HAPI FSL INVITE
Mata-Perez, Tamayo & Francisco law firm invited the Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI) to organize basic Filipino Sign Language (FSL) classes in their office at ACT Tower in Makati City. Their office recently hired a deaf accountant, so to welcome him on board they requested to have special FSL classes. This is one of the advocacies of HAPI, to provide service projects to promote secular Humanism in the Philippines. This is also to help reach the HAPI goal of bridging the main and deaf societies through education and creating social awareness. This invite is very telling that we are visible and making a difference.
THE INSTRUCTORS
The class’ main instructor is Ms. Disney Aguila, President of Pinoy Deaf Rainbow and an expert on Applied Deaf Studies from College of St. Benilde. Ms. Disney rubbed shoulders with Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray for their quick sign language lesson. AJ Ballares, the current Executive Director of HAPI, interpreted for Disney at MTF with his rusty sign language.
BASIC SIGN LANGUAGE BACKGROUND & OVERVIEW
HAPI launched Learn FSL: Basic Filipino Sign Language Class last year, 2018. The proceeds go to the instructor and HAPI to fund our other projects. Normally, our class spans two consecutive days, usually on a Saturday and a Sunday, of learning deaf awareness, culture and history in addition to the comprehensive list of lessons: visual gestural communication; alphabet sign; names; social routines; gender; feelings; numbers; time; calendar; money; relations; civil status; kinship; common places; food and drinks; colors; pronouns; verbs; and adjectives among other topics that are useful to daily situations. We made some changes in our most recent Basic Filipino Sign Language class in Makati. We included Law jargons, and we made it more direct. We divided class into three sessions, three hours for each session, every Thursday of the week. We have a total of 17 students for our special MTF class. Most of them are lawyers and accountants.
