THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170063
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Like many young Asian-Americans, Eric Fernandez and his sister Rowena never learned their parents' tongue.
``I'm ashamed that I'm Filipino and I can't speak my own language,'' said Eric, 21. ``I have Spanish friends who can speak their own language, but I can't, and if I ever go back, I want to mix in with the crowd and not be like
``A foreigner to your own country,'' finished Rowena, 18.
But Eric and Rowena are finally returning to their roots. They are learning Tagalog, the main language spoken in the Philippines, in a new class at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach.
TCC is believed to be the only college in the state - and one of the few in the country - to offer Tagalog (pronounced Ta-GAH-log).
Officials at TCC said they began offering the languagethis fall because of the growing number of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in Hampton Roads, who now number about 40,000.
Deborah Edson, assistant division chair for humanities and coordinator of the foreign language department at TCC, said the course's primary target is younger Asian-Americans. The college also hopes to stimulate appreciation of the Filipino culture and encourage travel to the Philippines.
TCC will offer the next level, intermediate Tagalog, in the spring semester.
The fall class was expected to have only 25 students, but because it was so popular, TCC let 38 students enroll. There is a mix of ethnic backgrounds, but most students are young Asian-Americans who range in age from19 to the upper 40s.
``For me, I took the class for cultural advancement,'' Rowena Fernandez said. Younger Filipino-Americans should have a more positive attitude toward the Filipino community, she said. ``The younger kids don't seem as culturally educated as the older ones.''
Craig Estrada, born in Norfolk, said his parents immigrated here in the 1940s, but he didn't learn the language because his mother, a science teacher in a public school, was discouraged from teaching or speaking it.
``When I go to events and affairs, I find it a barrier not being able to speak the language with older Filipinos,'' Estrada said.
Other students are taking the class because they are related or married to people of Filipino descent.
Paul Albers, 30, a Navy man, said his wife is Asian-American. Her parents came here in the 1950s. ``I want to learn more of the language so I could understand my in-laws,'' he said. And when he has children, Albers said, he wants them to learn Tagalog so they know the Filipino part of their heritage.
``It's a good class,'' he said. ``I learn a lot more in each and every class. I even go home and teach my wife what I've learned.''
Earl Sammons, 23, said the class not only teaches Tagalog, ``it's bringing the culture out.''
``I wish there were more Americans in the class, because a lot of them don't know the culture at all,'' said Sammons, whose father married a Filipino woman and now lives in the Philippines.
Last summer, TCC received a $120,000 federal grant to improve its foreign language programs. The grant required the college to teach a language other than standard ones like French or German, said Mary Ruth Clowdsley, acting dean of instruction and student services.
Azucena Bautista, a political science professor at Norfolk State University and chairman of the committee on education for the Filipino Action Group, applauded TCC's choice. ``I had always wanted that Tagalog be introduced not only in the college level, but also in the elementary and high school level,'' she said. ``. . . It's right, it's good, and it's about time.''
Raquel Yballe, a native of Cebu City in the Philippines, teaches the course. Yballe, who has a master's degree in Spanish, minored in Pilipino (the term for Tagalog in the Philippines) during her undergraduate studies at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City. She went to the Philippines this year to obtain materials such as maps, books and videos for the class.
Yballe blends in lessons on Filipino history and sociology and aspects of Filipino life, such as ethnic dances and food.
In a recent class, she brought in ``pesos,'' the currency of the Philippines, and taught the class the names of colors and food. For instance, students learned that ube means both the color purple and a purple yam cake.
TCC is planning a Filipino Cultural Night at the Virginia Beach campus auditorium on Nov. 9. The public is invited and admission is free. ILLUSTRATION: PHOTOS BY RICHARD L. DUNSTON/
Staff
Raquel Yballe holds up an artificial lemon so her class can identify
it in Tagalog, the main language spoken in the Philippines. TCC
began offering the course this fall because of the growing number of
Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in Hampton Roads.
Yballe checks her students during a group exercise at TCC in
Virginia Beach. She is native of Cebu City in the Philippines.
by CNB