Meeting for Teachers of Modern Language to Focus on Students’ Performance

Senior Education Officer in the Core Curriculum Unit, of the Ministry of Education, Herma Meade, has announced that the second annual general meeting for teachers of modern languages will be staged on Friday September 26, in an attempt to better improve students’ performance in these subjects.
She made the announcement during an interview with JIS News yesterday (Sept. 24).
“The workshop on Friday, September 26, is the first general meeting of teachers of modern languages for the academic year 2008-2009. We hope that many representatives from high schools, primary schools and prep schools will attend. We also hope to have representatives from tertiary institutions, teachers colleges and universities, including Northern Caribbean University, the University of Technology and stakeholders of modern language teaching in general,” she explained.
The meeting will be held at the Caenwood Auditorium, 37 Arnold Road, Kingston, starting at 9:00 am.
According to Miss Meade, the meeting will, among other things, address issues relating to regional examinations, and opportunities for teacher upgrading.
“Opportunities for the upgrading of teachers where there are scholarships will be discussed; they will also be given information about where there are other courses. I can say generally that the performance of students in the modern languages need to be improved and hopefully upgrading teachers, calling them annually to a general meeting, and having workshops are the ways we hope to empower them to further assist our students,” the Senior Education Officer noted.
In the meantime, she is urging principals to send their representatives to the meeting, because it can only help to improve the students’ performance.
“We want to really urge the principals to allow the teachers to make use of this opportunity because it will assist the performance of students by virtue of empowering our teachers, giving them strategies, letting them know where they can get help for upgrading…it will all go to improving our students performance and I am sure our principals will want to see our students performing well in all subject areas including the modern languages,” she pointed out, while explaining that knowledge of modern languages has become important in today’s society.
“The teaching of modern languages is becoming so important now, that we hope that all stakeholders who have been invited will come in and participate. With the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), opening up easy access to the Caribbean and with Spanish being important for us in tourism and trade, there would be more job openings if someone is bilingual, opportunities for travel and to experience other cultures,” she stated.
Persons who wish to confirm their attendance are being asked to call 967-5193.