English Proficiency No More I have an ordinary childhood.

Most of the time, I spent it with my friends in our neighborhood playing piko, hide and seek and football to name a few. Come night time, my siblings and I were glued in front of the tv watching cartoons like Voltes V, Daimos, Astroboy and others, But there is one vivid detail that I will never forget and that is, all those tv programs that we watched were spoken in English. I even grew up at that time when news on tv was said in English, and imagine, anybody can understand it regardless of their educational status! The people I knew when I was a little girl were so adept in speaking the language. They were not native speakers mind you, and they occasionally used it but, oh boy, when they speak, it was with such an ease! I suddenly remember my grandfather. When the balikbayans would come over and visit our family, he would impress them by conversing with them in English. As I grew older, I became so engrossed with Macgyver, Airwolf and Knight Rider, then eventually, with Doggie Howser M.D. and Beverly Hills 90210. I still remember that the first Princess Sarah on air was spoken in English! So you see, any kid for that matter who loves her character will be forced to learn English to understand her story. It was a good motivation. Gradually, networks started tagalizing cartoons and soap operas became so popular; before we knew it, the primetime slot was flocked with soap operas of different genres and the English TV programs are moved to cable channels. Take note, not everyone can have access to cable channels and so, the masa are left without a choice. They now have a lesser exposure of the English language. Could this be one major reason why English fluency is slowly deteriorating among our student populace?