This is a comprehensive, one-year introductory textbook for Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines. "Beginning Tagalog" has been designed to meet the specific needs of adult native speakers of English who wish to learn spoken Tagalog, though students with other language backgrounds may be able to follow the course with profit. With fairly intensive class scheduling, and assuming laboratory assignments and home study, the text can be covered in one academic year. The text is designed to accomplish two aims. The first is to impart oral control of Tagalog and, by means of an acquaintance with the major patterns of the language, to provide the means for additional independent study that will lead to a full mastery of the structures and a vocabulary that is sufficiently broad to meet the needs of most students. The second aim is to provide accurate, up-to-date information about the patterns of Filipino culture that will enable a student to understand the social customs, standards, values, and aspirations of the Filipino people, in order to prepare him for sympathetic, enlightened, and useful participation in the context of Filipino society...The text consists of 25 units and appendices.
In the first half of the text, the student plays the part of hearer and speaker, with only incidental reading of oral dialogs and drills. From Unit XIII on there is a reading section designated for each unit, correlated with the primarily spoken materials, but designed to promote facility in the orthography and distinctive patterns of the written language...The basic format is as follows: Basic Dialog; Cultural and Structural Notes; Pronunciation Exercises (to Unit XIII); Drills and Grammar; Cumulative Drills; Visual-Cue Drills; Comprehension-Response Drills; and, Readings (from Unit XIII).