A6 OPINION PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY August 1 - 15 , 2016
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Breaking Point
By Rosette Correa
Migrating through the eye of a needle
Teaching English to non-English speakers is a challenging but rewarding profession . Wanting to learn more than English , Tagalog and Spanish , I can relate to what my students are going through while navigating the often confusing and inconsistent grammar structures of the world`s official language . Just recently , I taught an elderly woman from Croatia who is a Canadian citizen , but cannot speak or read English , but she is on leave from a work-related injury . I asked her about her situation and she said that Worksafe BC recommended that she take English classes while she was on respite . Asked why she didn`t know English , she said she worked in her Croatian community , thus , she did not have a need to learn English to come , work and live in Canada .
How different it is to be Filipino and not have the same immigration privileges .
When my husband and I were applying to migrate to Canada , we were asked to prove our English proficiency by taking the IELTS , and cough up Php20,000 each at that time , to take the test . We sent a letter to Canadian immigration and told them that we did not need to prove our efficiency because the Philippines` lingua franca is Filipino AND English , plus I had a Master`s Degree in
Bulong Pulungan
By Deedee Siytangco
Reprinted from Manila Bulletin
ANGEL THOUGHTS
“ In life , have a friend who is like a mirror and a shadow ; A mirror never lies and a shadow never leaves .” — Anonymous
We left our hearts in Mexico City . Spending four full days there was a blessing and when we left , we vowed to find our way back again … sometime soon . By the way , we need visas to get to Mexico but Mexicans do not have to
English . The CIC accepted our proof of English proficiency , but when we got here , I was still asked by the BC College of Teachers to take the English exam to prove I can communicate efficiently in English .
Arriving in Canada , while waiting for our immigration papers to be processed , we waited with a family from Pakistan , two brothers with their mother , and only one brother spoke English .
At my daughter`s first school , she was put in the ESL program because , the principal explained , her surname was foreign , and that we were newly landed . I explained to the principal that my daughter went to an international school in the Philippines , where only English was spoken , and that the ESL funds given to her were better off to be given to a child who really needed it . In a few months after my daughter was taken off the ESL program , and she represented her school in the CanWest CanSpell Spelling Regional Finals , where only 70 schools out of 4,000 in BC were chosen to compete . And she did it for two years ! What`s my point ? It seems that the requirements to migrate to Canada differ from one country to another , in particular the Philippines and the rest of the
get one coming here . They have 30 days to stay here .
We took the flight back to Vancouver and it was back to the arms of my grandsons and their daddy , Junie . Then after four days , we made the long flight via PAL ( really shining through ) back to Manila . We had to wait 20 minutes before we could land , the one runway of NAIA was full , and so we circled above world . What bothers me much is why . I had assumed that all people go through the same processes l i k e everyone else , only to find out that our family ’ s five-year wait was another family from China ’ s sixmonth wait , and most of them can ’ t even speak English and need the signs in Richmond to be written in characters for them to understand it .
A colleague at school said that she likes working and collaborate with Filipinos because we are easy to work with , we assimilate easily and we speak English even when among fellow Pinoys , when others who speak another language are around . Filipinos have also been hailed as highly employable because the fact that we can easily speak English and our skills are at par with other professionals , which is one
to wait for permission to land ! Hello ! It was a good thing our pilot was steady-handed and we landed without a hitch !
What did we miss when we got home ? Aside from family members and longtime friends in sunny Vancouver , it was the old world charm of the Mexican City streets , the creativity of its natives manifested in their food and crafts , flowers everywhere , the religious fervor of its
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of the requirements upon applying for migration points in the first place . Unfortunately , this is not recognized by the government , and we still need to go through the eye of a needle if we want to come and live and work in Canada . Our temporary foreign workers , despite their efficiency and competence , are tasked to go home upon termination of their contracts , and are only allowed to re-apply after four years of waiting .
There has to be reason why it takes forever for Pinoys to be allowed to migrate to
Tacos , tortillas , and burritos
people that captivated us . One tends to forget the many horror stories on border wars with the US and drug busts including the not so recent capture of El Chapo , reputed to be the world ’ s richest and most powerful drug lord . Just strolling through the city ’ s lush streets and gawking at all the monuments scattered around was awesome .
Did you know there is a bigger-than-life size statue
Canada , despite our obvious strengths , especially in the English language . The federal government , as well as our representatives in the Parliament and Senate ( calling MLA Mable Elmore and Senator Enverga !) should seriously look into why there seems to be a bias towards the migration of the Filipinos , and why we have to go through a considerable amount of scrutiny , while the rest of the non-English speaking world pirouette through the open doors of Canada .
of Dr . Jose Rizal in the city ? There is , in an important plaza in the business district !
With new friends Carlo and Lesan Malana , we were able to go so to the some of the city ’ s outstanding bistros at night for dinner . Carlo works as an American expat in the city , the senior vice president for strategy in a big multinational company . Carlo and my son Junie were schoolmates in De la Salle
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