At the time of the pandemic, there is generally a greater complexity to teach. The dilemma, in particular in public schools basic education, is due to the fact that there is no specific successful framework on which to base from or use as a reference. Teachers are groping in the dark about teaching tools and techniques to begin with.
Nonetheless, challenges can be turned into opportunities for teachers to be creative and innovative during difficult times. It means opening our hearts and minds to the new things that are facing us. It is through looking at what we have and what else we can do, considering the present situation. We can not wait and be taken aback in due course due to the impact of the pandemic.
The challenge is comparable with teaching oral communication among senior high school students. As the subject hopes for the learners to immerse in the opportunity to express their thoughts in various contexts around them, and this essential skill obviously takes a considerable amount of time to acquire, especially in the spoken dimension, so as to actually assert that such effort is being made by the teacher and students as well prove to be effective and efficient.
Why is this so? Given the fact that from the previous learning competencies, the Department of Education has dramatically merged or reduced some competencies in order to come up with the Most Essential Learning Competencies or what we call now as MELCS. The very idea is about quality content or depth rather than quantity. However reducing the number of competencies to the most essentials would also mean less time for teacher-student interaction in a physical setting. And so giving them, hopefully, more productive time at home. And sad to say, I believe, their parents or other elder members in the family could not help significantly in the educative process. This is particularly true in schools whose parents have relatively low educational attainment.
At this stage when teachers are asked to formulate learners’ home tasks in preparation for a very high possibility of conducting remote teaching, specifically in a modular manner where students are given modules to study and perform at home. In the design of home tasks, teachers who are handling oral communication are placed in a dilemma as to what specific activities are appropriate, in such a way that is engaging and relevant for students to do at home. These are activities that are highly contextualized being relevant to their unique experiences as young individuals.
However what is certain is that they are trying to be rational about the activities to be offered. That means evaluating the very situation our students find themselves in or have in. Beginning with their own personal experiences at home, in their local community and taking them to places that they usually don't know about, which involve experiences such as applying for a job after their high school, seeking price quotes from different suppliers for the required office supplies or even having an accommodation reservation in relation to a scheduled social event.
Equally difficult after the tasks is the process of evaluation, both formative and summative. Whether it is interactive, and as speaking requires that one be listened to and heard by a knowledgeable person as in the case of teachers, there must be a recording system, or even uploading to a certain viewing site. Here we employ the aid of technology in order for students to upload their works and teachers can download, view and provide valuable feedback.
The explanation above is plain and simple however when those proposals and techniques are put into practice, the real challenge surfaces. Yet at least there is so much time for the teachers to prepare. By delivering practical instructions we have accomplished this and in a way we are half in the challenge.