![]() ![]() Filipino children may not understand the fine distinction of the English language, but they’re starting to get familiar with it even at a young age.Īlthough most Filipinos who understand the Filipino language are literate to it is not their mother tongue. To a middle-class Filipino child whose parents are English speakers or have access to the internet and e-gadgets, English is not an alien tongue. Adults would teach English through snatches of English words and phrases heard over the radio and on TV. A typical Filipino child in a nursery school already knows polite expressions, nursery rhymes, and asking basic simple questions.Īdditionally, for most middle and upper-class Filipino children, learning English always begins at home. This includes body parts, names of animals and objects, action verbs, simple adjectives (dirty, good, bad). Usually, before a Filipino child enters the nursery, he or she has already built a vocabulary of English. ![]() It is a tool for learning and a medium of communication. Consequently, learning English in the Philippines is an essential part of its education system. Because of this system, schools are reinforcing to students the notion that English is easy and available all the time. Filipino students must learn English from elementary to university level for them to understand their lessons at school. The Philippine education system has been using English as its primary medium of instruction. ![]() Some common questions are “Point your nose, mouth, cheek, etc.?” or “Where’s the dog, cat, moon, etc.?” Besides, some parents would prod their kids to exhibit their intelligence by correctly answering simple questions. Sometimes, they even ask babies to do “beautiful eyes” (fluttering the eyelashes in what is supposed to be a cute manner). Parents would coo their kids such baby talk as “close-open” (opening and closing of the child’s hands). Long before children start schooling, some Filipino children are already responding to and speaking English words. ![]() For instance, some Filipino children speak English like American kids but don’t know even a single Filipino word at all. Bitter for some Filipinos are already losing their national Filipino identity because of it. Sweet because it’s an international language. The prominence of English in the Philippines is viewed as a “bittersweet” American influence. It might surprise you, but some would even consider English as their first language. However, in some areas, English is even more popular than Filipino, the country’s official national language. In a country with more than 110 million people who speak no less than 8 languages, English is the Philippines’ second language. The language continues to be a strong thread that binds the Philippines and the USA. Filipinos use English via the mass media, the arts, social, business, and political interaction. English in the Philippines took the nation to the global setting, as it’s now become the primary language for schooling. Today, English has become the Philippines’ official language in law and commerce. In 1946, after the USA granted its independence, many Filipinos have actively campaigned for the Philippines to become the 51st state of the USA. Americans established schools in the Philippines and used English as the medium of instruction. In the annals of Philippine’s history, the Americans’ contribution to education was the best. Interestingly, the Americans’ means of attack and assimilation was not through religion, but through Mass Education. Subsequently, they adopted the American form of government, embraced the American dream, and spoke the American language. The Americans called Filipinos “little brown Americans.” Thus, less than half a century later, the Filipinos built strong ties with them. In contrast to the Spaniards who called Filipinos ‘Indios’, the Americans made the Filipinos understand with affection and heartily welcomed Filipinos as one of their own. Yet, despite ruling the country for three centuries, it could not do something that the Americans did in just 50 years. The Philippines first became a Spanish colony in 1521 for 300 years. For about 500 years, the Philippines slowly developed from becoming a country with no primary language to becoming a multilingual nation with over 170 languages including English. The history of how English in the Philippines started can be rooted back centuries ago when the Philippines became a colony of Spain and the USA. ![]()
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