To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Heads, Public and Private Secondary Schools

1. As announced in DepED Memorandum No. 560, s. 2008 (Special Program in Foreign Language), public and private secondary schools are encouraged to offer foreign languages like Spanish, French and Nihongo (Japanese) as elective subjects starting SY 2009-2010.
2. The schools offering the program are advised to follow these guidelines:
   1. Subject Nomenclature. The subject shall appear in the Student Report Card in the Third Year as Basic Spanish/French/Japanese and in the Fourth Year as Intermediate Spanish/French/Japanese;
   2. Description. Basic Spanish/French/Nihongo (Japanese) is designed to develop the macro skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing using simple and practical language. The objective is to enable students to use the language in day-to-day conversations. Intermediate Spanish/French/Nihongo (Japanese) is designed to prepare students for more complex interactions and more formal use of the language;
   3. Time allotment. The subject shall be offered 120 minutes weekly;
   4. Unit Credits. Being an elective, the subject shall be offered .as optional for students, hence, shall not carry any unit credits;
   5. Assessment. Assessment shall follow the principles for diagnostic, formative and summative assessments. Student rating shall follow the procedure and shall adopt the factors considered in the computation of the student’s grade in the English subject;
   6. Qualification and Compensation of Teachers. The teachers who shall handle the subject should have undergone training or preparation for teaching the subject. They shall be paid honoraria or overtime pay if they exceed the prescribed number of teaching hours per RA 4670 (The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers), subject to existing policies and guidelines; and
   7. Instructional Resources and Facilities. It is expected that the school offering the language has available classrooms, instructional materials and facilities to support the delivery of the program.
3. Schools are encouraged to offer any of the foreign languages initially as a pilot for two years. Appropriate adjustments shall be made on the curriculum based on the results of the monitoring and evaluation of the program.
4. Immediate and wide dissemination of this Order to all concerned is directed.

Reference:
DepED Memorandum: (No. 560, s. 2008) Allotment: 1- -(D.O. 50-97)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
LANGUAGE
POLICY
SECONDARY EDUCATION
SCHOOLS

DO_s2009_55