Test of English as a Filipino language
This magnificent fountain pen is mine, Mine, MINE! (Maniacal laughter.) Perfect for writing imperial decrees and death warrants. In red ink! And it matches my swords. Thanks, Ricky.
I’m speaking at the Second Access Philippine English Language Conference at the Manila International Book Fair on September 16 from 1pm to 3.30pm at the SMX convention center. The conference is organized by the British Council and Anvil Publishing. Pop in.
From the programme: “Dr. Judy Ick will discuss the coming of English to Philippine shores as integral to American colonial policy as democracy, the public school system and public health and sanitation. From the Thomasites, American public school teachers deployed to the territory in 1900, Filipinos learned the language that became the medium of instruction and the country’s official language up to the present. Not only was American literature taught, literary writing in English was formally introduced too. In a century and a decade, it has become our own English and is now considered one of the many Philippine languages.
“Dr. Jose Dalisay, Jr. and Jessica Zafra will talk about their experience of, and relationship with, English as their medium for writing. Coming from different generations, they will share their training in English and awareness of it as their language for writing. They will give their take on writing in a second language, or in an English that is their own and first language.”
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 15th, 2010 at 11:52
Dr. Ick was my professor in English 11 in UP. She requires her students to submit a reaction paper on the reading assignment before the start of the discussion, she says it’s to make sure we actually read it before going to class. One time I was in such a hurry that I read the poem and wrote the reaction paper in haste. I said I found the poem about aliens invading the earth weird and didn’t care much for it. Turns out the “metaphors” I kept on discussing in the reaction paper was actually about home life. I felt like sinking down my chair when I saw her lift a paper that appeared to be mine and scanned its contents. Lesson learned? Not all poems have super deep metaphors.