Organizer: Leo Paz, City College of San Francisco

Chair and Discussant: Ruth Mabanglo,

University of Hawai'i at Manoa

More Southeast Asian languages are being taught in U.S. institutions.  Asian American communities and students are advocating for more S.E. Asian language classes.  This growth is driven by international economics and increasing numbers of heritage language students.  Parallel to this growth, educators have been revising curricula, introducing more authentic materials from literature, and implementing more effective assessment methods.   However, educators must be aware that the choice of pedagogical methods and materials used are influenced by cultural politics, colonial influences, and the attitudes of teachers and students.     

Mariam B. Lam, University of California, Riverside

This paper discusses the importance of political histories and cultural histories that need to be reconstructed in relation to the changes in national languages, both of which are crucial in the teaching of Southeast Asian literature and translation courses.  It will focus specifically on examples of instruction in Vietnamese language and literature.  This approach takes into consideration the role of the student audience, the politics of the instructor, the slant of resource/instructional materials, as well as the disciplinary and interdisciplinary infrastructures already in place. 

Quyen Bui, University of California, Los Angeles

The year of 1954 marked the most significant historical event for the country and people of Vietnam:  the Geneva Agreement was signed in Switzerland divided the country into two separate entities: The North with the Communist Regime and the South, the Republic.  The people of Vietnam were allowed to choose the form of government they wish to live under, either communism or republican.  More than a million people migrated from the North to the South following the Geneva Agreement. 

Within the historical context of the time, the Vietnamese Literature sprouted into various directions that could be roughly categorized into four major groups based on their content and purpose.  

1. The Political Influence:  the writers and poets used their creations and literary works to express their own political views and idealism.

2. The Yearning for Peace: the war that dragged on between people of the same ancestry gradually took a toll on everyone’s psyche.  People yearned for the day when the war ended and everyone lived in peace and harmony.

3. The Social Realism:  A number of authors and poets used their creative works to depict social upheavals

4. The Tenacity of Love: Love during war time is like wild flowers sprouting through the cracks of the concrete providing hopes and restoring humanity. The literary works in this area express a variety of love.

This presentation’s purpose is to explore the tenacity of love through the Vietnamese literary works of the 1954-1975 Period and the different forms in which love emerged in the various contexts identified above.

Nenita Pambid Domingo, University of California, Los Angeles

The Philippine "Day of the Dead, Araw ng mga Patay" is commemorated on October 31st through November 1^st which is "All Saints Day" in the Catholic Holidays of Obligation.  In the Catholic tradition, "All Souls Day" is celebrated on November 2^nd; but syncretism has taken hold and Filipinos celebrate the Day of the Dead on the same day that Halloween is celebrated and extending to the next day. 

Belief in the "soul" is widespread in the different ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines and there is linguistic evidence to prove this. The concept of the soul is connected to the Southeast Asian belief in spirit possession. In the Philippines, the physical body can be possessed or "occupied" by benevolent and malevolent spirits such as God the Mother, and by evil creatures such as the patianak. 

This belief system is the backdrop and springboard of the thematic lesson on "Rituals and Celebration" to bring in culture and the study of specific grammatical structures into a language class.  Through the kaluluwa or soul song, a street song still extant in the Philippines, and the various language activities in reading, writing, speaking and listening revolving around the Day of the Dead and Halloween, the students are made aware of the contrast and convergence of two cultures, although both happy occasions, one celebrating union of the dead and the living and the other celebrating fun and masquerading. The lesson plan for this unit can be adapted to all levels, introductory, intermediate and advanced.

Maria Monita Manalo, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This paper reports some observations and data regarding the administration of the ACTFL*-based, classroom instructor-developed OPI in Filipino to students in four levels of Tagalog courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison covering a period of six years or twelve consecutive semesters from fall 1999 to Spring 2005. The report focuses on the performance of a sample group of Filipino students who have taken at least 2 levels of Tagalog courses. Subjects are a diverse mix of graduate and undergraduate, heritage and non-heritage students representing various academic disciplines at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. 

The purpose of this study is to find out specific areas of strength/success and/or weak problem areas in each level of oral proficiency and on a larger scale, in each level of study in this target language. This maiden report also includes some expected and unexpected outcomes of the study, personal observations and general implications to the study and teaching of Filipino which might help in the development of effective learning/teaching strategies in the classroom. And ultimately perhaps assist in the collective goal of arriving at a reasonable theory in the study of the Filipino language and culture and its pedagogical implications and application for both teachers and learners.