Abakada introduces children to animals in Tagalog/Filipino using the original Filipino alphabet. BRIEF HISTORY OF ABAKADA Before today, the number of letters in the Filipino alphabet varied, having four sets of letters since the pre-colonial times. Spanish missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet and the Spanish language. In 1939, Lope K. Santos developed The Grammar of the National Language (Ang Balarila ng Wikang Pambansa), which contained the alphabet for the national language abakada, named after its first three letters, representing the sounds in the Tagalog language. The result was 20 letters (5 vowels and 15 consonants). Abakada remained the national language's alphabet from 1940 to 1976. The current Filipino alphabet includes 8 letters from the Spanish alphabet: c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, z. This alphabet was instituted in 1987 during the Aquino presidency. About the Author: Jocelyn Francisco, Ph.D. is grateful for the opportunities that living in the United States has brought to her and her family. The stories of her father growing up in the Philippines has humbled her in many ways. This has been the source of motivation for her as she pursued a career as a clinical psychologist working to help others and performing services that help solve social problems.As a professional and parent, she believes it is important to inspire children to be curious about the world and to be globally aware. She believes in teaching children to not only appreciate, communicate and interact with people across different cultures and in other countries, but also provide them with a stronger sense of cultural identity in an effort to preserve their own culture.
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