the Maquiling School for years. 


The Department is not wanting in “lighter” work either. On various social occasions members of the staff have contributed a number or two to programs; the ladies serve on the Loyalty Day luncheon committee.  In December, 1958, the Department presented Sam and Bella Spewack’s amoral-sentimental comedy My Three Angels, the proceeds from which went into the purchase of badly needed stage curtains for the Baker Hall. To give residents their fill of classical music, the Department formed the Art Appreciation Club which meets every month. In the funding campaign of the College for the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Languages staff spearheaded the drive by holding a Mardi Gras night which netted a neat amount.


Although the Department has concentrated on the practical use of English to agricultural students all these years, it has not lost sight of three of the major goals of all language arts instruction: “wholesome personal development, growing intellectual curiosity and the capacity for critical thinking, and deeper understanding of the reasons for faith in and allegiance to the basic values of a democratic society."


It is every Languages Instructor's hope to achieve these goals in any subject he handles now and will handle in the future. At the time of the writing of this report, materials for the proposed Speech Clinic, a Rockefeller gift, have started trickling in.  Plans are afoot to include a humanities course in the contemplated revised curriculum. When all these plans materialize, indeed, the Department of Languages, like Bacon, will have taken unto itself a vast province.


Source:
Philippine Agriculturist, Volume XLIII, Number 1, June 1959.

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