We had planned on waiting until the new school year to begin Tagalog lessons. But then I got thinking again, there's no time like the present right? All along we were told we should be speaking Tagalog to our kids from birth. It would have been more convenient if I had of learn' t it earlier and been speaking to them I could have been speaking it to them. What can I say? Life was busy and here we are 6 years on.
I was feeling super guilty, until I realized that our was not a unique situation. There are a lot of parents out there looking for Tagalog lessons. There are even schools/classes in the US to teach Filipino language and culture.
Here are some I found in a Google search...
Filipino Community of Seattle
Bay area kids Tagalog lessons
NY/NJ Tagalog classes
We couldn't find a nearby class or curriculum that suited our needs. Piwi Daddy didnt know where to start I( and super busy) so I have been putting lessons together myself. Talk about student teaching the student! My present Tagalog (I am ashamed to say) is limited to greetings, slang, various Filipino foods and animals and the word for armpits (as you do).
I am basing it on the way that Miss K has been learning Spanish this year. She really loved her classes and has picked up a lot of vocab this year. Each lesson we will be doing will involve some puzzle/game type worksheets I have made up (by hand only at this stage, to save time), some listening and watching of online videos of Tagalog conversations and lessons. Finally we will have Piwi Daddy go over things in the evenings with us and reinforce pronunciation.
wish us luck! First up is counting to 10...