Filipino martial arts, games, culture featured in Madrid public school

MADRID—THE Philippine Embassy in this Spanish city conducted a workshop at a public school on March 5 to promote traditional Filipino games, martial arts and culture.

The embassy, represented by Consul Mikhal de Dios and Cultural Assistant Karen Carotrujillo, also saw the participation of Dr. Raphael Angelo Gonzalez, who is a member of the Filipino community in Madrid and frequent contributor to the embassy’s activities.

The Colegio Público San Juan Bosco—a bilingual public school in the Autonomous Community of Madrid—hosted the event. The embassy had been invited to present by Camille Urmatan, a Filipina working as an auxiliar de conversacion or language assistant for English at the school.

During their visit, the embassy team taught more than 160 schoolchildren, ranging from three to 12 years old, for more than four consecutive sessions. De Dios, with the assistance of Dr. Gonzalez, gave demonstrations on the Filipino national martial art and sport of arnis, then invited the students to join them in learning some of its basic techniques.

Caro-trujillo then taught the students the traditional sangkayaw or coconut-shell race, which proved very popular, especially with the younger children. After that, the team distributed educational materials—including a primer on common Filipino phrases, a text of Bahay Kubo with lyrics in the original Filipino and translated into Spanish, Philippine flaglets and paper dolls which featured figures from the story of Magellan and Lapu-lapu’s encounter. They were produced by the National Quincentennial Committee.

After spending the morning teaching the students, the embassy’s team met with School Director Roberto Femenía Lozano, who was given a Fiesta Filipinas kit and a Filipiniana doll. Femenía and his fellow teachers expressed their appreciation to the embassy for the visit, and remarked that the students immensely enjoyed learning about the Philippines.