NAG-AARAL NG ESPANYOL

ANG SANDAIGDIGAN

PILIPINAS
2018
 NAG-AARAL NG ESPANYOL ANG SANDAIGDIGAN. Pilipinas 2018

Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign

Language
Since the mandatory study of Spanish was abolished in 1987, the teaching of our language
has only been preserved in some private schools and universities. It is not taught in primary
education, although some centers linked to Spain for historical reasons such as the Povedan
Institution, offer Spanish at all levels of primary and secondary education.

The interest in learning Spanish has improved substantially in recent years due to two
main factors. In the first place, the dissemination work carried out by the Spanish institutions
which are represented in the Philippines, and, secondly, thanks to the employment demands
linked to the knowledge of the Spanish language.

The main problem which the expansion of Spanish in the Philippines faces is the lack
of teaching staff with the appropriate qualification to teach the subject at various levels. Only
the University of the Philippines offers an undergraduate program in Hispanic Studies, although
Ateneo de Manila also has structured diplomas with a remarkable number of credits in Spanish.

The teachers of public schools who are being trained thanks to the agreements signed
by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Cervantes Institute and the AECID

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with the Department of Education and TESDA, may play a key role in the expansion of Spanish
in the Philippines.

In the last decade, a significant number of companies, mainly, but not exclusively, in the
area of Business Process Outsourcing, are hiring staff with intermediate/advanced knowledge of
Spanish to meet the demands of the Latin American and the United States markets.

In addition, numerous public institutions of the country, such as the National Archives, The
National Library or the National Historical Commission have partnered with Spanish institutions
so that their staff can learn Spanish, since a great amount of primary sources for research were
written in Spanish.

The demand for Spanish studies in universities is high, especially in the departments of
International Relations, Tourism, Business Administration, and History. In the case of History,
the Commission on Higher Education is working on a proposal to include 15 units of Spanish-
equivalent to a minor-in the curriculum.

Secondary Education

Following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Improvement and Promotion
of Spanish Language in January 2010, the number of public centers offering Spanish on 7th and
8th grades (which has been extended to grades 9 and 10 under the new K-12 curriculum) has
progressively increased as can be seen in the following chart.

Schools Teachers
2009/2010 15 30
2010/2011 37 73
2011/2012 52 105
2012/2013 65 129
2013/2014 78 170
2014/2015 78 175
2015/2016 80 187
2016/2017 80 182
2017/2018 82 189

A new Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 23 October 2012, in order to ensure

the gradual expansion of Spanish up to 2016-2017. One of the main goals was to make sure that
there should be Spanish as an optional subject in all the Regions of the Philippines.

The total number of students taking Spanish as a foreign language in Secondary Education
amounts to 11,000 in 2017/18.

There has been an external assessment of the program carried out by SEAMEO-Innotech
which has shown very encouraging results in the field of dedication of the teaching staff, the
levels of learning of the students and the degree of satisfaction of parents. However, the report
also contains a number of recommendations in order to ensure the sustainability of the program,
including the drafting of specific legislation for foreign languages, as well as the creation of
specific university studies to train Filipino graduates so that they can teach Spanish language and
culture in secondary education.

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Since June 2013, TESDA, the Authority for Technical and Vocational Education has been
offering Spanish in some of its regional training centers (in 2016, 14 of the total). These courses
range from 100 to 300 hours and are linked to labor sectors where the demand for Spanish is very
large: Maritime, Tourism or Call Centers.

Higher Education
There are no global data on the presence of Spanish in Higher Education. Although there aren’t
specific Spanish Language departments at universities, the teachers of Spanish are a key part of
Modern Languages departments or Foreign Languages departments in those few universities that
have them.

In some universities, the difficulty to find teachers of Spanish has resulted in an outsourcing,
being Instituto Cervantes, for instance, a provider of Spanish lessons to students in De La Salle
University, College of Saint Benilde and Angelo King, in Metro Manila.

