Sprechen Sie English?
It’s Saturday morning and I’m alone at the office. Everyone else is off enjoying the four-day Chinese New Year holiday, and I’m here doing research.
Oh well.
It isn’t as if had any other place to go to today. If I stayed in the room I’m renting, I’d've just plonked in front of the tv til moss and lichen grew all over me. It doesn’t do to read, either; the perpetual-early-morning-cold-weather makes me feel sleepy, and after only three or four pages I already feel my eyelids drooping.
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I’ve realized that it’s something of a crime here to have bad hair. Most women here (excepting the old folks) have had something done to their hair — straightened, dyed, cellophaned it — every chemical processing procedure for hair known to man. The number of shampoo brands and variants in the stores are freakin’ mind-boggling — often they take up more shelf-space than any other health and beauty product.
The funny thing to all this, however, is this: most Chinese don’t take baths everyday, and they don’t wash their hair very often. I’v been told that what they do is put some kind of cream on their strands before they go to bed, and when they get up the next morning they just brush their manes, use the hairdryer for a bit of volume, and presto! tv ad-quality hair.
I will not pass judgment on this not habit, but I cannot help but cringe a little, thinking of all the chemicals on the scalp building up…
In the meantime, I have already been advised to have my hair treated. Specifically, to have it straightened. Easier to maintain in the mornings, and through the day. I happen to have wavy hair, and since its mostly wash-and-go for me every morning, by midday I’ve already begun my transformation into a Scotchbrite Mop.
On a really cold day and I direly wish I could go without washing my hair, I can’t help but think the best thing would be to have all my locks chopped off. A few years back I had cropped hair, the razor missing my scalp just three inches and I would’ve been completely bald. I liked it because it was a very low-maintenance kind of style.
If I shaved my hair now, I’d have less hassle trying to keep it from turnin into a fright wig, but I’d probably freeze to death. Cold air attacks the head first; and thus it should be the first thing we need to cover an keep covered.
Anyways, the procedure recommended for me (according to my more fashionista-type co-workers in the paper) is called Thermal Reconditioning. According to a flyer I’ve been handed on the street, thermal reconditioning is "…A permanent reforming of the structure of hair, done with the same chemical solution as used in perms, but with a flat iron instead of perming rods. Thermal reconditioning is better for wavy hair rather than kinky or curly hair, which will show a curly root too quickly. Results last six to ten months, and then only hair regrowth needs to be thermally reconditioned."
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The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is supporting the (stupid) calls of the DepEd that English be reinstated as the official medium of instruction.
Of course, the TUCP can always be expected to back recommendations like this. After all, The TUCP is all about creating a labor force open and vulnerable to all forms of exploitation: basta employed, period.
English as the medium of instruction.
Bakit, sa bahay ba ng mga karaniwang Pilipino, Ingles ang wikang ginagamit ng mga magulang para kausapin ang kanilang mga anak? Ingles ba ang lenggwage ng mga manggagawa sa export processing plants sa Timog Katagalugan; sa mga palayan ng Gitnang Luzon; sa mga pier kung saan dumadaong ang mga barkong nagbababa ng mga produktong hinahakot at pinapasahan ng mga istibador na kapwa mga Bisaya mula sa Bicol?
Not to criticize Filipino teachers, but most of them especially in the public schools are not fluent or conversant in English; not even those who teach the subject are. Hindi naman kasi natin talaga wika ang Ingles –bakit ipagpipilitan ito?
Mahusay at mainam na marunong ang mga Pilipino na magsalita ng Ingles, pero ang pag-aaral at pagtuturo nito ay hindi ang dapat gawing prayoridad ng DepEd, kundi ang pagtitiyak na: 1) Sapat ang sweldo ng mga guro; 2) Sapat ang mga eskwelahan at mga silid, pati na mga kagamitan para sa patuloy na lumalaking bilang ng mga estudyante sa mga pampulikong paaralan; 3) Sapat ang bilang ng mga guro; 4) Tama ang kurikulum na itinuturo, partikular sa mga subject ng kasaysayan, sibika at kultura.
Bakit ipipilit na Ingles na muli ang medium of instruction? Para i-train ang mga Pinoy na magtrabaho sa mga call center, o magdomestic helper sa Hong Kong o Saudi at turuan ang mga anak ng mga employer nila na mag-Ingles?
Hong Kong is an international, global city. But most Chinese here don’t speak English - at best, most only have a smattering of it. But they’ve done well! Despite the refusal of the British to teach the locals English even after colonizing Hong Kong for a century, the people of Hong Kong are doing more than ok economically, financially speaking.
Halata naman kasi ang mga motibo ng mga Brits for not making English part of the school curriculum: kung natuto ang mga Instik na mag-Ingles noon pa man, malamang mas maaga nilang napalayas ang mga gweilo (foreign ghost, or demon, they Brits are called here) dahil di na sila kailangan. The Chinese are the best when it comes to math, after all; and they have a very keen business sense. Who needs the British?
Parang sa Pilipinas — who needs the American or Japanese or European MNCs and TNCs na wala namang ginawa kundi higupin ang resources ng bansa, at samantalin ang siil at barat na paggawa sa Pilipinas? Dapat magtayo tayo ng mga sarili nating batayang industriya na magsisilbi sa pangangailangan ng mga Pilipino. Mapapatakbo ang mga pagawaan, opisina at tanggapan na Filipino ang wikang ginagamit ng mga tao upang mag-usap, gumawa ng mga transaksyon at umunlad.
By all means, teach English — but within the proper context and with the proper objectives; and only as a specific course or subject. We study and learn and speak the language because it is what will enable us to communicate with the world at large; pero sa kasalukuyang sitwasyon at kalakaran ng lipunang Pilipino, elitista ang mag-aral at gumamit ng Ingles. Ginagamit ito ng mga nasa poder, mga nasa malalaking negosyo para tiyaking hindi naunawaan ng mayorya ang mga ginagawang pandaraya, pandurugas at paniniil sa kanila pagdating sa mga batas, panukala, patakaran.
Mas maipapaliwanag ang kasaysayan ng bansa, ang mga pang-araw-araw na karanasan ng pang-aapi at pagsasamantala sa mamamayan ; ang mga hakbang na dapat gawin upang mapalaya ang bansa at ang sarili sa pagsasamantala ng gobyerno, ng sistema at mga traydor na tagapangtanggol nito sa wikang kayang unawain at gamitin ng mayorya sa Pilipinas, at hindi ito Ingles.
Ginagapos lang natin ang ating mga sarili at ang mamamayan kung sa isang dayuhang wika natin ilalahad ang ating mga karanasan bilang isang bayan at sambayanan.
Paano natin uunawain ang mga tunay na kalagayan, at paano natin haharapin ang mga hamon ng panahon kung ang mga paliwanag ay nasa isang wikang hindi nauunawaan ng pinakamarami? Hindi wika ng masa ang Ingles, at bagamat dapat naman talaga itong pag-aralan at ituro, hindi ang pag-aaral at pagtuturo nito ang dapat manaig sa malawakan at mas popular na paggamit wikang Filipino. #
