Page 388 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

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Mga Gawain (Activities)

Role-play 1

Mag-iskedyul ng pagtatagpo sa isang taong di pa nakikita. (Schedule a meeting
with someone you have not met before.)

Role-play 2

Pagbabalik-aral sa “kilalanan” sa unang pagtatagpo. Pagkikita ng bagong
magkakilala. (Review “greetings” dialogue for people meeting each other for the
first time.)
Magsimula sa “Kumusta? Ako si …” (Start with “How are you? I am ….”)

Mga Tala Sa Kultura

Have you ever wondered why relatives and friends sending off or picking up
travellers are not allowed inside the international airport in Manila? Only those
with plane tickets and passports are allowed inside the building. This is because
paghatid (taking someone to another place) and pagsundo (picking up or fetching
someone to bring to another place) is a custom in the Philippines.
I remember a photograph from the 1960s when my cousin Margaret left for the
United States to work as a nurse. Around a dozen family members, parents, siblings,
aunts, uncles, and cousins went to the airport to send her off. She had a bouquet of
flowers in her arms, and an orchid corsage pinned to her chest, proofs of how
momentous the occasion was for the family. Similarly, it is not uncommon for

families to even rent jeepneys just to bring their relatives to the airport when they
leave for abroad, or to pick them up when they return.
“Sunduan” (fetching someone) is celebrated in several cities of Rizal, such as
Tanay and Parañaque, and Pampanga, through a street pageant. Young men fetch
young women from their homes, and dressed in national costumes, they parade and
dance in the streets of the city.
The Open University of the University of the Philippines also uses this concept
and, in May, celebrates its graduating students and incoming freshmen with a
“Sunduan.”