by Connie C. Triggiano
Rizal Center, a cultural hub for Filipino customs and traditions in Chicago, is launching its Tagalog class on July 8, 2025, for Filipinos and foreigners who wish to learn the Philippines’ heritage language. The program runs for 15 sessions, each lasting 2 hours, for a total of 30 hours, every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 8 pm.
Those interested in joining the class but missed the orientation held last June 26th are still invited on July 8 to discover how Rizal Center’s own Tagalog instruction significantly impacts progress and outcomes, particularly when anchored on the Philippines’ rich cultural context.
Learning Tagalog will facilitate communications across generations, strengthen kinship ties, and allow for more meaningful conversations with elders and extended family members. The program, while preserving cultural identity, will also promote a profound sense of belonging in the community.
Interest in Tagalog appears to be showing some degree of waning among US-born Filipinos due to non-use or limited exposure to this native tongue, eclipsed by English dominance in the United States.
However, a resurgence of interest in Tagalog is felt not only by families with small children but more so by young professionals aware of the language’s cognitive and academic benefits, especially in today’s need for multilingualism in an interconnected world
The Tagalog class will meet the needs of Filipino Americans excited to learn the language of their ancestors and delight in the sounds and colors of the country their older folks left behind.
Information for the 2025 Fall schedule will be released soon. More information is available by calling 847-275-4139 (Connie) or 773-433-0053 (Sally).
Connie Triggiano is currently Board Secretary of Circa-Pintig, a Chicago community theater organization. She works as Academic and English tutor assisting foreign students to pass IELTS, TOEFL, Celpic, ESL and other English exams to gain admission to universities in English speaking countries. She also trains greencard holders to pass US citizenship exams and interview. She worked for many years as Vice-President of Chicago-based Leo Burnett Advertising in its Manila office where she managed the advertising accounts of the country’s biggest brands: Procter & Gamble, Pepsi Cola International, BPI, Vicks, Wyeth and Cathay Pacific. She edited a travel newspaper in Singapore and taught college freshmen in a local university. Connie graduated with a BA degree, major in English, from the University of San Francisco in California while working as an information officer for a United Way agency. She took up MS in Advertising at the Asian Institute for the Development of Advertising, UST Graduate School.
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