1. Introduction In this paper I wish to impart my experiences and challenges that I encountered in teaching Filipino Language inside and outside the University of Brunei Darussalam. This study is done because I want to know what teaching... more
1. Introduction In this paper I wish to impart my experiences and challenges that I encountered in teaching Filipino Language inside and outside the University of Brunei Darussalam. This study is done because I want to know what teaching techniques are most important; what's wrong in their sentences and usage from their essays and what would I do to correct them. Brunei, or known as The Abode of Peace, located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is an independent nation and a sultanate with its leader Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah. Its national language is Bahasa Melayu and it has 7 minority groups: Melayu Brunei, Kedayan, Murut, Bisaya, Dusun, Belait, and Tutong. The country's main source of income is its petroleum and natural gas fields and according to IMF and Forbes, it is ranked as the 5 th richest country in the world. (slide here) Like Filipino, Bahasa Melayu is also an Austronesian language and both languages share at least 36% of cognate words (Manueli, 2009). 2. The Filipino Language in Brunei Currently there are thousands of Filipinos in Brunei. Majority of these Filipinos are employed in different fields of work from professionals like teachers, architects, doctors, accountants, engineers and nurses to mini-skilled workers like laborers in construction sites, restaurant and department store employees, nannies and domestic helpers. The Filipino language functions as a lingua franca among Filipinos in Brunei. Because of the big population of Filipinos in this country, the Filipino language is also used in the religious services. In the Catholic church, there is an allotted time slot for mass in Filipino every first Sunday of the month. The parish also imports Filipino visiting priests from the Philippines to hold these services. There are also non-affiliated Filipino Protestants that are holding their prayer meetings in the residences which permit the use of the Filipino language in these household services. Though these kind of private religious gatherings are now illegal in Brunei especially the recent strict implementation of the Shariah Law. In this connection, I also translated the Shariah Law documents in Filipino and Cebuano published, launched and distributed to thousands of Filipino expats just last September by the Philippine Consulate General-Brunei. This presence of thousands of Filipinos in both countries popularized and triggered the interest among Bruneians to learn and study the language. In addition to that, Filipino has also gained its popularity when Tagalog soap operas were shown on public television networks which are either dubbed in Malay or with Malay subtitles. There has been an influx as well of pirated Filipino CDs and DVDs in very affordable prices. Since then,
