Bery Punny

In the ESL school where I teach, I am designated to interview applicants who want to teach English. Together with the Korean owner-manager and another teacher, we evaluate prospective tutors with regard to their grammar, pronunciation, and accent. Some applicants were outright rejected because of the innate singsong accent of the Ilonggos. On the extreme side, our boss is also not sold out to getting applicants with a ‘call center’ accent—those who try a tad hard to speak with an 'Ameriken tweng', but sounding too OA and TH in the process.

So when I chanced upon this funny video from Chuvaness.com, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This Fil-Canadian guy made a video tutorial of the Filipino accent. I don’t think he intends to demean how we speak, but only to make light of the realization that since English is just a second language to us, then it’s natural that not all of us can have the aptitude to adapt to the American/Brit/Australian way of talking.

Actually Mikey Bustos (that's his name), speaks with a perfect American/Canadian twang. I think it's just his way to reconnect with his roots. Come to think of it, the Chinese, Russians, French, Italians all have their own distinct English accent, but people don’t really make fun of them when they speak. How come we are so ashamed when we hear the Filipino accent?

Anyways, here's the video. (Warning to my K students and my kids: Don't try this at home! Jejeje;-))