The Ministry of Education and Vocational

Training of Spain in the Philippines
The programs of international cooperation in education and promotion of the Spanish language
and culture in the Philippines are coordinated since March 2009 by the Ministry of Education
and Vocational Training through its Technical Education Office located at the Embassy of Spain
in the Philippines and dependent on the Counsellor for Education in Australia, New Zealand and
the Philippines.

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The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, together with the Cervantes Institute
and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, has signed agreements for
the Promotion of Spanish with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Philippine Normal University (PNU). Also,
the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training has signed an Agreement for the Recognition
of Higher Education Studies and Programs with the Philippine Commission on Higher Education
(CHED) as well as Cooperation Plans with the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila,
the University of Santo Tomas, and Xavier University.

The Education Office organizes several training courses, especially intensive methodology
courses in collaboration with Philippine Universities.

The creation of five centers of excellence, which have received significant funding for
audiovisual and IT equipment as well as teaching materials, should help enhance the expansion
of teacher training in Spanish language, favoring the creation of working groups which will have
the support and advice of the Education Office of the Embassy.

Also, following the signing of the four Cooperation Agreements with the University of
the Philippines (UP), Ateneo de Manila, the University of Santo Tomas and Xavier University, the
language assistant program has been open to the Philippines. Starting with just fourteen (14)
young graduates in 2014, there were seventy (70) Filipinos collaborating in Spanish schools in
2017. In January 2018, 101 Filipino language assistants were assigned to primary schools in the
Comunidad Valenciana from January 2018 to May 2018. For the school year 2018-2019, 171 new
candidates were accepted and 71 language assistants from the Valencia program renewed for a
second year.

In 2016 and 2017, the Education Office organized Spanish courses and seminars in the
following universities: University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, Cebu Normal University,
West Visayas State University, Western Mindanao State University, Philippine Women’s University
and Xavier University. In addition, the first ELE workshop in the Philippines, organized by the
University of the Philippines, the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain and the Cervantes
Institute took place in September 2018. The Education Office also collaborates with the European
Union Delegation in the organization of the European Higher Education Fair. In the last
editions, the following Spanish Universities were present in the Fair: Instituto de Empresa (IE),

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Universidad Complutense, UCAM, SENAI, as well as representatives of SEPIE (Spanish Service for
the Internationalization of education).

The programs managed by the Education Office have been growing gradually. In addition
to the teacher training program, the increase in activity in universities is particularly noteworthy,
especially in those where the language assistant program has been introduced, which has meant
a very significant increase in the demand of Spanish courses.

Conclusion
The importance of Spanish in the Philippines has increased significantly in the last years. On
the one hand, the cultural legacy and historical links between both countries make the Spanish
language an essential instrument to access the main historical archives of state and private
institutions.

As time goes by, it is becoming widely believed that sound command of Spanish is a key
tool for job hunting and career development.

Business Process Outsourcing Services-BPOs represent now 11% of the country’s gross
domestic product. Having overtaken India in turnover, the growing prospects of this sector are
huge in the next years and are focused on Hispanic American countries and the USA. Thus, an
increase in qualified personnel with command of Spanish and English becomes necessary.

The demand of Spanish from corporations and educational institutions is rising and the
implementation of the curriculum K-12 will produce the need for teachers with training in foreign
languages.

In addition, the interest in the study of Spanish in South East Asia is growing. The Filipino
government is becoming aware of the advantage that recovering the teaching of Spanish can mean
in a country where English is already common in communication. With regard to the great market
that ASEAN and Trans-Pacific Partnership may imply, the position of Spanish is exceptional.

The country is also greatly influenced by American culture, and is therefore aware of the
great advance of Spanish in the USA, which is also spread by more than three million Filipinos
who work in the USA.

The main difficulty for the spread of the Spanish language and culture in the Philippines
comes from the lack of qualified teachers: teacher training at universities is one of the most
urgent aims of the actions of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in the Philippines.

We are currently working with CHED to collaborate in the design of specific degrees in
teaching of Spanish language and culture in education.

The growing importance that Spain gives to Asia and the Pacific contributes to increase
the visibility of the Spanish language and culture in the Philippines.

For all these reasons, the future prospects are good, as long as the Spanish institutional
presence in the Philippines is maintained and reinforced.