Personal Vent on Korean Language over Filipino

For Koreans out there, please don't get me wrong with this and I mean no offense to your language. I just would like to share my personal thoughts on one of the trending topics in learning here in our country today. The idea is that instead of the Filipino language which is being taught in tertiary level in our old curriculum, our government would like to replace it with Korean language. 

I'm not against the language itself but choosing that over our national language is a big betrayal to all Filipinos and our country itself. Specially now in the globalization age, anybody who would like to learn Korean can search and study online so I don't get why they still would include that in the new curriculum and remove the other. I will not be against it if it is just an addition, though I still would prefer Mandarin or Spanish.

Just saying.

Who is "trending" this line of thought? Sounds very strange. Filipino, English, Mandarin should be the order of importance for Filipinos imo. Korean might be more valuable for commerce than Spanish, but it can't touch Mandarin. 

leosmith wrote:

Who is "trending" this line of thought? Sounds very strange. Filipino, English, Mandarin should be the order of importance for Filipinos imo. Korean might be more valuable for commerce than Spanish, but it can't touch Mandarin.

 Hi Leo. 

What I mean of "trending" is because of the decision of the government to replace Filipino with Korean, it's the "talk of the town" here, and actually majority of us Filipinos are against it. 

edz.conde wrote:

the decision of the government to replace Filipino with Korean

Can you cite this?

leosmith wrote:

edz.conde wrote:

the decision of the government to replace Filipino with Korean

Can you cite this?

Sorry for not being so clear with my choice of words. It's not actually "replacement" per se but it's kind of like that because the Filipino subject is not anymore part of the curriculum, it has only become an option to give way to the Korean subject. 

edz.conde wrote:

leosmith wrote:

edz.conde wrote:

the decision of the government to replace Filipino with Korean

Can you cite this?

Sorry for not being so clear with my choice of words. It's not actually "replacement" per se but it's kind of like that because the Filipino subject is not anymore part of the curriculum, it has only become an option to give way to the Korean subject.

I mean, can you provide a link? I'm curious.

Not gonna happen. Here are the links.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/18/18/deped-clarifies-korean-other-foreign-languages-only-electives-not-replacement-to-filipino

https://www.rappler.com/nation/216989-department-education-clarifies-korean-language-elective-only

I think schools should offer more foreign languages (language advantage IS a thing) but I also think we shouldn't remove the mandatory Filipino subjects for college.

Hi Edz. Not a good 'talk of the town' then.  

From what I've read, Korean language would only an option for students. But removing Filipino and/or Philippine Literature (Panitikan) from the curriculum alone, even without the addition of Korean in the course, is not a good idea at all. I get upset to see fellow Filipinos who do not know our language very well. Well, I hope the government would take steps to focus more on that and enhance students' learning of the Filipino language.

P.S. I know this is off topic, but I also hope that teachers stop the "FB or IG likes-based" grading of students. 

really not a good idea :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I'm also baffled why they went with Korean. Is it because of Kpop and Kdramas? If it is, that's just a new level of dumb.

It'd make more sense if they were pushing for Mandarin since China is now a superpower but Korean? Sigh.

ikaymoreno wrote:

I'm also baffled why they went with Korean

My guess it's based on demand from the students, so in a way it may very well be based on k-pop and k-dramas.

leosmith wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

I'm also baffled why they went with Korean

My guess it's based on demand from the students, so in a way it may very well be based on k-pop and k-dramas.

If they offered Japanese when I had a lot of time to drown my sorrows in anime, I probably would've signed up. :)

I like the idea of offering more foreign language options especially in high school. The only reason why I think this is a sore point now is that the Supreme Court just ratified a law that says Filipino subjects are no longer mandatory in college. The first decent Filipino subject I had was in college. T_T

ikaymoreno wrote:

Filipino subjects are no longer mandatory in college. The first decent Filipino subject I had was in college. T_T

You have a point here ikay. How could they say that those are no longer mandatory in college, when they should be the ones promoting Filipino subjects.

Rai.S. wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Filipino subjects are no longer mandatory in college. The first decent Filipino subject I had was in college. T_T

You have a point here ikay. How could they say that those are no longer mandatory in college, when they should be the ones promoting Filipino subjects.

To be honest, I felt like the Filipino subjects in high school were a waste of time. I really didn't feel like I was learning anything. Even the way we discuss the required reading material (Noli, El Fili, Florante) wasn't...interesting. My first Filipino course in college though was just an eye-opener. Made me fall in love with my language and just made me appreciate how...beautiful it can be. Even Retorika was awesome. I'm sad that the younger generation are gonna miss out on that.

Phillip.Laplana wrote:

Not gonna happen. Here are the links.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/18/18/deped-clarifies-korean-other-foreign-languages-only-electives-not-replacement-to-filipino

https://www.rappler.com/nation/216989-department-education-clarifies-korean-language-elective-only

Thanks for sharing the links. 

ikaymoreno wrote:

To be honest, I felt like the Filipino subjects in high school were a waste of time. I really didn't feel like I was learning anything.

Right. It's one of those subjects that make us feel sleepy. But still, teachers and even the government should find a way on how to make the subject more interesting and engaging to students, right?

I didn't know about this news until today. But good relief, it's not true.

As per the links,

Phillip.Laplana wrote:

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/18/18/deped-clarifies-korean-other-foreign-languages-only-electives-not-replacement-to-filipino
https://www.rappler.com/nation/216989-department-education-clarifies-korean-language-elective-only

"Education Secretary Leonor Briones maintained the subject Filipino remains as one of the core subjects in basic education. Filipino will continue as the medium of instruction for Araling Panlipunan and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao." -ABS-CBN

"Formalized in 2017, Korean is just one of the 5 currently implemented Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) classes, which teach Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese in public schools. It is offered to students in Grade 7 to 10 who have shown a mastery of the Filipino and English languages." -Rappler

wrote:

Formalized in 2017, Korean is just one of the 5 currently implemented Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) classes, which teach Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese

Yeah, I saw that too. So is the secretary bad at counting?  

Rai.S. wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

To be honest, I felt like the Filipino subjects in high school were a waste of time. I really didn't feel like I was learning anything.

Right. It's one of those subjects that make us feel sleepy. But still, teachers and even the government should find a way on how to make the subject more interesting and engaging to students, right?

Personally, I never had a Filipino teacher who was genuinely passionate about teaching it. My college professor was the first one who treated it as if it was a "major subject." And I absolutely loved every class with him.

If we can have more elementary and high school teachers who aren't just going through the motions, that'd be awesome.