Advantage English

When I was Grade 5 back in 1965, we had a "Speak English" campaign at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Elementary School.

English was big in the 60s. It was the medium of instruction in schools. English programs dominated prime time TV and the movies.

My school's "Speak English" campaign fined violators 5-centavos for every spoken Tagalog word. Student "sheriffs" were assigned to enforce the campaign and arrest violators.

Don't laugh but 5-centavos was a really big deal back then. Jeepney fare was 10 centavos; pupils rode free if they stood inside the jeepney or if they made "kalong" (sat on another person's lap).

A bottle of Cosmos (now Sarsi) cost 5-centavos; Coke, 10-centavos (or was it 7-centavos).

Being comfortable with English, I had no problems with the campaign until one day.

I was playing tag with one of my classmates. After vainly trying to catch him, I gave up exasperated and screamed "Mansanas!" His family name was Meneses and I jokingly called him "Mansanas."

Unfortunately one of the student sheriffs heard me as I screamed "Mansanas," which is the Tagalog word for apple.

He "arrested" me and took me to the principal. I told the principal that "Mansanas" was my nickname for Meneses, my classmate.

The principal said "Mansanas" was still a Tagalog word and could I now hand over 5-centavos. I did so with a heavy heart. On the way home, I sat on my best friend's lap to make up for my lost 5 centavos.

This mishap didn't make me dislike Filipino. I love our language.

It did, however, force me to ask a difficult question: Is English more important than Filipino?

My father, Johnny Villasanta, then an editor for an English-language magazine, said English is an advantage. I'd understand this when I grew up.

He reminded me that he spoke English, Filipino, Spanish and Ibanag, as did his father. I spoke only English and Filipino.

He urged me to consider learning Chinese because he believed China would become capitalist one day. And this was in 1965!

"English is an advantage." That made sense to me. But I never did get around to learning Chinese.

For English to resurrect today, however, it will have to thrive in supportive school and home environments. That environment was present in the 1960s when knowledge of English was a skill to be respected.

The pervasiveness of English in the 1960s was acceptable to Philippine society, dominated as it was by the generations that were schooled during the American occupation.

The generation of the 1940s and 1950s hold sway over Philippine society and these people were English schooled. It shouldn't be difficult to resurrect English given this fact.

Schools can always hold "Speak English" campaigns or set aside "Speak English" days. They can also do one better by resurrecting the "Spelling Bees" so popular in the 1960s.

What is more important now, however, is to remove the stigma attached to English as a language of middle class homes.

It is a very remote hope that English will ever take root among the poor. To the poor, English remains a language to be ridiculed; a language of the rich and "mayabang." "Spokening dollar" will remain an epithet.

The future of English as a thriving language rests with today's middle class. Its mothers and fathers, schooled in the 1960s and 70s when English was still respectable, must find the courage to push English at home.

It isn't necessary to speak in English every day. Parents can encourage their children to read English stories or watch English channels on either free to air TV or cable. Programs that educate and inform should be at the top of the list.

Not all our children will take to English. Only a few will, but it is these few who stand to profit from the rewards proffered by a command of spoken and written English.

Our children's workplace will be dominated by information technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITES). English is the world language of IT.

Their workplace will be dominated by the health and wellness industries, including medical tourism. All these industries will demand Filipinos competent in spoken and written English.

And, of course, the Overseas Filipino Worker will remain a giant in their workplace. More and more of these workers are professionals and managers. English is the world language of management and the professions.

For our children, a command of English is more than an advantage. It's a matter of survival. We should prepare them for this fight.