According to the online journal KOTESOL, the students and the 21st century learning skills are actually intertwined especially in the English language. The skills are said to be primary drivers of the students’ learning capabilities while the computing sciences, cultural and social advancements are emerging across the globe. The practice is not new in the Philippine pedagogy with some parts of the world are playing catch-up.
Undoubtedly, the students are given much of an exposure especially in accepting the changes of the society brought by curiosity. Just think of how our learners use social media jargons in communicating, say the interjection, ‘Ha ha ha!’ can now be expressed in three capital letters as an acronym for Laughing Out Loud, or simply ‘LOL.’ Curiosity is still one of the best trigger points of one’s creativity, in this case, the learner’s creativity on how to communicate.
Down the lane, educators need to adapt on the changes, as well, to perform knowledge transfer with accuracy and comprehension form the learners’ level. The need to impart 4C, as KOTESOL calls it, will aid the system as a jumpstart to a healthier learning environment.
Being one of the most spoken and widely accepted languages in the world, we learn English to communicate among other nations. This will not be heavily contested since the language is one of the top used languages across different institutions – academic, government and even corporate. This fact will also solidify that learning to communicate is a skill-to-develop in the 21st century. Communicating enables us to get near to something which is far even with the engagement of different technological platforms such as Skype for Business which majority of the caliber companies of various specializations are using as an office communicator around the globe. Needless to say, communication is strikingly empowering the 21st century learners.
In addition, as infrastructure technology advances through years, we tend to forgot how creativity crafts a personality. In the age of this progressive technology, we must give creativity a chance to let a student prosper in his/her chosen career. With such skill, a student may find ways to jive and be adaptive to the status quo. Creativity is a strength we have taken for granted – an awakening of a brain being dormant while being submerged in numbers and formula.
Top-notch organization in the world, such as world’s largest searching engine we know as Google, looks for employees who are collaborative. The best time to teach collaboration to people is the time when they are still in school. Collaboration teaches the students to be one among the others, recognizing the strength of a knowledge, which can be a result of ideation, and develop it to more productive one.
Keeping the balance, critical thinking should also be imparted too as early as teenage years. It keeps a student be more rationale and logical. It is important to a learned to have this mindset to aid them in decision making and be pragmatist. With critical thinking, a student will be able to identify inconsistencies in logic and deficiency in reasoning – mainly in arguments and ideas. Without this, it will keep being a good communicator at bay. Critical thinking will also justify that there’s a meaning in every piece of art and there is a logical process whenever we collaborate.
4C might not be widely acknowledged in the local academic institutions. Educators are actually inculcating these skill sets, the best way a teacher knows. With all the habits the mentors form inside the school, the learner’s capabilities and skills are always developed through repetition before it turns to be a form – a system we can call a norm in the coming years of molding the pillars of this nation.
By: Consolacion R. Baluyot | MT-II | Bataan National High School | Balanga City, Bataan
