CALGARY, 20 October 2022 – The Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary spearheaded a two-day conference on teaching Filipino as a heritage language on 15-16 October 2022. The conference brought together 30 Filipino Language & Culture teachers and educators in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The conference aims to equip the Filipino Language & Culture teachers in Alberta and Saskatchewan with new knowledge and skills that would help them teach their students more effectively.
“We are pleased that we were able to finally organize this 1st Filipino Language & Culture Conference that we initially planned to do in 2020, but got stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is part of the Philippine Consulate General’s cultural diplomacy program to promote Filipino language, culture, and heritage,” said Consul General Zaldy Patron.
UP Department of Filipino Associate Professor and Sentro ng Wikang Filipino-UP Diliman Philippine Literature and Direktor Dr. Jayson Petras taught the participants the issues in teaching the Filipino language outside the Philippines; the approaches and strategies in teaching the Filipino language; and the roles of the family and the community overseas in learning the Filipino language.
The PCG partnered with the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Calgary-based Philippine Cultural Centre Foundation (PCCF), and the Edmonton-based Filipino Canadian Saranay Association of Alberta (Saranay) to organize the conference.
In Alberta, High School students are allowed to take Filipino 15, Filipino 25, and Filipino 35, with five credits each, as elective subjects. Currently, there are five Alberta schools offering these Filipino Language & Culture classes such as Fr. Lacombe High School in Calgary and Edmonton’s Sister Anata Brockman Elementary and Junior High School, Archbishop Oscar Romero Senior High School, St. Theresa Senior High School, and St. Clement Elementary and Junior High School.
Meanwhile, PCCF, Saranay, and the Saskatchewan’s Filipino Heritage School also teach Filipino Language and Culture in their respective non-formal schools.
The participants of the conference also decided to form a Filipino teachers association that will be formalized later on.
Alberta is home to an estimated 175,000 Filipino Canadians while Saskatchewan hosts another 34,000.
Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs