The Practical Importance of Mastering One's Native Language
BUILDING A PERSONAL IDENTITY:
The Practical Importance of Mastering One's Native Language
By Raul G. Moldez
Many Filipino parents want their children to speak the English language in that they enroll them in exclusive schools. Without them knowing it, they have become easy preys of the highly commercialized Philippine educational system. But becoming themselves gullible to the demands of these exclusive schools they do not mind. It’s because they feel a certain degree of pride seeing and hearing their kids speaking like birds!
In Cagayan de Oro City where I live, there are a number of exclusive pre-schools run either by religious groups or enterprising educators.
And while in a public utility jeepney, I seldom hear these children of well-to-do families speaking these lines: “Where man ta mag-watch og movie?” or “Mommy, when man diay si Daddy mouli?” or “Mommy, ingon si teacher, bad baya ang mangaway og baby.”
From those who are in exclusive colleges and universities, these lines are quite familiar: “Mag-faster ta oy kay hapit na baya ang time!” or “Pa-borrow og money, please. Mo-pay ko tomorrow” or “Nag-eat naka?” or “Mag-buy tag food.”
What language is that? Certainly, it is neither English nor Cebuano.
Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada, of UP in the Visayas, said: “The greatest evil in the Philippine educational system is the use of English as the language of instruction in the classroom. The greatness of the Filipino is preserved in the various languages of the country.”
“We must teach in the language of the learner,” he urged writers, teachers and educators in his keynote speech during the 2005 National Conference of the Philippine Center for International PEN held in Iloilo City on December 3, even as he challenged them to master their own languages before they master another’s.
For his part, former UP President Francisco Nemenzo Jr. said: “Filipinos should not abandon their regional tongue but must also develop it.”
In his visit to Romblon, the first and only
The Practical Importance of Mastering One's Native Language
By Raul G. Moldez
Many Filipino parents want their children to speak the English language in that they enroll them in exclusive schools. Without them knowing it, they have become easy preys of the highly commercialized Philippine educational system. But becoming themselves gullible to the demands of these exclusive schools they do not mind. It’s because they feel a certain degree of pride seeing and hearing their kids speaking like birds!
In Cagayan de Oro City where I live, there are a number of exclusive pre-schools run either by religious groups or enterprising educators.
And while in a public utility jeepney, I seldom hear these children of well-to-do families speaking these lines: “Where man ta mag-watch og movie?” or “Mommy, when man diay si Daddy mouli?” or “Mommy, ingon si teacher, bad baya ang mangaway og baby.”
From those who are in exclusive colleges and universities, these lines are quite familiar: “Mag-faster ta oy kay hapit na baya ang time!” or “Pa-borrow og money, please. Mo-pay ko tomorrow” or “Nag-eat naka?” or “Mag-buy tag food.”
What language is that? Certainly, it is neither English nor Cebuano.
Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada, of UP in the Visayas, said: “The greatest evil in the Philippine educational system is the use of English as the language of instruction in the classroom. The greatness of the Filipino is preserved in the various languages of the country.”
“We must teach in the language of the learner,” he urged writers, teachers and educators in his keynote speech during the 2005 National Conference of the Philippine Center for International PEN held in Iloilo City on December 3, even as he challenged them to master their own languages before they master another’s.
For his part, former UP President Francisco Nemenzo Jr. said: “Filipinos should not abandon their regional tongue but must also develop it.”
In his visit to Romblon, the first and only