Making Filipino Fun

Lapbooks are a fun way to engage my older son, Elijah, in learning Filipino. Between the two of us, teaching and learning this subject can be a comedy of errors. But with the many bi-lingual books out there by publishers like Hiyas, Lampara, and Adarna, my kids can appreciate well-written stories in both English and Filipino. And I can better explain to Elijah grammar and comprehension when I see the parallels between English and Fililpino.

So this is what I do when it comes to portfolio submission time. Elijah makes lapbooks (with my help) that cover lessons during a quarter. Instead of learning Filipino topically, we take a story and extract the lessons from the text. For example, I will ask him to look for “pangalan pambalana” and “pangalan pantangi” in the story and he will make a list of both. We will creatively display his answers in the lapbook. We will do this method with all of the other lessons in his textbook. The outcome is a memorable folder that opens up in the middle to show what Elijah learned during the quarter.

Many homeschoolers use lapbooks. Personally, I feel they are most helpful for subject areas that are more challenging to teach. In our case, it’s Filipino. 🙂

Here are some photos of one of Elijah’s lapbooks:

20120624-133726.jpg

20120624-133754.jpg

20120624-133808.jpg

20120624-133823.jpg

17 thoughts on “Making Filipino Fun

  1. I find it nice that you do teach your kids Filipino considering that your family is basically English speaking. It’s weird how some parents (full-blooded Filipinos) want their kids to learn English only because they think their kids sound more intelligent/ superior. They don’t realize how the kids suffer and struggle through Filipino subjects in school ( whether homeschool or the regular school) later on when they do that.

    1. Hey Dianne! Thanks for pointing that out 🙂 actually I feel so sad when parents don’t want to teach their kids Filipino. I ask them, “how do you expect your children to ever develop patriotism? The language of a country contains its culture.” Well, we may not be full-blooded Filipinos but the Philippines is our home. But who is anyway? I want my kids to appreciate and love Philippine culture.

  2. This is a great idea ms joy. However, I will be trying this strategy soon.
    Do you know of any Filipino homeschooling materials that we could follow systematically? I find the local textbooks too ‘scholarly’ for my 8 year old boy, and they are giving ME nosebleeds. I think these books are aiming for our children to have a Phd in Filipino.

    1. Ha ha ha. I totally understand. It’s really challenging to teach Filipino. Let’s pray that homeschool moms come up with better ways to teach this wonderful subject. Maybe homeschool moms can write a better curriculum for Filipino. It is a beautiful language that parents get so frustrated teaching they can’t appreciate it. And the truth is we don’t use all the vocab that is taught in textbooks. You can research about Ron Capinding. He wrote a book on how to teach Filipino. He is from Ateneo faculty .

    1. I used Liwanag sa Landas as a reference for what needed to be covered during the year. It was a little easier to use than other books.

  3. Hi. I was just looking for ways to teach Tagalog to my kids – 2 and 3 years old – in our home. I’ve made some simple flashcards and laminated them, but are still looking for other resources – books or DVDs online that we could have access to. I am married to an American and we are living overseas, and I could see that there is a lack of available resources for us who are here. I wish I were there to get books from National Bookstore – do you know if they sell any Filipino and Civics and Culture books for elementary grades online?
    I want so much to teach my kids our heritage and our language. Even if they don’t become fluent Tagalog speakers, I just want them to be aware that they are Filipino too and that is part of who they are. Any links/persons to contact if you know any would be greatly appreciated!

  4. i like your presentation… very concise!
    thank you!

    can you send me more activities in teaching Filipino?
    Thank you for the support!

    Blessed be!

  5. Marami pong salamat sa pagpupursige na maituro an asignaturang Filipino sa inyong mga anak sa murang edad..Tualaran sana kayo ng marami pan mga magulang na gumagawa ng kanilang paraan upang mahalin din ang sariling wika..Totoong mahirap sa isng guro na maituro ang Filipino sa mga batang hindi ito ang wika sa loob ng tahanan, subalit naniniwala ako na ang pag-aaral at paglinang ng wikang Filipino ay hidi lamaang gawain ng mga guro sa FILIPINO, RESPONSIBILIDAD ITO NG LAHAT NG PILIPINO, lalo na tayong ipinanganak sa bansang ito, PILIPINAS. Sapagkat ang ikauunlad nito at ikasasabay nito sa iba pang wika sa buong mundo ay nsa kamay nating lahat.
    Kaya naman po isa kayong modelo sa akin hindi lang bilang isang magulang kundi isa ring MAMAMAYAN.
    Dumami pa sana ang tulad ninyo..Pagpalain po kayo.

  6. This has been my struggle, teaching Filipino subject. Thank you for sharing this looks so easy hope my kid will learn by doing this as well. If you have more ideas please continue to share. What I do is compare English words to Filipino words.

Leave a Reply to Joy T Mendoza Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *