By Catherine Teves/PNA
MANILA — The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) will discuss with the Department of Education (DepEd) the need for elementary schools nationwide to intensify teaching of Filipino orthography or the correct way of spelling words in Philippine languages.
Last week’s final result of the 2018 Pambansang Paligsahan sa Ispeling: Iispel Mo! annual spelling contest of KWF for sixth graders nationwide indicates the need for such action, KWF translation chief John Enrico Torralba said.
“The contest’s finalists seem to still lack knowledge about rules of Filipino orthography,” he noted in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday. “The scores they garnered during the contest were rather low.”
At the contest’s final round in Quezon City, the KWF announced scores garnered by the winners–65 points, 58 points, 55 points, 51 points, and 50 points.
Such scores are just a little over half the perfect score of 100 points, Torralba said.
Each word the KWF asked the finalists to spell embodied an orthographic rule, Torralba said.
The KWF will inform DepEd about such concern, he added.
Torralba said intensifying teaching of orthography will help pupils better understand the conventional spelling system of Filipino, enabling them to correctly spell Filipino words and use this language.
“That’s why we’re studying how to expand knowledge of orthographic rules,” he said.
Torralba said the KWF conducts seminars on Filipino orthography in regions around the country.
“But the KWF lacks manpower and resources for such activity, so it’s important to institutionalize Iispel Mo! as a regular DepEd activity,” he said.
Institutionalizing Iispel Mo! will help ensure regular funding for the contest, he added.
“It’ll also require teaching of orthography,” he added, saying the rules apply not only to Filipino but to other Philippine languages as well.
“Those rules aren’t applicable to Filipino alone because Philippine languages are related,” he said.
For the 2018 Iispel Mo! contest, Torralba said the KWF awarded the winners cash prizes of PHP35,000 (first placer), PHP25,000 (second placer), PHP15,000 (third placer), PHP10,000 (fourth placer), and PHP5,000 (fifth placer).
The first- to fifth-place winners of Iispel Mo! this year were National Capital Region’s Angel Mayhe Gueco, Region 4-B’s Charlize Jade Janda, Region 9’s Kristin Riza Taburada, Region 2’s Winstle Keigh Corpuz, and Region 8’s Shiena Julia Cala.
The KWF came up with Iispel Mo! in 2016 to help encourage elementary school enrollees to learn Filipino and indigenous languages spoken in their areas, he said.
