Philippines schools in Saudi Arabia are preparing to celebrate “Language Month” (BuwanngWika) following the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.
“Philippines schools in Riyadh should celebrate this event even though we are not in our country because we are, after all, Filipinos wherever we go,” Jesus Guinto Jr., a 30-year-old language teacher at the Second Philippines International School (SPIS), told Arab News.
The aim of the month-long celebration is to get different public and private sector establishments to cooperate with programs that encourage Filipino language awareness and highlight the importance of the nation’s mother tongue.
“The activities will involve poem recitation, declamation contests, singing contests, speech, choir and other forms of oral and written activities that will involve the use of the Filipino language,” Paz Bea, principal at the Al-Danah International School, told Arab News.
The activities will not only involve Filipino students, but also students from other nationalities studying in Philippines schools.
“Non-Filipino students will not be required or forced to participate but we will try to encourage them to join the activities to inspire them to appreciate the Filipino culture and traditions,” Guinto said.
Even though schools in the Philippines will celebrate the month-long event for the entire month of August, some Philippines schools in Riyadh will participate in the celebrations for one or two weeks due to various reasons.
“We will be having our periodical exam and Eid Al-Fitr holidays so we can only celebrate the event for one or two weeks, unlike schools in the Philippines,” Guinto said.
Meanwhile, other Philippines schools chose to celebrate the event for the entire month of August.
“Our school already prepared various academic and non-academic activities for the whole month of August. All of these activities will revolve around the Filipino language,” Bea said.
“We will celebrate Language Month while following the rules stipulated by the Saudi government,” Bea added.
On the other hand, some Philippines schools have decided to refrain from celebrating the “Month of the Filipino Language”, choosing to focus more on academics and ensuring their students and faculty members speak the national language throughout the month.
“I always believed that celebrating the month of the Filipino language is not just a commemoration of the national language; we are also celebrating the power of our language and the talents it can bring forth in the fields of literature, art and language,” Guinto said.
Filipino schools to mark ‘Language Month’ after Eid
