Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

I believe that the exams need to be restructured. I think there should be two exams. One in the English language that's geared towards basic communication, written, and interpretation. The other geared towards nursing (or whatever degree they're planning on using) and medical use. It doesn't matter if you were educated in English, your books might have been in English, but was your instruction 100% in English? I've taken many foreign language classes, and I have to say that it was never 100% in that foriegn language with the exception of one instructor. I bet most places that used books in English didn't primarily conduct nursing in English. Also, I'm unsure about this but when you're out in the clinical environment, are you using English 100% of the time? I have a hard time believing that because I work with a lot of Filipino nurses who seems to revert back to Tagalog or Ilocano at work with each other. If they weren't speaking to non Tagalog speakers, then they were using English. So if you have a group of Filipinos together I'm sure that they're mostly speaking Tagalog and not English. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm only stating what I've observed.

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

I believe that the exams need to be restructured. I think there should be two exams. One in the English language that's geared towards basic communication, written, and interpretation. The other geared towards nursing (or whatever degree they're planning on using) and medical use.

That's actually a great idea and I wouldn't be opposed to it at all. However, enforcement and creation of something like that needs to be done by NCSBN; so I'd encourage you to direct the requests to them.

Along that line of though, it would be nice to see a bridging course for the USA. Australia and New Zealand have a similar idea where a foreign educated nurse is educated for up to six months (depending on the individual nurse) until he or she is considered fit for duty in Australian or New Zealand hospitals.
I think that's a great system!

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

It doesn't matter if you were educated in English, your books might have been in English, but was your instruction 100% in English? I've taken many foreign language classes, and I have to say that it was never 100% in that foriegn language with the exception of one instructor. I bet most places that used books in English didn't primarily conduct nursing in English.

That depends on the school.. This is why I strongly encourage English training centers which are established by native speakers and staffed by more native speakers. This way the instruction is more grounded and is 100% solid English instruction. Luckily there are several in Manila and other major cities in the Philippines. I would urge Pinoy nurses to seek them out instead of just the review centers that promise to get you high scores in IELTS through test-taking tricks.

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

Also, I'm unsure about this but when you're out in the clinical environment, are you using English 100% of the time?

That depends on the hospital. Some hospitals have very strict English-Only policies. Actually there are MANY offices in the Philippines which deal with transcription, call centers, or just Foreign-founded businesses which penalize employees for speaking anything but English when they are on premises.
In my wife's office, for example, they are not even permitted to speak non-English in the break-room.

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

I have a hard time believing that because I work with a lot of Filipino nurses who seems to revert back to Tagalog or Ilocano at work with each other. If they weren't speaking to non Tagalog speakers, then they were using English. So if you have a group of Filipinos together I'm sure that they're mostly speaking Tagalog and not English. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm only stating what I've observed.

I can't fault someone for reverting to the "home" language when they are around others that speak it.
I do the same thing here when I'm around other English speakers... there is a high level of relief that comes with speaking to someone in a way that they understand without effort and a way that you can speak without effort instead of having to alter your words and think through every sentence before you say it.

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

I believe that the exams need to be restructured. I think there should be two exams. One in the English language that's geared towards basic communication, written, and interpretation. The other geared towards nursing (or whatever degree they're planning on using) and medical use. It doesn't matter if you were educated in English, your books might have been in English, but was your instruction 100% in English? I've taken many foreign language classes, and I have to say that it was never 100% in that foriegn language with the exception of one instructor. I bet most places that used books in English didn't primarily conduct nursing in English. Also, I'm unsure about this but when you're out in the clinical environment, are you using English 100% of the time? I have a hard time believing that because I work with a lot of Filipino nurses who seems to revert back to Tagalog or Ilocano at work with each other. If they weren't speaking to non Tagalog speakers, then they were using English. So if you have a group of Filipinos together I'm sure that they're mostly speaking Tagalog and not English. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm only stating what I've observed.

Doctors have addressed this issue the second exam they have USMLE 2 is a clinical and the medical student has to communicate in English in person and often on the phone. I believe Canada addresses this with there Comprehensive Assessment, I thin the US needs to adopt these standards.

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

As a Filipino who has worked overseas, remedial english classes is a MUST. I think we need to deal with the basics first, which are grammar and pronunciation. There is no point having an American or British accent if you don't make sense. Next would be singulars and plurals, tenses and pronouns (he/she/it/they). The reason why I mentioned pronouns is because I have met and spoken to many fellow Filipinos who refer to any person, whether man or woman, as "she". This, of course, becomes very confusing, on top of the other grammatical mistakes that the person could be committing.

I would deal with the accent (if I really need to) when everything else has reached an acceptable level because, when you think about it, the accent will come naturally dependent on the country you're living in.

How, would you ask, can one deal with these issues? Unfortunately, no review centre can miraculously improve one's english on its own. There is no special pill or magic spell to make one good at speaking or writing english. It takes classes, together with practice and lots of READING. Ok, maybe you're not an avid book reader. How about newspapers written in english? Fashion magazines written in english? Reading is a part of every persons life, whether or not he or she likes to do it for fun so one should take advantage of this. Watching shows whose participants speak in english, will be helpful as well so that one can hear how words are pronounced. Speaking in english all the time, even with close friends and family, will be beneficial as well.

It truly is a shame that the Philippines, a country once known to have excellent english speakers, and its educational system has gone to the dogs. But that doesn't mean that the Filipinos should give up. It just means that we should try harder. I still believe in the Filipino and what we can do. But this can only be done if we stop rationalizing the situation, take the bull by the horns, and just do the best we can in all aspects of the task at hand.

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

<P><FONT color=green>Yes we Filipinos were taught the English language since we were in Kindergarten but let me ask you this question...do you think person "A"s English proficiency&nbsp;who was educated in a public school all his life (except of course during his nursing student years) could compare to that of person "B" who was taught in a private school? Of course not!</FONT></P>

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

I'm sorry I'm not following you joyee0221. What do you mean exactly? I don't know how it's structured there in the Philippines, but here in the US, you have some excellent public schools and some horrible public schools. You also have some excellent private schools, and some horrible private schools. Yes, there are some horrible private schools in the US, and it might not be academically but in other areas. There are some public schools that are excellent that they also are competitive with the private schools. So I'm not understanding what you mean. You have to be a little more specific on what you're asking exactly.

I believe that you were taught English since kindergarten, but do you really use it a lot outside of school? Is it used a lot at home? I took the same foreign language in junior high and high school, and although I did learn the language, we didn't use it outside of school as much. We used both English and Spanish at home depending on who we were speaking with.

I work with some Filipino nurses who have excellent English skills, and I also work with some Filipino nurses who have horrible English skills. Could it be that maybe not all Filipinos practiced it outside the classroom as much compared to those that did and have excellent English skills?

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

[quote=NurseCubanitaRN2b;3929025]I'm sorry I'm not following you joyee0221. What do you mean exactly? I don't know how it's structured there in the Philippines, but here in the US, you have some excellent public schools and some horrible public schools.

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Generally speaking, the public schools in the Philippines are inferior to most private schools in the Philippines. In the elementary levels in the public schools, the classes are as big as 75 pupils per one teacher! How can the Philippine public school teachers become effective educators when they are so overwhelmed with so many pupils to teach? And the pay is so low that the public schools can't attract enough teachers with good scholastic background. I've heard several of these Philippine public school teachers speak horrible English grammar when they were interviewed on t.v. and the clips were shown here in the U.S. via cable channel. Poor quality of teachers oftentimes produce poor quality of students. Garbage in, garbage out. This is the sad state of the public education in the Philippines.

And many elected politicians would rather steal from the public coffer rather than improve the many dire situations existing in the Philippines, particularly public education.

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Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

Thank you DailyRN it makes perfect sense now. It's good that it was clairfied because I wasn't understanding what the original poster meant. That is a very brutal teacher:student ratio. WOW, how can anybody learn anything. Those classrooms must be very big to house all those students.

Re: Do Filipino Nurses Need Remedial English Classes Before Going Overseas?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

Thank you DailyRN it makes perfect sense now. It's good that it was clairfied because I wasn't understanding what the original poster meant. That is a very brutal teacher:student ratio. WOW, how can anybody learn anything. Those classrooms must be very big to house all those students.

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I'm glad I was able to clarify some particular topics for you. Also in many public schools, there are not enough classrooms to go around. So some classes are conducted from 6am-10am, 10am-2pm, and 2pm-6pm. Therefore, students get only four hours of instructions per day.

Some of the classes are taught in hallways, stairs or even outside. These are the sad situations in Philippine public education. Some of the graduates from these public schools go on to nursing schools. Their basic knowledge and command of the English language leaves a lot of room for improvement.

The upper middle income families and the rich can send their children to top private schools in the Philippines that have excellent teachers. Many of the kids from these families learn English well early in life, but some of them are spoiled and don't think education is important because they think their parent's money 'will take care of everything for the rest of their life'. But this is another topic altogether.

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