My girls were born and raised in the Philippines and are surrounded with Filipon speaking relatives and friends, but it amazes me how they still can't speak nor understand Filipino. While it is true that hubby and I, started conversing with them using English, there are still other people around us who speak to them in Filipino. We also speak to each other in our native tongue whenever they are around, so I am clueless as to why they're still incapable of speaking and understanding the language.
When we moved them to their current school, we found that there were several kids to who cannot speak the language and it has been a struggle for their parents too. This worries me a little because the Filipino subject will be included in their curriculum next year. The goal now is to make them understand, read and converse at least a little using the vernacular.
This is why this website was created. To aid parents and maybe even teachers teach the Filipino language to preschoolers. Supplementary worksheets for learning the language are being made everyday (checked by teacher friends), and uploaded onto the website. We also have been asking for advise from a lot of teachers who can help us help the children learn the language. Here's what we came up with:
1. One parent speaks ONLY Filipino and the other one in English.
Straight from the Directress, she advised us that one of us speak Filipino to the kids and the other one in English. Strict reinforcement should be done here
2. Filipino Word/Words of the Day.
Have one subject or word for the day so your child will remember the word or group of words for one particular subject. For example, you can start with the days of the week, or the names of the month. Review for the remaining days until your child remembers all of it.
Our family made it a habit to translate certain words when out driving or dining.
For example, tree is puno, tires are gulong, cars are kotse, clouds are ulap.
We also take the chance to discuss the weather in Filipino.
3. Playmates are the Best Teachers
Have them play with Filipino speaking children. They are quick to grasp what other kids are saying and chances are in a month's time they have learned a lot of Filipino words.
4. Refrain from translating the sentences to English.
We were advised not to speak to them in Filipino and translate it in English afterwards. All because the child, instead of understanding what was said in Filipino, waits for the parent or guardian to say it in English.
5. Use supplementary resources for better understanding.
Sad to say there aren't many resources available for the children to learn Filipino. When I went to the bookstore there were one or two for preschoolers. Maybe they ran out or maybe that's all of it, I'm not really sure though I kept going back and I couldn't really find what I really needed and what I need may be your needs too. So feel free to download the worksheets in Filipino as much as you'd like. Click here to find all of the worksheets your preschooler needs.