A letter from a Filipina English teacher in the Philippines

Below is a letter from a Filipina English teacher in the Philippines sent to the Korea Times.



Highlighted in red are just some of the points she made in the letter. The first point she made is that Filipinos have studied English from primary school and the fact that our country was a colony of the Americans in the past. Studying english from primary school will not guarantee that one will be good in English. I also studied English since primary school but I am not perfect in English. Being a colony of the Americans is not a good point to mention either. Being a colony doesn't have a direct bearing on being perfect in English. This point is stupid to cite in the first place.



The second point is that she has started to fall in love with Korean culture and tradition. Does she know anything about Korean Thanksgiving or the wearing of Hanbok? What about the ways of giving respect to old people? If not, she should not be saying she has fallen in love with Korean culture and tradition because she doesn't even know what she is talking about.



Please check your punctuation marks. Some punctuation marks should not be existing in your letter. Please also check your grammar such as the correct use of prepostions and conjunctions. Check everything before submitting it for publication.



Some comments made on your letter are harsh and I will mention those in here. But there is one comment made which hit me really hard. It mentioned the use of correct grammar. An English teacher should be using corrrect grammar in writing and speaking. Read your letter again and correct your mistakes. It is really embarassing for an English teacher to make these common mistakes.





- - - THE LETTER - - -



Dear editor,


I am a Filipina teacher, and I’ve been teaching English here in our country for almost four years. We Filipinos are capable in English whether for speaking or writing. Maybe this is because we study English from primary school, and the fact that our country was a colony of the Americans in the past. (1)


I want to talk about President Lee Myung-bak’s announcement about hiring only native English teachers to teach English in Korea. When I found out the news, I was really devastated and wrecked, thinking that it’s my portal to teach English in my dreamland.
Since I started to fall in love with Korean culture and traditions, I began a quest to learn about and study Korea. As a matter of fact, I also started teaching Korean students here in our country. I could really feel the sense of “belongingness.” (2)


I don’t dispute the fact that native English speakers can perform their teaching with flying colors, not just because they are teachers but also because it’s their first language, but I do hope that President Lee would soften his heart about allowing qualified non-native English speaker to enter Korea and teach English.


It does not necessarily mean that non-native speakers of English can’t speak English. Surely when President Lee softens his heart, many teachers would gladly share their knowledge teaching English to his fellow Koreans.


Delaney ElacionDasmarinas, CaviteThe Philippinesdelmaze_02@yahoo.com