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| Commencement 2008 | ©Ian Lamont/Flickr |
Harvard University, among the prestigious universities in the world, will offer a course on Tagalog, just posted from their official publication The Harvard Crimson.
Tagalog is the 4th most spoken language in the United States, and is largely derived from Filipino, the Philippines’ national language. Without the formal department for South East Asia studies, the said university still pushes to offer the course, which is a survey course of the region’s history in the academic year 2023-2024.
With the addition of the said course, Jorge Espada, the associate director, mentioned that they wanted to include a preceptor-level position for teachers, who will be a catalyst of the program to “professionalize the instruction, to make it more consistent, and to generate enthusiasm for it at Harvard.”
The associate director for Southeast Asia Programs at the Harvard University Asia Center then gave enough emphasis on the insufficient studies on Southeast Asia and language course offerings. Not only will they include Tagalog, but they will also hire teachers to teach Bahasa Indonesia, and Thai. Consistent with their formed mission, it is hoped that they can build and strengthen the foundation of Southeast Asian Studies in the university.
Hiring Tagalog Teachers
In the Harvard University’s website, it is posted that the Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University, seeks applications for a Preceptor in Filipino (Tagalog) regarding the matter.“The appointment is expected to begin on July 1st, 2023 or January 1st, 2024 (with a preference for July 1st, 2023). The Preceptor will be responsible for teaching five Filipino (Tagalog) language courses per year. Applicants should be prepared to offer language instruction at all levels and coordinate a Filipino (Tagalog) language sequence. This is a term appointment of three years, renewable for a term of up to five years (eight years in total), contingent on performance and divisional dean authorization.” The term appointment is supported by a $1-million budget secured via fundraising efforts.
Basic qualifications include “native or near-native fluency in Filipino (Tagalog)”, and “demonstrated strong commitment to teaching Filipino (Tagalog) at all levels.”
While this may seem a great milestone for the Filipinos, as it caters more opportunities for Filipino language teachers and elevates the prevalence of Tagalog around the world through education, this is still considered to be a far-off achievement.
Eleanor Wikstrom, co-president of the Harvard Philippine Forum (HPF) and Crimson editorial chair, criticized the lack of a formal department for Southeast Asia, and why there was only one course offered. Further, HPF’s copresident, Marcky Antonio added, “While this is the first Tagalog language course that’s ever been offered in Harvard’s history, I think there’s also this sense that we need to make sure we teach this right — not only Tagalog language, but Filipino culture as a whole.”
Meanwhile, before Harvard, here is the list of universities worldwide that offered Philippine-related studies on the language and culture of the Philippines:
University of Washington – Tagalog
University of California San Diego – Heritage Filipino
College of Mount Saint Vincent – Minor in Philippine Studies
California State University – Minor in Filipino and Filipino American Studies
Cornell University – History of Philippine Studies
University of Michigan – Philippine Studies
George Washington University – Filipinx American History
University of Pennsylvania – Filipino
University of California – Minor in Pilipino Studies
University of Hawaii - Bachelor of Arts in Philippine Language and Literature
