I am an elementary school teacher. I teach at a school where the role of language is very important because our students come from 36 different countries.

For the parents at our school, there are two essential elements that are crucial to the overall language learning of their children. The first one is called mother tongue and the second one has something to do with lingua franca.

What is mother tongue?
Mother tongue, sometimes referred to as native tongue, can also be called kinagisnang wika in Tagalog. A child’s mother tongue is the language that they hear and learn from their parents and immediate family. For example, if your parents were born and raised in Manila and you were born in Manila, your mother tongue would be Tagalog because this is what you’ll hear and use in your day-to-day dealings with your parents and others. But if your parents are from Cebu and they only migrated to Manila for work, then there’s a big chance that your mother tongue would be Cebuano because this is the language that you’ll pick up from your parents. But of course, you’ll still learn how to speak Tagalog because you have to communicate with those who can’t speak Cebuano.

Mother tongue programs are very important in countries that have a lot of languages and cultures. One of them is Singapore which consists of three major races: the Malays who speak Melayu; the Indians who have Tamil; and the Chinese who use Mandarin. In Singapore’s educational system, the medium of instruction is English and they use it for Language, Math, Science, PE and others. What’s different is that they have a special subject called mother tongue where each student is given the opportunity to study their own native language.

Singapore is just one of the many countries that are integrating mother tongue programs in their national curricula. Scandinavian countries led by Sweden are also implementing it. In addition, more and more international schools are providing various foreign language lessons as a way of acknowledging the students’ right to have mother tongue lessons.

The Importance of Studying Mother Tongue
It’s important that all children get exposed to their mother tongue because it’s a crucial step in recognizing one’s own cultural background and personality. We should value each language and every culture and we need to send the message to our youth that they must not forget their native language and the cultural heritage of their parents and ancestors. We cannot set aside languages from the provinces that do not speak Tagalog. We must instead take pride of the fact that our country has many dialects. If you are fluent in other languages such as Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo, Bicolano, Waray, Pampango, Pangasinse, or any other dialect, you have to use it and be proud of it. Even if it means that your narrow-minded friends in Manila will call you “probinsyano’ (a hick). Truth be told, who among us here can actually prove that their families were the true natives of Manila? Most if not all of our families started out as migrants from the provinces. So please don’t feel as though Tagalog is more superior to the other languages of the provinces that are outside the Tagalog region.

Often, when a person doesn’t take pride in having a mother tongue, that person also tends to disconnect from his cultural and traditional background. In other words, when a man from Visayas is embarrassed to speak in his own dialect to his parents in front of his Manila friends, then this means that he is also ashamed to show that he is from that province. So whenever there’s a feast in his hometown, he is no longer interested to join his family because he doesn’t feel a positive connection with the culture. The situation is the same for the Filipino migrants in the United States whose children can no longer speak in their mother tongue, whether it be Tagalog or another dialect. So when the children come to the Philippines for a visit, they no longer feel connected to the Filipino culture. The mother tongue, the vital link to the culture, is gone.

What is lingua franca?
Lingua franca is the language that connects two or more people or groups of peole who have their own native languages. The world’s lingua franca today is English. This means that when a German would like to communicate with a Filipino, he doesn’t expect the Filipino to speak Deutsch and neither does the Filipino expect the German to speak Tagalog. But they both expect the other party to speak English. In our country, the government imposed the national language Filipino as our lingua franca. President Aquino signed Executive Order 335 on the 25th of August 1988 and from then on, Filipino became the official language in all offices of the government and in all schools. I can still remember my surprise (or shock) when I first saw the words ’spageti’ (spaghetti) and ‘tsokoleyt’ (chocolate) in my Grade 5 textbook in my Filipino subject. If we take a closer look at EO335, we will see that the government was really pushing for a national language. In fact, one of the provisions in the law was to have an information campaign on the importance and necessity of Filipino as an effective instrument for national unity and progress. If a language is truly important and necessary, it will naturally follow that people will learn it and use it and it will automatically become the lingua franca of our country.

Some Questions
After almost twenty years of implementing Filipino in the government and in schools, has it been an effective instrument for national unity and progress? Is it still practical to force this language on the minds of the children in schools in the different regions of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, that have their own languages - Languages that we refuse to call languages because we have this illusion that in the Philippines there is only one language and the rest are mere dialects. Is the study of the Filipino language, the romanticized version of Tagalog, truly beneficial to the students who are outside the Tagalog regions? Is it possible for us to recognize and respect the diverse languages and cultures in the Philippines? Can we preserve and enrich the heritage of the different cultures in the Philippines and their languages by adopting a mother tongue program in our schools?

There have been many studies made to answer these questions and to the true nationalists and patriots, the answers are clear. But there is one very important question that keeps knocking on our minds whenever the issue of languages in the Philippines is discussed.

The Present Situation
First, let’s ponder on the following facts:

• 80% of the content in the Internet is in English.
• Millions of newspapers, magazines and books are in English.
• English is the official language in diplomacy and politics. It is the language used by international organizations such as United Nations, European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations.
• Multinational companies and professional and scientific organizations use English as their official language.
• English is crucial when doing business especially now that the Philippines is more open to international markets.
• According to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the economy of the Philippines still relies on the remittances made by overseas Filipino workers and the reasons why they can work abroad is because they are skilled and because they have a good command of the English language.
• According to the Central Bank of the Philippines, call centers and business-process outsourcing firms contribute $1Billion to our economy each year. And according to XMG Asia Pacific, call centers will contribute $3.6Billion by 2008.

The Question
After reading and understanding the facts and opinions I’ve shared with you, would it now be easier for you to agree to the:

1. implementation of a mother tongue program in all schools wherein all students will learn about their own dialects, be it Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo, Bicolano, Waray, Pampango, Pangasinense, or other dialects;
2. use of English in all school textbooks and lessons in Language Arts, Science & Technology, Math, Social Science, Arts, and PE;
3. use of English as the official language in the public and private sectors in the Philippines.

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