Here is a seemingly easy question: Should a policy of English Only be put into place in the English learning environment? At HELP the answer would definitely be “Yes.”, implementing the English Only Policy is an effective way for students to fully immerse English!
To begin with, allowing students to speak other languages distract them from the task of learning English and students who don’t speak only English are also not thinking in English. Speaking only in English helps students begin speaking English internally; in other words, students will learn to speak English by speaking English.
At HELP, we always think of ways for effective training management, because we believe that the only way to become fluent in a language is by being immersed in the language, hence, the birth of EOP Patrol. The EOP Patrol is a team of school officers that observes all students and implements a strict rule to speak in English everywhere inside Longlong campus (including grocery store and outside areas). Starting at 8 AM to 6 PM, the EOP Patrol monitors if students follow this rule or not. If students violate the English Only Policy, they will then have to pay 100Php for penalty and get a 10-point deduction. And in case anyone thinks that sounds a bit authoritarian then just reflect on this fact: ‘Strictly insisting that no student speak a word of another language is also a daunting task.’ There’s a doubt that any teacher really enjoys disciplining the class, thus setting forth a team of officers to do the job is far more operative and proper.
Creating an English only atmosphere in school should be an important goal, and it should not be the end of a friendly English learning environment. So far, the scale of this project shows the strength of the school’s commitment to raising standards of discipline and learning in HELP.
And thanks to the determined work of HELP EOP Patrol, many of the students now have a renewed motivation in speaking the English language.