Filipino bilingual program in Seven Oaks division on pause due to low enrolment

Students in Winnipeg's Seven Oaks School Division will have one less option to practise their Filipino language skills in the fall.

The division started a Filipino bilingual program for the 2018-19 school year for students from kindergarten to Grade 4 at Arthur E. Wright Community School.

Due to low enrolment, however, the division has decided not to continue the program in September.

"We launched it with probably a little less enrolment than we should have, and the enrolment has not really grown," said Brian O'Leary, the division's superintendent.

The entire program currently has 22 students. O'Leary said to make the program a sustainable option, the school needs 20 students per grade to enrol.

"We have an Ojibwe bilingual program that would be close to 100 kids. We have a Ukrainian bilingual program that's 100 kids. So we're a ways off that with the Filipino program."

After-school program another option

Students still have the option to join the Filipino heritage language program, which runs three times a week after school at Maples Collegiate. There, they have the option of learning Filipino, along with 10 other languages, such as Cree and Punjabi.

The Filipino bilingual program might not have taken off since some parents like to combine the after-school programs with other immersion classes, says Ronald Iscala.

Iscala is a teacher in the current bilingual program and a mentor with the after-school Filipino program.

"I think the regular days, they prefer to have another activity, and then after that they prefer to have the Filipino culture and language," he said.

Iscala says in addition to language skills, he teaches traditional aspects of Filipino culture such as dance as part of the after-school program. He helped put together a traditional dance that his students performed at the division's biannual Arts in the Park celebration at Kildonan Park last month.

"I've taught in the Philippines and even in Dubai, but in Canada it's different because they've been embracing the culture," said Iscala.

"And when you pass on the baton to little children, I know that in the future they'll be the ones who will do it for other generations to come."

The division says it will consider reinstating the Filipino bilingual program if there's more enrolment interest in the future.