GARACHON
MANILA, Philippines—The Embassy of France is planning to expand its language program in the Philippines to help open more opportunities for Filipinos in the French-speaking world.
French Ambassador to the Philippines Gilles Garachon says the embassy is discussing with the Department of Education the possible expansion of the French language program in public high schools. The program was launched in 2012 through a memorandum of agreement between the two.
At present, French is offered as a language course at 12 public science high schools across the country, all chosen for the pilot project as their students “have undergone and passed a stringent selection process for admission.”
Under the program, some 1,500 students every year are taught basic French by teachers who have experienced intensive language immersion in France for one to two months through an embassy grant.
Garachon says learning the French language is “a great opportunity to increase assets” and tap opportunities in culture, politics and economics.
He says French language training can better prepare the Philippine work force for increasing tourism and investor interest from French-speaking nations.
“I’m sure that there will be more and more European and Western tourists in the Philippines. We have so much to offer. And there will be more and more Western investors in the Philippines. Some of them will be French-speaking. I think it will be interesting for the students to learn the French language because it will give them more opportunities to work with those tourists coming to the Philippines,” the envoy says.
There are about 5,000 French nationals in the country at present, but many other nationalities are also French-speaking, including Belgians, Swiss and Canadians, Garachon says.
Apart from those studying French in school, thousands more Filipinos learn the language every year through other means, Garachon says. About 9,500 take up French in embassy-supported programs at colleges and universities across the country, while 9,000 study at Alliance Française, the French cultural institution in Manila.
According to the embassy, people have studied the language because they “appreciate French as a romantic language” and are interested in discovering more about French culture. Some also intend to pursue scholarship opportunities at top French universities.