Above are the strong words from a person who we, Filipinos honor as our National Hero. This molded the Filipino culture for a very long time.
Until, we got too consumed with first world culture, westernization, Americanization and whatchamacallits.
When before, children only got to speak English in school mainly because the mode of instruction was English, nowadays, in some, if not most households, English is clearly becoming the first language.
In my opinion, it somehow came about in the recent years because the Philippines has been “exporting” manpower overseas where they can earn higher wages and potentially alleviate their way of living. Hence parents started to add leverage to their own children by raising English speakers – then there will be no or little language barrier if ever these children would have to live abroad in the future.
There are lots of other reasons why parents (not just Filipinos) would decide to raise multi-lingual kids.
There are parents whose native tongues are different hence they have in one way or another, teach their kids their respective languages. Japanese dad, Filipino Mom. Spanish Mom, American Dad. The list can go on.
Makes sense. I have no issues with that.
Errr…. Actually, I have an issue!
I have English speaking kids with whom I am having a hard time teaching Tagalog , the native Philippine language.
I do not know if we would be in the same situation if we are raising our kids in the Philippines (because of the reasons I mentioned above).
Here are the reasons why (I think ) we have English speaking kids:
- They were born and are being raised currently here in UAE. I think it is but appropriate that they learn the common language for ease of communication with other people around us.
- My eldest had language delay – he did not speak full sentences until he was 4 years old. This was about the time when he came back to live with us here after almost 4 years (from 8 months to 4th birthday) of living in the Philippines. There may be other reasons for the language delay but I thought he may have been confused because from 1- 8 months, when he was basically collecting words in his “language bank” he was mostly hearing English. Then the sudden change of environment when he came to PH where people, basically my mom and dad plus others in the neighborhood mainly speak in Tagalog. I know it does not make sense, but still. LOL
- Because of reason number 2, when we had baby number 2 and 3 we decided to focus on one language only whilst they are still young. Evidently that is English.
- Oh well, I am somehow also guilty of letting TV baby –sit them. I mean, occasionally. I believe a lot will agree when I say that TV has lots of influence on people, kids especially.
My Problem:
Being Filipinos, I know that these kids NEED to learn our native tongue. Time will come when we will have to settle back down in PH and I don’t want them to feel isolated just because they cannot speak Tagalog.
Though I mentioned in my earlier posts that we will soon be homeschooling, we will still be adapting the Philippine Curriculum. Meaning, Filipino subject is mandatory. Four years in school and I know that my eldest struggled with the subject. Since a lot of other Filipino kids here also speak mainly English only, the teachers struggled too!
Being non-native English speakers, there are just some things that we feel are better explained in our Mother Tongue.
NOSE BLEED
This is an idiomatic expression we Filipinos say when we are struggling with English – whether speaking or just listening.
And boy, do I nose bleed all the time!
English in the office.
English at home.
Meet other Filipino kids outside and my, more English!
Oh yeah, not to mention steemit!
(I am now thinking of writing an article in Filipino and ironically, I suspect it will be more difficult)
English at home.
Meet other Filipino kids outside and my, more English!
Oh yeah, not to mention steemit!
What we are doing now?
They clearly do not have any issues speaking in English anymore. I am pretty sure my youngest, 19 months is an English speaker too! Thus we try to speak to them in our native tongue and encourage them to revert in the same medium.
We used to have The Filipino Channel (TFC) on cable tv and they seemed to understand some of the programs.
We are off to a slow start, but hopefully we’ll get on track. They can actually understand us when we speak to them in Tagalog, but they cannot speak yet. With more effort, hopefully soon!
Thoughts?
I know there are lots of other parents out there who are in the same situation as we are. Your ideas and suggestions are most welcome. We would like to hear from you!
