U.S. Embassy, DepEd launch new virtual training program for Filipino teachers

On March 22, the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines and Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) launched a new six-week virtual webinar training series on “Teaching Grammar Communicatively in the Philippines” for DepEd teachers and supervisors.  More than 3,700 DepEd teachers and supervisors will participate in the series, which will run through the week of May 2.

The U.S. Embassy, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of English Language Programs, DepEd’s National Educators Academy of the Philippines, Bureau of Learning Delivery, and Bureau of Curriculum Development co-developed the course curriculum to meet the specific needs of Philippine teachers and students during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  The course will provide guidance, methodology, and instructional materials and resources for English teachers through a team of three American English Language Specialists, who will lead the virtual sessions.

“Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has partnered with the Philippines to support all aspects of the pandemic response.  In addition to providing the Philippines over Php1.1 billion ($23.4 million) in COVID-19-related assistance and being the largest donor (Php97.9 billion/$2 billion) to the COVAX vaccine facility, the United States has partnered with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education to enable the transition from in-person to alternative learning.  We hope this ‘Teaching Grammar Communicatively’ course enables teachers and students to meet their educational goals,” said U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Counselor Philip Roskamp.

DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio thanked the U.S. Embassy for organizing and collaborating with DepEd on the launch of the webinar, noting that “the webinar series provides the opportunity for teachers to continue to be updated.  The teaching of grammar is absolutely essential so that we can make our fellow Filipinos more confident in communicating with the rest of the world.”

Once the course is completed, teachers and supervisors will share what they have learned with other teachers in their local areas to broaden implementation with students.  As part of the program, educators will have access to an on-demand resource library that includes a viewing guide, activities, and discussion questions for local learning communities.

This is the U.S. Embassy’s second webinar series project with DepEd supporting teaching and learning during the pandemic.  The first six-week webinar series for DepEd teachers and administrators, “Bridging the Distance Together,” took place from September 14 to October 21, 2020 and provided training on flexible learning to more than 1,600 teachers and reached 3.7 million viewers on Facebook.