Province plans to offer Filipino program by 2020
Education ministry says it will build on existing courses to develop curriculum
Families who want their children to learn Filipino at school could have more options starting next year. On Thursday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced the provincial government will develop a K-12 Filipino language and culture program, to be ready for interested schools by 2020.
It may expand the availability of Filipino classes to younger grades and more locations, depending on whether school districts choose to offer the program.
Some districts, including Edmonton Catholic Schools and Leducbased St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools, offer Filipino classes in a handful of schools with courses that were developed locally.
Education Minister David Eggen said on Thursday the ministry will build on those existing courses to develop a curriculum for all grade levels. “I’m feeling excited just talking about it,” he said.
In 2017, the premier tasked Eggen with hearing from people across Alberta about racism and preparing an anti-racism strategy for the province.
In a government news release, Filipino community leader Dolly Castillo called the curriculum a “historic gift” to the community.
Edmonton Catholic Schools offers Filipino classes in Grades 4-9 at Sister Annata Brockman School, which includes 95 hours a year of language and culture instruction. Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Mill Woods offers 125 hours of Filipino instruction in a year.
Edmonton Public Schools doesn’t currently offer any Filipino classes, district spokeswoman Carrie Rosa said on Thursday.
Leaders are interested in finding out more about the curriculum and will gauge whether there’s demand once it’s available, Rosa said.
Filipino would be the ninth international language covered by provincial curriculum in Alberta, joining Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, German, Italian, Japanese, Punjabi, Spanish and Ukrainian. Provincial curriculum is also available in English, French, Blackfoot and Cree.
Eggen said demand prompted him to choose Filipino as the next language to include in provincial curriculum. There are 170,000 Filipinos living in Alberta, he said.
According to the 2016 census, the Filipino language of Tagalog was the second-most common mother tongue of people living in Edmonton, following English.