Yes, Filipinos are not native speakers. We don’t deny the fact that we are not as good as the native speakers when it comes to speaking and writing their native language. We’ve learned and used English mostly at school since kindergarten until college.English is our medium of instruction in almost all of the subjects except Filipino subject.
We don’t compare our level of fluency with the native speakers but we are sure that we are more qualified teachers than most farangs here.I’m not against farang teachers.You would distinguish farangs who are degree holders from non-degree holders with the way they handle their classes. Our eyes are open to the fact that native speakers are paid more than us because or their skin color, blue eyes and blonde hair. But we should not be blamed if students are not able to understand their lessons or cannot speak English well because if you’ve taught in Thailand, you’ll know why.
Filipinos are not native English speakers. Spend any time with them and you will find that they prefer to speak to each other in Tagalog not English. If you examine their written or spoken English you will find that it often is lacking.
Hi!
Great article.
Just to say one simple correction. The official language of the Philippines is Filipino not Tagalog. According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is a de facto version of Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and other urban regions.
although i’m still a education student, i am sad to hear such news like this. thanks for blogging this SIr
You get good and bad teachers from every country. I don’t think anyone should be classifying people because of one unique characteristic.
By Peter Evans, Bangkok on 2011-04-11