SAN FRANCISCO – To wrap up this year’s celebration of Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Month) in the Philippines, the Philippine Consulate General and Sentro Rizal San Francisco teamed up with the Filipino Education Center (FEC) Galing Bata Bilingual Program to conduct an event at the Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, SOMA Pilipinas in San Francisco on August 31, 2023.
The event consisted of screenings of Filipino short stories “Hugo The Troublemaker” and “The First Monkey” from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ oral storytelling event “Samot-Saring Hiraya: Imagination Through Filipino Stories,” and an episode of the TV series “Usapang Wika” on Filipino and Tagalog from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the ABS-CBN News Channel.
Around 50 Filipino and American children from Bessie Carmichael School and other elementary schools in San Francisco, and 20 of their parents attended the event.
On behalf of Consul General Neil Ferrer, Vice Consul Adrian Baccay thanked the FEC Galing Bata team — led by Site Director Charm Consolacion — for their continued support to the Consulate’s cultural promotion activities.
Vice Consul Baccay also took the opportunity to promote the other programs of Sentro Rizal San Francisco, including the NCCA’s “Sentro Rizal Virtual Masterclass” with renowned Filipino performing artists Dr. Raul Sunico, the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the Bayanihan Dance Company, and field trips to the Consulate’s Sentro Rizal Museum and Library.
The Consulate’s other activities with FEC Galing Bata within the last year include the donation of Filipiniana books to the Bessie Carmichael School Library in October 2022, the baybayin art event with P-Pop group SB19 in November 2022, and the special watch party of the GMA primetime TV series “Maria Clara at Ibarra” in December 2022.
For almost 22 years now, the FEC Galing Bata Program at the Bessie Carmichael School has been promoting biliteracy development in English and Filipino, and multicultural education of students from kindergarten to the eighth grade. The program targets not only newcomer children, but also U.S.-born children and families interested in bilingual education.
The FEC Galing Bata Program and the Filipino language program at Longfellow Elementary School are part of the “World Language in Elementary School” Program of the San Francisco Unified School District.
“The Consulate wanted to hold its Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa celebration with FEC Galing Bata so we could encourage more parents to enroll in the program, thereby allowing young Filipinos and Filipino Americans to reconnect to their ancestral roots through our native language,” Consul General Ferrer said in a separate message.
(PCGSF Release)