17 November 2016 - The Embassy of the Philippines in Israel, in partnership with the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Bialik Rogozin International Campus, held its first Teachers Training on the Filipino Language & Culture Program in Israel.  The participants are volunteer teachers who will be teaching Filipino to children of Filipino migrant workers. 

Dr. Rosario Alonzo, a language expert from the NCCA and former Dean of University of the Philippines’ College of Education, conducted the three-day training.   Some of the participants are former teachers who became caregivers in Israel.

The language program aims to help Filipino children born and raised in Israel to learn the Filipino language and increase their awareness and appreciation of Filipino culture and heritage. 

Classes, which will be free of charge, are to be held for 1.5 hours to two hours at least twice a week in the said school as an after-school program, and is open to Filipino children aged 6-12 years old enrolled at Bialik Rogozin. 

Dr. Alonzo, together with Philippine Ambassador to Israel Neal Imperial and Consul General Pamela Durian-Bailon, met with Mr. Eli Nechama, Bialik Rogozin Principal, to discuss the arrangements for the program and to interact with some of the Filipino students in the school.  Mr. Nechama expressed his enthusiasm for the program as 60% or about 700 of the students in the school are Filipinos.

During the meeting, Dr. Alonzo emphasized the importance of preserving the students’ Filipino identity and heritage by learning the Filipino language and culture. END