The Philippines and Brunei were featured at the ASEAN Women’s Circle (AWC) ASEAN Education Month held on 09 April 2015 in Jakarta. The ASEAN Education Month is one of the various activities of the AWC aimed at promoting awareness on ASEAN as an organization as well as the regional grouping’s individual member states
Mrs. Dorothy Novicio, wife of Deputy Permanent Representative Noel Novicio, and Mrs. Lydia Zamain of Brunei gave a briefing about their respective countries to more than 60 primary students and teachers during the event held at the Yayasan AI Ikhwan, Bintaro, Jakarta. The presenters spoke about the history of ASEAN, its founding members, member states, their peoples, flags, capitals and iconic landmarks.
Mrs. Novicio expounded on the history, current government, language, famous landmarks, tourist destinations, food and games and other interesting trivias about the Philippines. Mrs. Novicio, along with Mrs. Bernadette Aro, wife of First Secretary Christopher Aro, also explained to the audience traditional Filipino costumes and attires. One of the highlights and most interactive parts of the lesson was teaching Filipino words and phrases. Children took turns in drilling and saying with ease phrases like “kumusta po, salamat po and mabuhay” but found greetings like “magandang umaga po, magandang tanghali po,” quite challenging.
To their delight, the students discovered a lot of similar words in Filipino and Bahasa Indonesia such as “gunting, kanan, puti, bili, anak, payong, etc.” A question and answer portion in the form of a game ensued after the lesson. Taking on from a popular game show on TV, the students happily enjoyed the game while at the same time being mindful of their answers, aware of the fact that the top three winners will receive a prize.
At the end of the activity, the students and teachers were presented with souvenir caps from ASEAN and home-made “polvoron” which the children loved. The top three winners of the quiz received a special stationery set from ASEAN which was presented by Madame Ugi Pramono, AWC President.
The students and teachers bade the AWC ladies goodbye with their heartwarming expressions of “thank you, salamat po and terima kasih.”
Permanent Representative to ASEAN Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso hailed the AWC for this ongoing initiative and vowed to to continue participation in it actively. She stressed that the ASEAN Education month initiative not only helps promote the Philippines among ASEAN member states and their Dialogue Partners but also strengthens friendship and deepens ASEAN’s commitment to the vision of one ASEAN community. END
